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Published: April 1st 2008
We said goodbye to Gary and Milena on Boracay and headed north to tiny North Pandan Island. The island has been leased by a French man for the last 21 years and he has built up a good little business consisting of several bungalows, a restaurant, a bar, and a dive shop. There are rumours that, when his lease expires in four years time, the government have plans to kick him out and build a casino. It's terrible if it happens, and we decided we'd better see it whilst we still can!
After arriving on the island on an incredibly noisy pump boat, we leaped onto the awaiting white sand and checked into our reserved room. We'd booked a budget room nik-named "The Bronx". The Bronx consisted of five rooms all joined together, made out of woven palms and sharing a bathroom. It was very open to the outside, which was a good thing as there wasn't enough electricity for fans, even in the deluxe rooms. Still, it was adequate enough and had a good location amongst the palm trees just steps from the beach. The real lure of the island, though, is beneath the sea.
We soon donned
our snorkels and jumped in. After a total of less than two hours snorkelling, spread out over the afternoon, we'd seen nine turtles, three rays, and lots of colourful fish and coral. Not a bad introduction to the island!
At night, after our salt-water showers, we went to the restaurant for the buffet dinner, which became a real treat. We were in heaven with veggies, pasta, salad and fruit, such a welcome break from the local food choices: pork and rice or chicken and rice. By 8:30pm, most people had cleared the restaurant to go to bed and there was only Scott and I and some of our neighbours left - two Swedish girls and a Swiss guy. We suddenly heard a fluttering noise and an owl appeared, running across the concrete restaurant floor, wings spread, looking for food. We watched as it rotated its head 180 degrees in response to any slight noise, and made a strange slurping sound. There were a few mice scampering around but it didn't manage to catch any. We theorized that we were ruining its hunting ability by having the light on, so we soon went to bed and left it in peace.
So, after half a day on the island, we'd already encountered turtles, rays, tonnes of fish, and now an owl. Pandan Island should be renamed "Nature Island"!
The next day, we did the required dive from the island before you are allowed to do the real jewel - Apo Reef. On our third morning, we woke up for a 6:30am breakfast so that we'd be ready to board the boat at 7am. It took two hours to reach the reef as it is out in the middle of nowhere close to tiny Apo Island. We did three dives in all, the first of which was the best because of the dozens of white-tip reef sharks cruising around us. All of the sites were beautiful, though, consisting of walls coated in soft and hard corals of all colors and myriads of fish. Besides the sharks, other "big" animals we saw were turtles, rays, and an octopus. Between dives, we lazed around on the mattresses on the roof, admiring the turquoise waters and white beaches of Apo Island.
After one more day of lazing around and snorkelling off the beach with turtles and rays, it was time to move on.
The journey
away from Pandan reminded me just how arduous the journey
to Pandan had been: bumpy, dusty roads on open-air clapped out buses, and long waits in humid ports for ferries. Getting there and away was difficult, hot, and dusty, but it was worth it for the island. Besides, the journeys were quite fun in themselves. We were celebrities with the locals, and the rural scenery outside the "window" (the bus had no windows as such) was extremely pretty. We passed lush green rice paddies, water buffaloes pulling carts or bathing in rivers, and people at work on the harvest. It seems that it is corn-harvest time. Everywhere we looked we saw ears of corn laid out in the sun, turning huge areas of land bright orange. It was as if the Buddhist monks had come over from Thailand and laid their robes out over all of the fields! When the corn is taken off the cob, the yellow grains are laid out anywhere and everywhere that there is a paved surface: basketball courts, school playgrounds, even on one side of the road rendering it one-way - nowhere is safe!
The funniest thing we saw was a young
goat that was getting transported by bus. I was wondering where it would ride. Chickens get to ride inside the bus for a nominal fee, unless they are fighting cocks, which have to pay a lot (don't ask me how the conductor knows the difference?!) Dogs seem to ride inside, too. They debated whether to put the goat inside the truck/boot, but decided against it. In the end, it got to ride, where else, on the roof Philippino style. As goats generally can't climb ladders (even mountain goats!), there was only one way to get it up there - throw it up! Poor goat!
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mum
non-member comment
basic transport!!
Now that's what I call basic transport, I thought we had some bad journeys on the mini buses in the south of Thailand. How long did you have to endure the seats on that bus to Pandan? Looks painful!!