Balut Balud

With a geographical coordinates of  5° 24' 0" North, 125° 23' 0" East, Balut Island is probably the southernmost municipality of the Philippines. The island municipality is a geopolitical dominion of the province of Davao del Sur but is more conveniently accessible from Glan, Sarangani Province and General Santos City. It is composed of two islands, Balut and Sarangani where the local seat of government is situated in the former, the latter is more often confused with the Sarangani Province.

Our journey kicked off early in the evening on a Friday by car to Isla Jardin del Mar resort in Glan, Sarangani Province to celebrate Cora's birthday. Its a quiet resort, beauty and charm was blanketed by an octopus ink darkness of the night but the sky never failed to amazed us with all its shimmering stellar splendor while a few fell into the vastness of the horizon.


We all woke up early the next day to continue the journey while the ladies drove back to Gensan. It took us almost an hour traversing some rugged terrain and rustic landscape before hitting the village of Pangyan, where our boat awaits. The outrigger boat was smaller than we thought but the boatman assured us of its seaworthiness considering its double engine and the load they carried a day before... 2 adult cows and 23 people vis a vis 30 scuba tanks, gears and 11pax. The sailing was smooth not until we cross the channel towards the vast bosom of the Celebes Sea. The swells were bigger than our boat, though it seems normal with the boatman while most were contemplating on mortality while revving up survival instincts as the boat negotiated the infamous Balut waves. Dead silence struck us as the boat nestled on the crest of the wave and slide down to keel over but quickly managed to distribute the balance which saved us from capsizing. Upon nearing the island, a pod of dolphins welcomed and brought us  feeling of safe arrival.

We disembarked relieved and hungry, coffee fix was a must that even the lowly 3n1's tasted like real coffee and was sipped with pride and gusto...oh the cake, it was a perfect combo! Some said it was like a grilled cake but one can't be discriminating when hunger calls.
grilled cake



On to the first order of the day...Wedding. One of our friends was a distinguished wedding guest which somehow made our team special as well. I was expecting of a traditional muslim wedding but it was a fusion of a christian and the latter. It was a big banquet with no pork and the beef rendang was heavenly!

After the ceremony, we scheduled to do our first dive, to our dismay, our boat's bow  was dented and useless. Tried to look for an alternative ride but was already late, besides, the weather was gloomy and rainy. Went back to the guesthouse, planned for the next day and arrested the night with the spell of Fundador while annoyingly entertained by SPO 10.

Excitement woke us up on a beautiful sunny day and head out to the open water. Balut isn't publicly mapped as a dive destination that we rely information solely from the boatmen which were appallingly insufficient. It was more of a hit and miss endeavor. Visibility was fantastic but the area we dove wasn't that amazing. Mayor Jerry Cawa treated us with lunch of rainbow runners and clam shell. Toured us around with his sturdy boat to his wife's house but were barred entry as he left the keys :( .   

We chose to take the regular ferry than the small outrigger going back to Gensan.It was a 5hr trip with the luxury of a cot. 









Comments

  1. balik daw ta end of the month to discover and explore dive sites.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow! nice..I hope maka punta ako dyan :-)

    ReplyDelete

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