Sibale

Continued from the previous entries on getting to Sibale.

I can't lie - I was a little scared my first night in Sibale. I felt wired, probably due to fatigue and the horror movie that had played outside my room in Dangay Port the night before. None of my travels had paralleled Sibale in terms of remoteness. And even when I'd come close, I was never alone.

One of the first things I did when I arrived on the island is go on a walk to the closest beach. Enyet insisted on accompanying me, and at first I didn't understand why. I felt bad that he was taking the time out of his schedule to show me around the island. We walked for around 10 minutes, and saw signs of people - buildings, row boats, an occasional bicycle.. but few actual people. At the beach, a woman was cutting some fruit with a machete. The three of us were the only ones on the wide beach and I remember the vulnerability hitting me at that moment. If something bad were to happen, we were quite a long way from anyone else.

Deserted beach in Sibale — An empty beach in Sibale

When we got back, I showered (using a bucket) and ate some roasted fish for dinner from TDL Foodhouse. There were a few chairs strewn about, but no one else was there.

Enyet was worried about me - he asked if I would be OK in one of the rooms, or if I'd feel safer sleeping in one of the rooms at his family's house, where he has solar power. I insisted that I'd be OK, and he left me with a flashlight, telling me he'd be back in the morning. After he left, and the electricity shut off promptly at 22:30, my mind started to drift. What would happen if I had a medical emergency? Would anyone know? What if someone wanted to hurt me? And what was causing the shuffling in the bushes outside my window?

As night continued, my anxieties subdued. I appreciated the brightly-lit sky and the sound of the waves gently rolling nearby, interrupted only occasionally by snoring from the man in the room next door.

I woke up around 5am to the sunrise and the sound of the fan turning on in my room. Knowing I only had around two hours of electricity in the morning, I started working on some freelance assignments straight away. Enyet came up with some breakfast around 7:30, when the electricity went off. Thinking I'd just woken up, he joked and called me a late riser. I asked him if he had any coffee.

Every day, Enyet asked me what I wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He cooked delicious meals and brought them up to a desk in front of the room. He'd leave a jug of hot water on the table in the morning so I could make coffee. He accompanied me on hikes and walks around the island, as well as to the beach. I had mentioned I wanted to go snorkelling and kayaking, so on a walk he asked a family who had some boats if we could take one of them out for a little, and they agreed.

I can't lie - at first I was a little taken aback by how Enyet insisted on accompanying me around the island. As a solo traveller I tend to have my guard up and I'm used to spending a lot of time alone. I didn't understand why he wanted to come with me when I went to the beach or on walks. It hit me in the morning, when he brought me a cup of coffee after my first night - he insisted on accompanying me because otherwise I'd be alone. And unlike many other places, when you're alone here, the likelihood you'll come across someone else (or vice versa) is... small. If you swim too far out and no one knew, it might stay that way. Enyet was simply making sure that someone was always around me, so I'd be able to get help if I needed it. His English was hard to understand at times, but he was an extraordinarily kind person who did everything in his power to make me feel welcome and safe.

I'm not sure if my words can do justice to the beauty of the island. So below you'll find a collection of pictures and videos to help me to the job. Excuse the poor photography and (if I ever manage to figure out GoPro studio) filming skills, to say I'm a novice would be an overstatement.

If you'd like to stay at Enyet's place (about 150 PHP per night + food), Enyet's full name is Antonieto Atillano. His email is enyet.atillano@gmail.com (although I have a feeling his son set up his email and that he doesn't check his email often).

Please message me privately using the Say Hello form if you would like his phone number - your message will go directly to my inbox and I'll reply quickly.

To leave Sibale, there is a daily Roro boat which leaves at 6am in the morning, and goes back to Pinamalayan. Since there isn't cargo on it and there are less passengers, it's considerably faster and more comfortable than going.

(Music by Ocean Shiver)

Further information on Sibale: (if you have any updates or links you'd like me to add, please let me know via the Contact section and I will update accordingly.)

Blogs:

- Certified Curacha travel blog describes a trip to Sibale in August 2011, where all six participants camped on the beach. [To note, they had a relative on the island]

- January 2012 travel blog (theTravelingMD), great photos

General info:

http://www.travel-sibale.com/about-sibale.php

http://romblonislandsph.weebly.com/sibale-island.html#Place%20to%20go

http://www.purlp.com/2014/05/tv-patrol-sibale-island-concepcion-romblon-video.html

Sibale Master Development Plan http://www.slideshare.net/sibale/master-plan2 (September, 2008)

- Property / investment information:

http://www.romblonislands.com/concepcion-romblon/

http://business.inquirer.net/190843/island-hideaway-offers-investment-opportunities

- Maestro de Campo Dive Resort has a Facebook page (last post in 2012) and an inactive website.

- Sibale's website has some information and pictures, but large parts of the website are down. There is also an occasionally updated Facebook page. In their section on how to reach Sibale, written in 2003, they write "Travelling to Sibale island is no fun but the end result is priceless" - I concur on both fronts.

- A Wikipedia page also exists, arguably written by a Sibale local promoting tourism on the island. Locals on the Roro boat told me there was a government initiative to do this some time ago, the main issue being transportation and how to promote eco-tourism that wouldn't harm the island.

- Another website dedicated to Sibale tourism has vague information.

Aerial View of Sibale — Sibale aerial view; taken by Jojie Alcantara, photojournalist for Manila Bulletin and Mabuhay Magazine.

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