Rise and shine, it's time for another day of adventure! Today we will be taking a boat to another island here in Batanes, called Sabtang, it's only less than an hour away so maybe I can have a little nap on the way there.
Waiting at the port...
... with the people...
... by the beach...
A little trivia about Batanes is that it consists of 10 islands, but only 3 of them are inhabited by man, we toured the main island of Batan yesterday and now we will be headed to Sabtang!
On the way to Sabtang!
Sabtang Lighthouse in the distance
Port of people
Sabtang Lighthouse as seen from the port
The boat ride was a lot shorter than I expected and we soon found ourselves on the Port of Sabtang where our jeepney transport was waiting for us, first stop: Barangay Savidug.
One thing I've noticed in the island of Sabtang, is that most of the houses were still vernacular and made out of stone, unlike the ones in the main island of Batan, where they've taken a more "townhouse" appeal.
Batanes' iconic stone houses
Didn't miss the chance to wear their grass-made headgears, the "vakul"
Trying to fit right in...
Further on our walking at the town of Savidug, we came across a quaint little chapel beside a stone house made for picture-taking.
In a quaint little area...
Just edited together these pics...
After a couple of pictures here and there, we were off to another part of the island.
If I thought the view I was getting outside our jeepney was amazing, Chamantad View Point was a sight to behold!
Where the land...
... meets the ocean...
Lets's go to the top!
Just getting started...
We also didn't miss the chance to get to the highest point and take some videos and pictures near the edge:
Also, I highly recommend trying their "kamote" (sweet potato) donut, which I found to be really tasty, and partner it with some fresh buko, and you'll feel refreshed after the trek from the viewpoint. With that said, we're now off to the next town of Chavayan!
Here in Barangay Chavayan is where we met the Sabtang Weavers Association, and they gave us a brief insight on how they craft certain pieces of clothing with the usage of their local flora and some materials gathered near the coast.
Walking tour starts from here
Where the eco-wearable "vakul", and other goods are made
More stone houses are seen here and some even leave their goods out to dry in the sun.
Stone steps amidst stone houses
Just some the materials used by the locals
Passing by more stone houses...
Of course the town of Chavayan wouldn't be complete without their local chapel, Sta. Rosa de Lima, with its roof sewn into the foundation like most of the stone houses here in Sabtang.
Maybe just in need of a little repainting though...
Before leaving for our next destination, we took a picture of this house which was built by the locals for their congresswoman, unfortunately she passed away before its completion so even though it remains unused, it's still being maintained for aesthetic reasons.
Would probably make a nice Airbnb...
Morong Beach with its natural stone arch would be our last stop in Sabtang before heading to the port, and since lunch was still being prepared by the kitchen nearby, we decided to head down the beach.
Lunch in the house
Beyond the arch...
... lies the beach...
Again, we were cautioned not to swim the beach, less we want to be dragged out into the Pacific Ocean, so video-taking it is then:
Staying close to the rocks...
We had a speedy lunch since we lost track of time, and if we wanted to reach the port in time, we needed to get a move on. Though I'm glad to say we got there in the nick of time and soon we found ourselves back at Katuvang with most of the afternoon to ourselves. But why lay around the bedroom when there are still places that need to be explored?
Since my mom wanted to see the gallery at Fundacion Pacita, we decided to make a reservation and go there; it's worth noting that you don't need to have a reservation when wanting to visit the gallery alone, you only need one when you plan to eat at the cafe.
Getting around Batanes is either by motorcycle or by pedicab (which we call tricycles here in the Philippines), and since neither us had any driving experience, the latter was the obvious choice. Tricycles are booked here in Batanes much like how Grab and Uber works, you just need to ask for the number at the place you're staying at.
Hanging out at the cottages outside Katuvang, waiting for our tricycle
The fare was 150php and we were dropped off just outside the walkway which was a little ways down towards Fundacion, reaching what looked to me was the main foyer, we decide to take pictures while also looking for the gallery.
Signage at the start of the walkway
Walking down this path...
Main foyer of the Fundacion
We took a random walkway thinking it was headed towards the gallery, but soon found out it actually led to the main accommodations of Fundacion. There weren't any people around who we could ask so we just took photos before heading back to the main foyer.
That must be the gallery over there...
Turns out it was the Fundacion...
Might as well ask for directions inside...
Nobody here???
Deciding to just ask the staff inside the cafe where the gallery was, we found out it was actually located below the establishment all along, like they have this circular set of stairs that I first thought led to the stockroom or something.
It helps to have a signage somewhere outside too, you know...
Finally found the door to the gallery... which actually faces a cliff...
Time to enjoy the interior
Beauty amidst the chaos
Life imitates art
Time for some postcards!
After my mom bought some postcards from the front office (which is actually located outside the cafe, hidden near an alcove), we got a hungry and decided to have an early dinner at the cafe.
Cafe entrance, which you actually see from the main walkway...
Some nice fountain heads off to the right...
The usual cafe ambiance...
Window view, which the gallery entrance faces as well...
Divang a.k.a. Flying Fish, partnered with Tubho Tea, which is naturally sweet fern tea
We went back to the Fundacion's garden near sunset since I read somewhere it provided a nice view of the sky's changing color, but since it was starting to get foggy with some slight drizzle, we only managed to see a few rays of the sun.
Fundacion Garden
With cell signals being weak in some lower parts of Batanes, mountains and hilltops were as good as any to get better connection, so we called a tricycle from Fundacion's garden and decided to wait up the walkway where we were first dropped off at.
Fundacion Pacita in the distance
With dinner done, we decided to have an early nightcap at the local coffee shop a couple of blocks away, at Phil's Brew:
Still closed when we passed by, Store hours: 4pm-9pm
Nothing beats a good old latte with some homemade Cacao Cake!
Don't worry about me not getting sleep 'cuz of the caffeine, in fact coffee gets me a good night's sleep on most nights or maybe it was just the day's events that also got me tired, but I found sleeping early to my advantage that night since we were expected at the port as early as 6AM the next morning. Remember when I mentioned that Batanes has 3 inhabited islands? Well this is the island not usually traveled and would be considered for the extreme adventurers, welcome to the island of Itbayat.
The northernmost inhabited island of the Philippines!
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