Looking like a scene straight out of Gilligan's Island – only without the Professor or Ginger.
I had always wanted to visit the islands of the Philippines and during this year's World Cruise, I was lucky enough to visit two of them.
With a population of 115.6 million living across an archipelago of 7600 islands and an interesting political history, the Philippines have been occupied by the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Americans. Infamous most recently for a particular dictator and his wife with her large collection of shoes.
Ships throughout the world are staffed by her citizens known for their politeness and dedication to service; their country has always intrigued me and I somehow knew that I wasn’t going to be disappointed by my visit.
Our first stop was to be Porta Princessa, a coastal city on Palawan Island in the west of the Philippines.
One of Palawan's selling points is Honda Bay situated on the western side and its 18 'floating Islands'. Fine, white sandy atolls that are flooded by the incoming tides, then exposed again when the tide drops to provide numerous opportunities for swimming, diving and fishing. The locals have built day huts, bars and restaurants on the atolls and a boat ride will give you access and permission to visit at least three of them during an afternoon’s excursion.
Hooking up with ‘Emanuelle’, the ship’s pianist who, it turned out, was part Filipino and spoke the language fluently. (I’m not silly in my choice of companions on these ‘off-boat' excursions.) The first hurdle we found, after getting off the ship and avoiding the raft of touts and guides at the gate, was how to avoid the high cost of an excursion to the bay – advertised on board the ship for over $150 US per person – so how to get there as quickly and cheaply as possible.
When the Americans left the Philippines after WW2, they left behind their jeeps which the Philippinos repurposed to now provide the islands with a popular form of transport by way of the ‘Jeepney’, a curious redesign of the vehicle into a bus-like contraption, some more colourful than others, but available if you are prepared to cram in together and happy to share the experience with the populace and a menagerie of animals, usually on their way to market, but sometimes just out for a ride with their owners. The cost of our journey to the other side of the island was only $5 US, which turned out to be quite the bargain.
Here the roads are pretty basic and the potholes appear to have their own postcodes. Woe betide the suspension let alone the axle if the driver, who also acts as guide and ticket collector, is distracted long enough and fails to avoid one.
Finally, deposited at Honda Bay, we were confronted by a cacophony of noise and distractions as we negotiated our way through the language, souvenir barriers and queues to gain access to one of the many speed boats that would be our transport for the afternoon.
First of our islands would be 'Star Fish', a long sandspit with white sand, a bar at one end and a fish restaurant at the other and numerous beach umbrellas sheltering whole families of screaming children populating the middle. Quickly getting back on our boat, we proceeded to the second island, ‘Luli', reaching it only minutes before the thin white sandspit was swallowed up by the rising tide.
It proved to be third time lucky for us at the next port of call – ‘Cowrie' Island. Here we were greeted by a multitude of facilities, a barbecue restaurant and various bars all cobbled together out of palm tree logs and fronds, looking like a scene straight out of Gilligan's Island – only without the Professor or Ginger.
This was truly a paradise that would rival any resort in Fiji and after being handed something rather alcoholic in a coconut, Emanuelle and I slapped on some sunscreen and climbed into hammocks from where we could watch the colourful fish swimming at arm's reach and contemplate just how lucky we were to be here.
Later in the afternoon with the sea creeping closer to our hammocks and the last of our atoll sinking further into the bay, we took our ‘Banca' back to the mainland for another hair-raising Jeepney journey through gridlocked traffic to our ship. Nicely sunburnt and relaxed from far too many coconut drinks and amongst much singing and dancing from the residents waving us goodbye, it was time for our departure for several days cruising before Manilla 805km to the north. (ROSS THORBY)
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