Boracay After A Storm

We should have seen it coming. In fact, we did, but the white sand and the calm sea distracted us from the signs. All day storm clouds glowered over Caticlan but the sky was blue over Boracay.

It stormed all night.

Our little unit at Marzon sprung a leak and when the fury of the rain and thunder and lightning was over, we heard the thump thump of the Marzon handyman on the roof, repairing the corrugated iron roof while the cleaning ladies mopped and cleaned below.

The rain eased off by morning and we set off for a jet-skiing session we'd booked the day before.
On the platforms anchored far out in the water, the crew seemed extra watchful of the flotsam that the storm had churned out.
Branches of trees and the husks of blown-down coconuts provoked a flurry of activity, the men rushing to extract the item from the sea.

They were catching crabs!
In the hour I was on the platform, they caught a dozen crabs. By the end of the day, they are going to have a feast!

Fruits of the storm.

My First Christmas In Boracay

It used to be that only intrepid Westerners recognised Boracay's potential as a holiday island.

After all, it had no electricity, the journey was at its worst, arduous and at its easiest, expensive.

But oh the white sand. And the fresh air. And the sunsets.

These kids were playing with some toys they'd made themselves on the beach. They told us these were helicopters. They had never seen a car since there were no cars on the island, but helicopters sometimes visited the island.

The first time I spent Christmas in Boracay, we stayed at the Pearl of the Pacific, in one of a small cluster of huts made of bamboo and nipa, with a large clamshell sink, a bed, and slatted floors. There was no airconditioning and no electric fan, there being no electricity.

Here we are on the beach on Christmas day being observed by curious islanders.

We had barbecued chicken with every meal and went to the Coco Loco Hut for shakes laced with peanuts.
You were pretty much cut off from the rest of the world as there were no telephones, though you could go to a station where someone had a satellite phone.

In the sky, the stars swirled in clouds.

You felt like a pioneer, like you were standing on the very edge, at the very beginning of the rest of this island's life.

And how true that was.