Ormoc - Cebu Ferry. June 2016.
[from FB post: June 26, 2015]
Getting ready for my next ferry ride.... Dumaguete to Tagbilaran. The longest one yet and more in open sea too. I sure hope for a smooth ride.—feeling nervous.
A smooth, uneventful, and dreary ride from Dumaguete to Tagbilaran. The weather is all yuck and cloudy so it was pretty dull. However, I don't know if I ever want EXCITING on a Filipino ferry?? Dull and safely arrived is just fine with me! So I got a new city explore.....—feeling relieved
[June 17, 2016]
Two hour ferry ride and back to the big city! Five days of creature comforts like movie theatres and big shopping malls.—traveling to Cebu City.
[June 27, 2017]
Business class on the ferry cuz I deserve it (and it was only $2 more)
The Philippines is such an impossible mix of islands large and small. The map looks more like a paper target after a shotgun blast with the islands as the holes ranging from HUGE to pinpoints. To serve such a nation, bridges and ferries are crucial. Building bridges over open sea in a place with typhoons and earthquakes will never be easy, but they are slowly doing it. In the meantime, the place might have the most intricate ferry network in the world.
Along with all these ferries goes maritime disaster. Filipino ferries are always sinking with scores of people drowning. During my first ferry ride from Cebu to Tagbilaran, Bohol that was on my mind. The ferry was modern, but it was also climate controlled and enclosed. I kept thinking that if anything happened, we were basically trapped inside. I am pleased to report though, that I survived all my ferry journeys and actually became impressed with how well-managed the Philippine ferry system was compared to the bus network and even the airports. The big passenger ferry terminal in Cebu was more like an airport terminal than just a ferry waiting room. There were electronic signs, boarding announcements, shops, restaurants... the government invested a lot of money to make riding ferries more organized and, one hopes, safer.
Ferries ranged from outriggers like the one I took to Guimaras Island [see: Guimeras Island], to "roll on, roll off" (RoRo) ferries that allowed trucks and buses to connect all the main islands, or to large, modern passenger catamarans like the one I rode from Cebu to Tagbilaran. Most ferries, except the smallest ones (perhaps they were private?), required ID, name, and contact information at check in. I always thought "This is in case the boat sinks, right?". Then again, airlines ask the same questions - do I have a greater fear of drowning than plummeting to my death? I never completely got over my nervousness taking Filipino ferries, but I became a fan after dealing with the baffling experience of showing up at a bus station and trying to buy a ticket to go anywhere [see: bus to Dumaguete]. The ferries at least had schedules and the information on their websites was mostly accurate.
The best little ferry port and perhaps the most thrilling ferry ride was the one from Santander, Cebu over to Dumaguete, Negros. I realized I was lucky to hit the place on a perfect weather day, but those turquoise waters and the mountain backdrop of both islands made it a breathtaking journey (especially because the ferry was open air seating). My worst ferry ride was from Escalante, Negros to Tabuelan, Cebu (literally the opposite end of the same two islands). It was an old RoRo and the ferry had one of those bows that just flips down for vehicles to drive on easily. In the Guimaras Strait we hit some heavy seas (really not bad) and all I kept thinking was about that big door flipping open because someone "forgot" to batten something down and that we would sink in seconds. Travel panic moments are always funny in retrospect.
I don't know if I will ever be 100% a boat fan, but the Philippines did a lot to help me realize that on a good day, a simple ferry ride can be an incredible experience (or on a bad day, the stuff of nightmares).
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