where was I on the 17th of June?

my bladder woke me up at 4:30 in the morning. the cold sunday dawn writhed into my nerves that i just wanted to cling to my pillow and blanket. but NO! it was a big day. a BIG day! the 16 of us jostled ourselves into the van that tita mona rented for the trip. it was a comfortable 3-hour-30-minute drive. everyone was hyper and excited. we just prayed that we won't be caught by typhoon "Butchoy" on the way to the island. the original plan was to have a boat ride to isla higantes. a 1-hour boat ride from the port in estancia (fact from our tour guide, aka, carl's dad). we arrived at the port around 9 am. we quickly settled ourselves on the boat. as we left the port, everyone started to disperse, finding their own nook around the boat. ramir for example, stayed at the front of the craft. i was starting to feel uneasy about the long boat ride. but when i looked up on the roof of the captain's deck, bench waved at me and i hurriedly climbed to the top. ahhh!!! that little square roof was like heaven! the open air made me want to be blown away and i saw the vastness of the ocean from there. later, tara and tita mona joined the "roof gang". we never felt the effect of the huge waves that the people on the lower deck felt. yes, we saw how huge the waves were, but we just cheered to it! it was fun! we were enjoying the bumpy boat ride, when, somewhere in the middle of nowhere and nowhere, the captain stopped the boat and asked everyone if we really want to go to isla higantes, never mind the threatening sky and waves. he said we can get there, yes, but it will take a longer time because of the waves. and he feared that it might be worse on our way back in the afternoon. plus, mamang and tita dayet turned paper white already. we decided to thread the waves back to the nearest shore, which i can't remember it's complicated name. by then the sun started to come out. the clear blue green water made me want to jump from the roof deck. but we were warned about the jelly fish. we changed to our swimsuit and followed the manong who trapped the slimy, backboneless creatures in his net. the water was still stingy and itchy. i stayed in my element for a wee while even when everyone else came out of it. i tolerated the itchy water and talked about life with tita mona, who seemed like "aryana" in her mermaid-like pose on the coral reef. when we were called to chow, we went to a well somewhere in the midst of the island for a tabo shower. lunch was like a second heaven! i couldn't resist eating the fresh seafood. my tummy bulged with the excessive intake of oysters, shrimps, grilled milkfish, squid and some dried fish. gluttony is a sin...and i have sinned that day. after staying on the shore for about an hour, our tour guide asked if we want to go to sicogon island. since the weather has improved and the sea wasn't that threatening, we decided to go for another island hopping. the waves didn't make any difference from our previous attempt to isla higantes, but what the heck! nothing can stop us anymore. not even "Butchoy". sicogon island was once a popular tourist destination. that was back in the 80's. but when boracay boomed, sicogon was over-shadowed by it. nevertheless, sicogon island is still wonderful. we jumped off the boat and swam our way to the shore. then we ran after the "kagang-kagang" (small crabs!) they were so fast and i felt challenged to catch just one of them. and i did! but that was after i ate a lot of sand for running after them. amazing creatures! at around 3, we decided to head back to the main island. on the roof deck, we were asking each other if there are sharks around that area. our guide said yes. we gulped and kept quiet, silently praying that the boat won't somersault, as we dozed off. we were awakened when we heard someone shouting. i thought we were at the port already. but no! we're still in the middle of the sea, running after a fishing boat to ask for some fish. sweet life! we had fresh grilled squid and fried fish for snacks right on the roof deck, as we continued sailing back to estancia. we finally touched the ground again at 6, after almost 7 hours of floating. i wasn't entirely happy that the day had to end. but it had to and we had to drive back to iloilo. we hugged and waved goodbye to our tour guide and friendly boat crew. then drove back to the city. we felt beaten after sitting for a few minutes in the van. i completely lost consciousness until bench woke me up when we were close to jaro. where was i again on the 17th of june?... i was in heaven :)