YA LEUM.41 — Linapacan, the clearest water in the world
We arrived at Linapacan while it was still day and looked for a guest house. After all, there were only two guesthouses and a place to eat.
The guesthouse we chose had an amazing terrace and the owner, Ben, who was very friendly, allowed us to use it.
We asked Ben how we could visit the surrounding islands and go for a dive, hoping there was something organized for the few tourists there. We found out that they had a tourist office near the entrance of the island but it was inactive at the moment.
Yet, we got an even better solution from Ben: “I’m going to call a friend with who I often go fishing. He is a fisherman and has a boat. Tell him where you want to go and set a price with him. You can visit anything you want!
Later that day, we went to explore the island and look for Ben’s fisherman friend.
The island looked pleasant and the fisherman lived in a little house over the sea.
His English was not too good but it was still enough to set a time, price, the length of the trip, and where to go. He smiled at us and we smiled back at him.
Was it safe, trustable, and truthful? We always believed it had to be.
I was only concerned about if he really had understood where we wanted to go and the scheduled time.
Yet, this was a constant unknown fact during our trip: did the locals understand what we said?
The only thing we could do was to wait and see.
We spent the rest of the day going around the island and returned later to the terrace at the guesthouse, to watch the sunset.
The days were always hot and the nights were warm. That night, we decided to sleep on the terrace, without the tent, simply sleeping in our sleeping bags.
The moon was finally full and enlightened the boats and the sea waves.
We lied on the sleeping bags and stared at the sky.
Together, always together.
At this point, we had already spent months on a move together, side by side, living the trip of our lives.
We felt that a little piece of the world was offered to us and we decided to keep it safe in a place that was only ours, between us, so that no one could see it.
That brought us closer. We saw people, heard stories, and felt nature in ways that are simply impossible to share with anyone else.
That little piece of the world was ours and that night we thought about how lucky we were for experiencing something so beautiful together.
On the next day, we went to meet our fisherman friend at the arranged time but the boat was not ready yet.
Shortly after, we were already getting on a small, wood, canoe-shaped boat, supported by wooden boards on both sides to keep it stable — the well-known Bangka. This type of boat is used for both fishing and transportation. Depending on the number of people being transported and the distance, its size can change. They do not seem very powerful but the truth is that they have plenty of special abilities: they do not disturb sea life, adapt to any need, can be used for fishing, commerce, and to transport people or heavy animals. The Bangka is not just for traveling through the sea. They also take us back to the trips of the indigenous people who were there before us.
Our boat was so small that it could not carry more than 3 people. Although all Bagkas offer a peculiar beauty, such a small transport always makes my heart tremble.
The sea was calm and the sea flowed unnoticed, but my bird-like stomach only handled the first three waves.
After the fourth wave, I was already taking deep breaths, in and out so I could handle the seasickness. To improve the situation, whenever I changed my position it felt like I was going to fall.
But…the landscape was phenomenal, and the sea was only ours. We were surrounded by small islands, clearly uninhabited and looking appealingly exotic like we were at the movie The Beach. We were traveling “in a very special place on earth” as our recent friend was saying. Although I felt quite nauseous, I could not be any happier! Everything was so beautiful that I could barely keep all the emotion within my heart.
Then, in the high sea, our friend stopped the canoe and said: “You can jump now! Take your diving goggles. This is the most beautiful place you will see!”.
Mathieu and I jumped separately. Once I dived, I started shouting underwater filled by an intense happiness! “Mathieu, Mathieu! LOOK! THIS IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD! LOOK, LOOK!”. Naturally, he could not hear me, but happiness was coming from my lungs.
We were diving in a gigantic aquarium, filled with sparkling reefs, fishes of all shapes and colors, movement, and animation.
That was a parallel universe filled with life, which existence was unknown by anyone else.
The massive aquarium, in its splendor, moved freely and elegantly.
The water was as clear as clear can be, the most magical and comfortable water that my skin ever felt.
And the colors penetrated my eyes as if they wanted to mark my soul.
I was inside a parallel universe and I felt like I was observing it all from far.
Like an invisible feather that fell from the sky by a blissfully coincidence…
I felt genuinely happy. That kind of happiness you do not know how to explain.
It was the most beautiful place I ever saw!
Meanwhile, I saw a 90cm long barracuda with a scary look and I decided to get back to the boat.
We continued our trip to our next destination — a desert island. In fact, all islands were desert and had only animals, plants, and trees. It was a day like any other, the weather was extremely hot and I could feel it in my bones. We could only find small shadows that barely managed to cover half of our bodies. Thus, we spent as much time as possible inside that translucid, warm, delicious water! We kept going back to the sand to get dry and back to the sea to swim.
When it was time to go, according to what we scheduled with our fisherman friend, the boat did not appear to be at its best. Apparently, water found its way to the engine and our fisherman friend could not turn it on. He told us to go back to the island while the engine dried up.
We walked through the island and found a few shadows. From time to time, we returned to the boat but the situation was the same. After nearly one hour, he concluded that the engine was broken so we had to call someone for help. Quite far away from us, a big boat was passing by, providing transportation between Palawan and Coron, and it stopped for its passengers to enjoy the view. I thought they were going to save us, but our fisherman friend was still trying the initial option: calling someone from the island. I kept thinking we should make a sign to the other boat, asking them for any kind of help, but our sailor was not willing to do it. He was trying to call someone, but he had no signal…
I started to think we were going to spend the night on the island by ourselves. Sometimes I felt a rush in my stomach when I do not know what is going on but it soon disappears…
We had planned for a short visit so we only had a bottle of water and nothing else. No telephone, money, food, pareo, hat, sun cream… nothing.
After two hours full of animation and suspense, finally, another Bangka arrived, as small and harmless as our small wooden boat. The last piece of drama was that we had to swim to the high sea because our boat could not get close to the waves. The boat that came to rescue us tied a rope to our boat. As quickly as we could, we started going back because a storm was getting closer…
Apparently, we were not quick enough and we were caught by the storm in the middle of our trip. It was the worst trip on the boat of my entire life!
The waves came one after the other, it was raining and the drops reached the sea very loudly, and the sailor in front of us was opening the way as good as he could. Mathieu and our fisherman friend tried to keep the boat balanced and I felt seasick like never before. I felt so nauseous that I even got to believe it could be a cause someone to die.
Our sailor handed me a small pot with a liquid that smelled like mint: “smell it, it will help you with your nausea”. I smelled the flask during the entire time! I guess it helped…
It was pouring rain, the sea was still wild, and we were trying to keep our boats tied to each other while sailing against the flow. I did not even have the time to feel scared because seasickness got control over me to such an extent that I entered a trance state. I just wanted to cry and I felt that there was no way I would feel better.
While still under the rain and with a calmer sea, we started to see land on the horizon. Yet, we were still far away. We still had to go around the island to get to our destination.
I started feeling better slightly, at least, feeling more alive…
We returned safely and our fisherman friend did the best for us! We thanked him big time for this unforgettable and most beautiful experience of our lives.
Everything in this island felt particular to us. Between to main, highly touristic islands, with the most beautiful water in the world, endless of places to trek and the perfect destination to be more developed even for its locals. But not really….
Since there was not much to do left, we decided to leave the day after. But…how didn’t we think about checking the boat to come?
As it was so difficult to get to the island, now it was also difficult to leave the island.
We ended up staying stuck in the island two more days, with not much to do.
….Well, there is always something to do! To read, to write to do nothing. Which my father taught me to love!
Still, we had the feeling of being stuck, because we wanted to leave, but we couldn’t.
New but odd feeling…
One of the nights in the island, we met a Swedish couple who were doing the crossing between the two island and we tried to take a lift in the boat…did not work out.
We were stuck in Linapacan, but we were happy, enjoying the life in this peculiar, empty and magical island.
December 2017,
Patricia Aassis
