Portia’s Island

Last week, I made a long, wet trip from Selinog to Negros Island in the middle of the night on a small boat full of iced fish destined for the market in Dumaguete. Looking back, it seemed almost crazy to do it, but at that time, I was just desperate to go home.

I woke up at 1230 am, put on my wetsuit, and grabbed my bags and headed out of the door. It was too warm of course, so I took off the wetsuit down to the waist and tied the sleeves in the back of my waist. The fish comprador’s house was about 300 m away from the house where I stayed for the two weeks I was doing fieldwork in the island. I had to walk that distance lugging a backpack, a dry bag, a big plastic full of bulad (dried fish) and a flashlight.

I ended up walking in the dark after a few meters because the light was so bright (i used a dive light) and I didn’t want to be very visible. its kind of strange to see a figure lugging bags in a wetsuit in the middle of the night, and I knew some people were woken up by the barking dogs.

We fiinally left Selinog at around 2 am, after all the fish was loaded, and we have navigated out of the rocky, shallow parts. I had to wear my wetsuit because I knew the trip would be wet and very cold. I did a similar trip two years ago, and shivering was putting it mildly. Being chilled to the bone was more like it. And its no comfort at all not seeing the water, surrounded by a dark ocean and seeing distant thunder and lightning in the sky. I really felt small amidst the vastness of the open sea.

I had full faith in the seaworthiness of our small boat and the capability of the boat captain. He has made this trip a thousand times, and of course we would not capsize. But of course, it was a long trip in total darkness, and if we did capsize due to a rouge wave, I figured I will be ok because I had my wetsuit on anyway. For as long as I could see the lighthouse of Apo Island getting nearer, I felt reassured.

After 5 long hours of constant wind and the sea dumping pails of salty water on me every minute or so, we finally docked on the fisheries port in CAnday-ong, Dumaguete. I was a sight to see for all the people on the port, waiting for the fish. After all, its not everyday the boat from Selinog also delivers a soaking wet "diver".  My husband arrived soon after with Slave II (our pick-up). Boy, my ass felt like a queen as I sat on the front seat after 5 hours of sitting on hard plywood and bamboo rigging!

After a longed for bath(I had to learn to take a batch in two dipper fulls of water in the island) and a quick breakfast (bread and tea never tasted so good!) , we loaded the car again and headed for the other side of Negros Island–to Silay, where Orrin is. It was a very nice day for travelling up to San Carlos, and over the mountains in Don Salvador Benedicto. Slave II even had a new speed record on the road down to Murcia. After 5 hours, we arrived in Silay.

Everybody was surprised to see us, including my son, who cried immediately when he saw me, and clung even tighter to Lola.  Serves me right for leaving him for several weeks. But after a while, I finally got the hug and the kiss from my little guy. And that made the very very long trip home worth it.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 12:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.