Arrival on a piece of paradise

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Geo: 12.9778, 121.141

the ride down from Manila to Batangas was already a very windy and rainy experience...Little did I know that it was being part of an incoming super typhoon with 600km in diameter.The ferry did not want to leave because of extreme high seas that afternoon, so I decided to take a night in Batangas...Next morning...suddenly calm seas...For whatever reason there was a pocket of calmness within the wild surroundings of a taiphoon.

People have said that the main typhoon is still far over the Pacific, near Palau Islands coming in from Guam. However the winds and rains have already picked up being part of a tropical depression.Upon arrival in Puerto Galera at noon, the sky was turning pitch black and winds were picking up fast. Than once again, the next morning complete calmness...Nobody knew that a taiphoon was really coming to Mindoro. You asked 5 people, you got 5 different opinions. Well...That afternoon no ferry was going but I did not want to be stuck on the island for a week since I have to catch my flight in MNL...I have decided to be stupid and hire a small outrigger boat, a tiny nutshell in the big ocean.Half way into the passing back to Batangas,,,Winds picked up at extreme high speeds,,,waves were throwing us around...Guess what...If you are in the middle, it's equally far to both ends so we decided to keep going at high speed, whatever his tiny motor was throwing in and high throttle. I put 20 deutschmark on top and he decided to put full throttle all the way...

Yes, we made it, otherwise you would not be reading about it...Almost as soon as we arrived in Batangas, we saw the taiphoon with a pitch black wall in the sky as far as your eyes could see....

I took shelter once again in Batangas before taking the bus back to Manila the very next day...The bus arrived in Cubao station north EDSA and I took a taxi right away to the airport.

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