Palaui Island | BlauEarth

Thursday, before dawn, Reny and I joined a bunch of friends on a roadtrip to Sta. Ana in northern Cagayan Valley. In the van, I was awakened by brightness, the golden rays hitting on the frondescence, seemingly galvanizing anything and everything.

We had Chinese breakfast at the Cagayan Holiday and Leisure Resort’s Noodle House. Everyone else ordered noodles while I wanted something exotic. Setting the tone for the unexpected, the century egg and cucumber, laced with chili, and soyamilk combination in the town of Sta. Ana was strange alright. Whilst being ignited by fiery idiosyncratic eggs, images of Palaui Island, shown to me by an acquaintance from the Philippine Airlines Mountaineering Club, suddenly hit me like crazy. Almost short of begging, I asked the company if we could go boating to the ruins, even if I was geared inappropriately in burghal clothing LOL.

Thank God, I have game and giving friends! (Thanks, guys!) So as Andre Gide was quoted to have said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

The boat ride along the Babuyan Channel was close to an hour.

The most pristine beach I’ve ever set foot on! The 10-km long Palaui Island is a protected marine reserve as well as a wildlife habitat and an important migratory bird site. The Cape Engaño ruins lie on its northernmost tip. No one else dared to climb the 229-step plus plus under a sultry sun (which has given me a post-trek farmer-patchy complexion), but our boatman Boyet and me. Luckily, I threw a scarf into my tote before we left Laoag.

No sweat, no glory.

The same Magin Pers Y Pers that engineered the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse in Burgos, Ilocos Norte (during the Spanish era) designed Cape Engaño. I suspect the two lighthouses were designed taking into consideration the indigenous materials available at that time, like Cape Bojeador is in terracotta tiles while Cape Engaño is stone-hard and massive. According to Boyet, the lighthouse is at the moment powered by battery and not as brilliant as it used to be.

A view of nearby Dos Hermanos from the lighthouse.

Island living is a choice made by couple Ricky and Maya, the only inhabitants in the area. Though they look tough, they are friendly and accommodating. They live on tubers and fish. A more modern islander in seclusion, most of Maya’s hours are spent for cross-stitching scenery, her works usually bought by tourists.