old posts

i feel relieved 'coz i was able to retrieve my old blogs and deided to post it here. It wass funny looking back and reminsicing at the days that were. Now, I find less and less time to write, to think that this was one of my most favorite thing to do back then. I just hope that looking at my previous posts would somehow encourage me to write again. I hope it will again light up the fire that died away.

Galera experience

After nearly three years, I still shiver a little whenever I see great waves. I used to love the sea and adore the fascinating creatures in it. I even had swimming lessons and got little bronze medal for doing good. But everything changed that day I almost died somewhere at Batangas Sea. A friend asked me to write about the experience but Inever found the time to do so. Or maybe, subconsciously, I just don't want to remember it.

It was the morning of December 11, and the sun is up after raining for two days. We decided to go home since the sky is clear. There is only one trip left back to Batangas since the waves are a little too strong for a sunny afternoon. Unlike what the news claims, I don't think the boat was overloaded. About 30 minutes from Galera, I started to feel the bamboo katig starting to crack. The first one to completely break was the one on my side. That was the time I felt fear. After a couple more big waves, the left katig gave up and the boat lost its support. The waves are so high that the the manong decided to completely stop the engine and instructed us to get a life vest stored in the compartments above our heads. By this time, we are in the middle of nowhere, about an hour from Galera, and land is nowhere to be found. When the water started to come in, I quicly grabbed my phone with one bar of signal strength left, and called my Mom. My words were "Nay, lumulubog bangka namin. Pagpray mo kami." (These words almost killed my Mom. Sorry Nay!) I shut the phone, threw it inside my big Mickey Mouse bag, then jumped to the water after the manong said "Talon na po kayo. Lulubog na po tayo."

I remember wearing a watch I bought at tiangge that didn't stop until we reach land. That is why I know that we were in the water for nealy five hours. I later heard that the Batangas sea is shark infested. Well, the gas from the boat spilled, and that may have masked our 'scent'. One thing I will never forget was how tall the waves are. Imagine this: I stand five feet, five inches. I was wearing a vest to keep me afloat. I was clinging to this broken bamboo katig to avoid being washed out. Whenever a wave comes in, I would cling hard to the bamboo, and the wave would completely submerge and even go above me, leaving me with arms outstreched. It was taller than me. I cannot describe the fear that sets on me whenver I know that a wave is about to hit us. I didn't know if I can still hold on to the bamboo when my arms are tired. I was thinking if my friends can hold on and not be swept by the big waves. And as time passed, the waves became bigger and came in one after the other. It was scary.

It took two years before I started going to beaches again. But even then, I still cannot go further once the water starts to go over my shoulders. I cannot step into the water without the fear that something underneath may bite my leg. I go to the beach now to enjoy the sunset and sunrise, and my friends' company. I do not know if I can ever enjoy the open sea as much as I enjoyed it before.