Day 2. Batanes.

This time though we’re headed off to another island – Sabtang. Sabtang is a 30- to 45-minute ride on the faluwa, the traditional Ivatan boat. It’s a big boat. Wide. It’s front end slopes towards the sky as if in constant salutation. It’s probably because it needs to break the waves it meets as it crosses the channel. A word of warning to those not used to sea travel – the trip can be rough. Thankfully, it wasn’t that rough during ours.

The tour is quick and it doesn’t even cover the entire island. It’s understandable though. You need to be back at Sabtang Port for the 1PM faluwa trip back to Batan. Anything later than that and you risk roughing it out with the open sea.

Anyway, if my map reading skills are still as sharp as during my scouting days, you only get to visit the eastern side of Sabtang. My hunch tells me that there’s much more to see on the western side. Still, the vistas on the places you get to visit during the day tour is magnificent.