The trip has started off great! Two days in and I haven't gone fishing yet but I have got a chance to hang out with Pastor Mark (pictured below in front of the church) at the Bawing Church. It's been a great chance to slow down from my fast paced life in Hong Kong and debrief the past two years of my life. I have been staying for free in my hammock- hanging from the pillars of the church. Hopefully I will head to sea tomorrow but there's a storm blowing in and the ocean is too rough right now to venture past the protection of the harbor.
Today I met the fishermen as well as some of the families in the wellness and livelihood programs that Union Church supports. There are three programs up and running - fishing, swine, and quail. I went around with the inspector to check how the families are maintaining their projects. Everything looked clean and well maintained and the recipients are very proud. Staying here has truly been a local experience. There is running water and electricity but nothing else. We have been cooking food over a fire using three rocks to support the pot. I truly enjoy Filipino food and the soy sauce and calomoncie mix is amazing.
Two days later and I am planned to set out for sea in 3 hours. The last few days have been filled with time at the church as well as time with the fishermen. This morning the fisherman came to get me at the church around 6:00 to fill the boat with ice. After spending hours packing ice into the entire hull of the boat one of the fishermen invited me to his house in the mountains for lunch. He introduced me to his wife, showed me his home, and we enjoyed a delicious meal of pork and rice. After, they offered my "cash advance" in order for my family to have money for food while I would be away. I politely declined because I had no family in need and asked them to donate the 600 peso to the church.
When it was time to leave, Pastor Mark came down to the beach to pray for our safety. Then we paddled out to the boat in a small row boat about 5 feet long. Then with a booming jackhammer like sound the boat headed out from the safety of the harbor at a speed no faster than a slow jog. The motor was a glorified lawnmower engine like something out of a small John Deere riding mower. After about 5 minutes of this noise and the waves crashing over the boat, I knew I was in for a long night. 30 minutes later the crew hit the deck and fell asleep. Tommie, who had to be at least 70, was passed out on a crate of rocks (which they use for fishing), Jon-Jon was over head on two bamboo shoots that made up the mast above the canopy, and the other two were asleep on the outriggers.
I sat next to Pablo, the captain, and we motored off into the night. I couldn't have got more than 15 minutes of continuous sleep the entire night as I tried to sleep on a small bamboo plank (picture above) attached to the outrigger. The waves were huge, towering over the mast at times and were continuously splashing me all night. I awoke to Kyle, Kyle, the only English I would hear on the entire trip as they were telling me that we were there. By there they meant the last island in the Philippines before we headed out to the open sea. The engine turns off and the entire crew starts relieving themselves by taking craps over the sides of the boat. These guys must smoke 4 packs of cigarettes per day but I guess that's necessary to have toilet paper because the wrappers are what they used for wiping. Then came time for our first meal.
Typically you eat with chop sticks, forks or spoons but not Filipinos. There wasn't a utensil to be found on the boat. Breakfast consisted of something that I would call fish stew. Pieces of fish that were cut up and put into a pot with some veggies. It all seemed normal until Tommie caught a few small pan fish and dropped them into the pot alive. I opened in prayer, then the stew came out and served over rice. We all dug in with our hands and the crew laughed as I tried to master the shovel technique.
We were anchored the rest of the day (shown above) and around 4 PM we headed off to the open ocean. I was wondering how the captain was going to navigate after we left the islands. This was answered when he pulled out a small compass and pointed it at 100 degrees or East basically. We continued almost 20 more hours through the dead of night pointed at this heading with the waves growing by the hour. We arrived at the fishing grounds sometime on the third day with the sun high in the sky. Mind you I didn't see a clock the entire week I was at sea so my times are estimations in accordance with the sun. I was ready to fish. The problem was that I couldn't stand on the boat because the waves were so large that each wave would crash over the front and I didn't have the sea legs to keep myself from falling. I finally got a nice spot seated on one of the gas tanks and the men taught me how to fish.
They used what they called a besoul or a strange oversized wooden spool. They taught me the technique and after a few tries I was pulling us small tuna about a foot in a half. We would then use them as bait for the larger tuna or throw them in the cooler for our next meal. Dinner that night consisted of fresh chopped tuna sashimi. AMAZING! That's why I came 3 days across the ocean. We continued this pattern for the next two days not catching any large fish. The waves kept growing and the crew was getting irritable. Sometime on the fishing ground we lost our engine. The captain climbed down to look at it and came out of the hole and sliced his hand across his throat and pointed to the engine. Wisely each boat has two engines in case something like this was to happen.
The next morning we awoke after being splashed yet again all night and the crew decided with the large waves persisting, only one engine, and no big tuna it was time to head home. With no fish we started our long 3 day journey back towards the Philippines. I was a little nervous if we were going to make it back with that small compass pointing at one heading and the waves pushing us strongly in a crosswind direction but amazingly a full day later we spot land. We head back though the islands and safely make it back into port. Getting off the boat onto solid ground was a glorious feeling.
Aftermath:
The trip was a nightmare of emotions for me. One minute I would be loving the ocean life and the next I would want more than anything to go home. There was one point when an American freight ship passed and I wanted to wave my hands and have them rescue me off the small 25 foot boat that I was stuck on. Multiple times I had to tell myself that I was being irrational and I could make it though the experience. Not knowing what was going on or not knowing what was next was very hard for me. As I mentioned the crew spoke absolutely no English but I did learn a plethora of Cebuano and the crew learned some English though signs and pointing. I still can't decide if I would do it again. I didn't catch the big tuna that I was hoping for but it was an amazing experience.
Location:Philippines to Indonesia
