Sabang Port

Rising early for breakfast and departing Naga City by seven AM, we motored to Sabang as the silhouette of a solitary Mt. Isarog cast its mounded contour against the eastern horizon, seemingly creeping from afar never wanting to leave its watch over us.  A number of stops were made necessary for asking directions and a wrong turn at one point ended us travelling eight kilometers more.  We reached the small coastal town by nine AM and my search for a place to leave our SUV led us to this small resort-restaurant that had slots for guarded parking at 50 pesos a day.  A short walk to the wharf took less than five minutes but we had just missed the 9AM ferry, so we waited for the next boat named Harry, leaving for the next hour.  In thirty minutes, passengers were summoned by the skipper to get onboard Harry III with its bow, fortunately for us, closely hugging the wharf that made the use of gangplanks possible for us to hop onto the deck. Understandably, it was high tide.

All boats plying the Sabang-Guijalo route, numbering about four or five as I learned later, were all named Harry with a number after its appellation to distinguish one from the others; perhaps a namesake of the owner or his father or son.  Similar to its siblings, Harry III is a single-engine 40-foot outrigger that can accommodate about 40 passengers inclusive of baggage and stock of small commerce that were stored inside the hull beneath the deck.  Passengers get seated by rows, three abreast, on uncomfortable wooden planks or, to the more adventurous, may get themselves a better view by sitting dangerously alongside the deck. 

The scorching heat was well underway, aggravated by high humidity and absence of a breeze.  Harry III chugged its way out of the jetty on schedule as wearily withered travellers sighed in respite for that welcoming, cool sea breeze whirling past.  As midday approached, waves grew bigger thence made navigation difficult, slow and bouncy, akin to a roller-coaster ride.  Hardly do I recall the number of times we got drenched from waves that slapped our oversized dinghy. Halfway the trip, a crewmember started collecting fares of 120 pesos each adult passenger and 100 pesos for kids.  

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