babuyan memories, part 3: post travel thoughts on summer rains and such things

"somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight..."
-- lyrics, somewhere out there

transformed skies, early morning rain, moonset, and rushing waves | memories of the rained on and awakened

somewhere out there -- in the babuyanes -- lies that beach where we once slept while the stars and the full moon kept their watch. i remember spreading my sleeping bag in full view of the big sky and it was comfortable, felt right. i remember sleeping, my spirit at home and calmed after humming songs and watching the stars to my heart’s content.

the beach in naguilian

the beach is in barangay naguilian in the southwestern cove of camiguin norte island, a volcanic island bounded all around by the deep blue sea & her waves and accessible mainly to those who take time to leave the comfort zones to dare cross the babuyan channel.

we -- kat, mati, bren, sherelle, bryan, yanyan, jb, and i, with our three boatmen -- left our comfort zones. we dared, we crossed the babuyan channel. we got to camiguin norte island and we got to the beach in naguilian. we got rewarded with tranquil ambience, a beautiful sunset, and a pretty night sky with full moon and stars -- my senses feasted on all these.

i usually don't sleep early. however, i do observe exceptions and that friday night, when the moon was full and bright, was one of those.

things felt right. after having our dinner -- with some sand getting on our food, hehe -- there was nothing much for us to do anymore but to gather around the campfire, to give in to good vibes, relaxing vibes. think of nighttime society minus scary stories. think of night life minus booze and minus boisterous behavior. think of light from the campfire dancing off our faces, us aglow with orange light. think of the full moon keeping watch and the stars not wanting to be outdone. think of the night wind blowing just right and the waves hitting the shore making a lulling symphony. think of all those, put them together, and you could see what that friday night was like -- untainted, unstrained, a time to just embrace all the good, if not perfect, in.

maybe it was just between 8 to 9 o'clock in the evening when i spread my sleeping blanket next to yanyan. we -- yanyan, sherelle, and i -- were supposed to sleep inside yanyan's tent but sleeping directly under the night sky was more inviting so we stayed outside, close to the campfire but not too close. sherelle, yanyan, i and then space, space, the fire.

at around 11:30 that night, i woke up. probably, it was because of the campfire. somewhere in my sleep, i remembered kat's instruction that we put out the fire before we go to sleep. i looked at the fire and it was still very much alive. sherelle, who was also awake that time, and i partnered in putting the fire out. then, i went back to being cocooned in my sleeping bag, went back all the way to dreamland.

at around 1:30am, i woke up again. i heard kat, who was two or three meters away from the rest of us girls, calling out my name. then, the word 'ambon'. drizzle. i took out my left hand. i felt no raindrop. i looked at the sky and saw that it was close to overcast, the clouds trying to mask the full moon and the moonlight. so i continued to hold out my hand and, yup, raindrops. small ones, dropping in intervals that made them almost unnoticeable. yanyan and sherelle stirred and awoke; we decided to go inside the tent. kat decided to just remain where she was.

i passed by mati's sleeping form between bren's tent (with bren inside) and yanyan's tent; i mumbled 'ambon, ulan' to him, he acknowledged what he already knew and simply went back hiding in his sleeping bag. beyond yanyan's tent, was jb's tent and outside it, i saw a sleeping form but, without my eyeglasses and my eyes lazily half shut, i couldn't tell if it was jb or bryan who decided to sleep out there. i had half a mind to inform whoever it was of the raindrops but i was feeling too sleepy to walk any further just to mumble 'ambon, ulan' some more; besides, the person stirred so i figured he'd probably have the sense to transfer should more raindrops continue to fall. i went inside yanyan's tent, settled myself between sherelle and yanyan, and slept BUT...

sleep became elusive. at around 2:30am, i decided to go out and went back to our sleeping area next to the campfire. i had a feeling that time that i won't be able to sleep anymore. just as well. one of the boatmen probably stirred the fire back to life when we went to the tent so, with that fire needing tending while the rest continued to sleep, my senses had something to do beyond idling. i switched from sitting to lying to sitting to lying to sitting, half awake, half asleep, watching the fire and our camp, half awake, half asleep, trying to court sleep (i don't count sheep), watching the clouds growing heavier and darker as they moved and changed patterns.

at 3am, it rained cats and dogs (and elephants and giraffes, i must add); we barely had time to secure our stuff from out in the open to the small waiting shed, where we made them all fit, where we scrambled for shelter from the sky's seemingly all-out shower of many, many big tears. i remember shivering and feeling cold despite wearing my waterproof jacket. i remember thinking, "very interesting philippine summer season. this."

it took a good while before the rain started to let up. at 4:55am, we were rewarded with the sight of the moon... setting. the clouds were still dark and heavy overhead but the horizon was clear -- the moon looking like a perfect ball of orange light, the sight unhindered by clouds and mists.

the full moon setting on a saturday | very, very early in the morning

by 6:30am, there was good morning light and the pictures i took gave the impression that it didn't rain heavily just a few hours before.

the waiting shed and the stuff we kept safe from the downpour

the waves had gotten bigger and stronger though, so much so that i was reminded of the morning waves in calaguas and i couldn't resist welcoming them as they rushed to shore, eventually breaking, creating beautiful foam. despite having been rained on and awakened way too early, it was still a good morning that greeted me on a saturday.

the saturday morning waves: bigger, stronger

we were supposed to cross the babuyan channel again (and go back to luzon mainland) that day BUT unfavorable wind patterns intervened. we got stranded in babuyan.

stranded again?! hehe. =)