Time passed by quickly in the island. It was almost two
o’clock in the afternoon when we packed up and headed back for Blue Bless.
Sailing home, however, turned out to be tougher than I expected. As Blessie Mae
cruised the bay again, we braced ourselves for the wild waves that were
waiting for us somewhere in the vast waters.
We were approaching Waniban Island when they attacked.
Stronger swells, coming one after the other, slammed the boat incessantly.
Blessie Mae’s bow began to dip into the turbulent waters and then buoyed upward
as it plowed through the wild waves. I began to feel uneasy watching how the
little monsters scared the passengers.
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| Lunch by the beach |
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| The crew of Blessie Mae |
As the mischievous swells kept pounding Blessie Mae,
shrieks filled the air, punctuating each splash. It felt like we’re on a
rollercoaster ride gone awry! As the harassed boat continued sailing through
the rough waters, the fuss and furor diminished into sighs of desperation and
then dissolved into sounds of silence.
A chill suddenly swept over me as nagging thoughts rushed
inside my head. Will our vessel withstand the badgering? What if it cracks
under pressure? What if it loses its balance and capsizes? Clutching the boat’s
window sill, I whispered a little prayer, asking for divine intervention to
calm the troubled waters.
Fighting his fear, I heard Jobots’ tense voice as he
prayed aloud. I looked around and noticed that the others were also scared
stiff—except for Judith who was happily taking a video of the darn waves!
Gazing at my companions’ worried faces made me wonder what’s going on in their
heads. Geez, are they thinking what I’m thinking?
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| The "unsinkable" Blessie Mae |
In a bid to reassure his panicky passengers, the
“captain” came down from the boat’s helm and shared his plan to us. “I’m trying
to find a way out of those waves and drive us towards the shoreline. If I can
do that, then we’ll be safe.” His words failed to assuage me. Neither did I see
any sign of relief in the faces of the other passengers.
For what seemed like eternity, the waves continued to
furiously beat our boat. Despite the tense situation, I tried to keep calm. The
vessel slowed down many times, riding with the crests. I guess the "captain" had
to lessen the boat’s speed to enable him to negotiate with the swells and the
winds coming in from the Pacific.
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White-sand beach in Pujada Island
|
Within the next hour or so, we seemed to be going nowhere
as the seconds ticked off at a snail’s pace, prolonging the tension gripping
those aboard Blessie Mae. Many of my companions looked seasick. Good thing, I
wasn’t. OMG! It was probably the longest one-and-a-half hour cruise we’ve ever
taken in our whole lives!
Perhaps fearing the worst, I heard someone reminding
everyone to put on a life jacket. I pulled one for myself after all the others
had donned theirs. Darn luck! I was left with one which had a broken zipper!
Good thing, I was able to tie the two torn straps together. Geez, I hope this
works when the going gets rough, I thought. LOL!
The swells were hitting our boat from the right, and the
"captain" seemed to be turning the other way. He began making his turns early,
but the vessel had difficulty cutting through the waters—it was in fact
starting to turn the wrong way! I stared at the deep blue sea and something hit
me: The rough waters were taking control of Blessie Mae!
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Waniban Island
|
For almost half an hour, our situation hardly changed.
Despite the crew’s best efforts, it seemed as if we weren’t moving towards the
direction the “captain” wanted to take us. Goodness gracious! The strong winds
seemed to be in cahoots with the stubborn waves—they’re both conspiring to toss
Blessie Mae towards the open sea!
No matter how hard they tried to bring the boat ashore,
the crew’s efforts always ended up in vain. There seemed to be no escape from
our predicament! The winds and waves were just too unwieldy. Then, when it
seemed hopeless, something happened. The "captain" found what he’d been looking
for—a way out of the little monsters!
With dogged determination, he revved up the boat’s motor
and tried anew to cut through the weaker part of the rough swells. From where I
sat, I could sense he was trying to put the boat’s rudder all the way over,
probably wishing for all the rpms it could give him. Slowly, he pushed his way
around and won over the wild waves!
As the "captain" successfully steered Blessie Mae into less
turbulent waters, the wild waves gradually weakened into rickety ripples that
gently tossed the vessel towards the shores of safety. I heaved a sigh of
relief. Others fell asleep, perhaps too weary to talk about the ordeal they
went through just several minutes ago.
OMG! It’s my third time to survive such troubled
waters—first in Davao Gulf, particularly in Sta. Maria, Davao Occidental when
we were in Little Boracay Beach Resort years ago and then in Palawan while
crossing the West Philippine Sea in 2012 to reach the Puerto Princesa
Underground River at the height of Typhoon Lawin at that!
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| Feeling safe and secured |
Relieved, I resumed taking snaps of the picturesque
seascape. Geez, here’s a beauty so wild, so wind-blown and so wickedly
treacherous! For a while, we sailed through still waters. Then, from a
distance, the stilt houses of Blue Bless, Cinco Masao, Gregorio Dita and
other beach resorts came into view. As they grew bigger and nearer, hope
and joy sprang in our hearts. We’ve made it!
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| Floating cottages on stilts at Blue Bless Beach Resort |
Like Jobots and the others, I was shaken by the
experience—but so grateful we came through. It felt like we went to the
infernal regions and returned unscathed, a sojourn that Jobots would later
describe as “a ride through hell”. Heart still pounding vigorously, I joined my
companions as we headed back to our respective cars.
Days later, I tried Google-ing for the meaning of the word
pujada—geez, it means “rise” in Catalan, a variant of the Spanish language! Was
the bay, including the island, named after those treacherous rising waters? I
would like to think so after experiencing how those shape-shifting monsters
rocked Blessie Mae. LOL!
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| Gregorio Dita Beach Resort |
Lest I’d be misinterpreted by Mati’s drumbeaters,
cruising in Pujada Bay is fun—the seascape is exceptional, the islands are
enchanting, the destination points are exciting. Sailing there, however, isn’t
for the faint-hearted, the seasick or the hypertensive. And if you’re going to
do it, go there early in the morning when the sea is calmer.
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| Cinco Masao Beach Resort |
It’s never fun watching huge waves coming from the
Pacific badger your seacraft. It’s never fun hearing screams of fear reverberate
throughout your cruise. And it’s never fun waiting for the crew safely navigate
the vessel out of the dangerous waters. Geez, how can there be fun when life
and limb are already at stake?
As I pondered over our narrow escape from that near mishap,
I discerned one of life’s most important verities. Like our sojourn to Pujada
Island, the voyage in the sea of life isn’t always a pleasant cruise; there
will be some rough sailing somewhere along the way. What matters is that we are
always ready to confront any trouble.
Nobody knows, however, when these troubles would strike.
There is no warning whatsoever. So we have to be always prepared to face them.
Courage alone, however, cannot tide us over to the shores of safety. Unless we
have faith and draw courage from an unseen higher power, facing life’s
difficulties will be tougher.
A
s I continue my sojourn in the sea of life, I keep on
thanking Divine Providence for the new lease on life that was given to us. In
more ways than one, the Pujada Island escapade gave me the pumping up I wanted
to have this summer and so much more. The life-threatening experience also
pumped up my faith once again. :D
As my thoughts turn to nature during the last few days of
May, I heard once again the reverberating call of the city’s popular beach:
Dahican. Little did I know that not a few of my co-workers wanted to dash
into that top destination in Mati, too! 
Together with Roy, Kim, Alex, Maliz and our friend,
Tessa, I drove once again to Mati (my second sojourn this year!) for our summer
escapade to Davao Oriental. Except for Alex and me, the rest of Team Dahican
hasn’t visited Mati before. 
Three of us—Kim, Alex and myself—took turns in steering
the wheel. Driving to Mati had us speeding our way through the three provinces
of Davao Region—Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, where
Mati is. 
Encountering little traffic, my car took us past the palm
trees of bustling Tagum City, the coastal municipalities of Maco, Mabini and
Pantukan, the verdant plains of the rice and coconut-producing towns of
Banaybanay, Lupon and Isidro and, finally, Mati. 
Approaching Davao Oriental’s capital, the generally
straight road gives way to a long and winding stretch, flanked by craggy
elevations on one side and deep ravines on the other, with matching magnificent
glimpses of picturesque Pujada Bay.
We pulled over at Badas, a lookout point along the
highway that offers a commanding view of the bay and the islands dotting it. With DSLRs, digicams and smartphones in tow, the team indulged in a seemingly
never-ending photo shoot! 
Usual travel time from Davao to Mati is about three hours
at the most. Add to that about 10 to 15 minutes of selfie time at Badas. LOL!
From there, you’ll reach downtown Mati after meandering some more along the
zigzag road for about 10 minutes. Add again another 20 to 25 minutes and you’ll
be in Dahican. 
Before proceeding to Dahican, we made a detour to one of
Mati’s mouth-watering fixtures to give in to the grumbling of our tummies—Seaside
Restaurant. So named because of its location (adjacent to Pujada Bay), the
restaurant offers the most delectable dishes consisting mostly of seafood caught from the waters
surrounding the city.
For this sojourn, the signage once again stood as mute
witness to the selfies our team shot there. Incidentally, a similar standee has
also been put up right smack at Dahican Beach, where we also indulged ourselves
to several rounds of photo ops. LOL!
Visitors wanting to go to Mati but have no rides or would rather commute may
hop into any of the aircon buses and vans plying the Davao-Mati route. If I’m
not mistaken, vehicles bound for this route leave every hour. Arriving in Mati,
commuters may take any tricycle that could bring them to Dahican.
Arguably, the beach has one of the finest grains I’ve
seen so far here in Mindanao. So, you can just imagine the exhilaration, not to mention the
ecstasy, which engulfed our first-timers when their world-weary feet stepped
into Dahican’s creamy white sands! :-D
