Going to Pangangan Island

They pronounce this as “Pang-ga-ngan’’. Its an island just off the shores of Calape and a fine enough respite for locals and visitors alike. Nope, it cannot boast of ultra luxurious things nor almost-fantasy kinds of beaches as you would on islands heavily beaten by the tourist feet. But Pangangan has its own little rustic charm that I like. Although I might say, its slowly being erased by modernistic developments. So you decide if you wanna go enjoy the island now or later. As for me, here was another island that I never even knew of, yet, I promised myself, I should be back for more. Yeah, promise!

Longest causeway. If you don’t have your own or a chartered boat, and if you cannot wait for the next little boat that takes passengers to the island, the next best thing is “land trip”. Its not far, really. Just about 5 or 6 kilometers of a trike ride from the town’s public market via the causeway. What’s with this causeway that the manong driver kept proudly harping about? Well, when we passed there, I understood his point of view and he better be proud… I think. It’s a “land-bridge” that they constructed to connect Pangangan Island with mainland Calape. He says it is longer than Panglao’s and any other in the province. What is it, really? Tons of earth hauled from the mountains, dumped on a shallow mangrove area to make way for humanistic needs called a road. That’s it. Hmm, I can sense some nature-lover activists thinkin aloud now hehe…

It’s not done yet btw, at least during the time we passed by said causeway. Parts of the road were still being constructed, paved, fenced and so on… but OMG, something interesting caught my attention. Along the causeway, in the middle of nowhere, there are a few structures not as abodes but mainly for excursion purposes. While the few on the right sell some snacks, drinks, beers and have a blaring videoke, two other structures on the left looked interesting. They’re big enough structures that could pass for a barrio’s public market area or bus station, complete with concrete flooring, concrete benches and tin roofs. But alas, they were submerged in water that my mind rolled as to what it really was/is. From the looks of the roof, those two houses were surely already there even before the road was constructed. I’m sure of that.

“Piknikan” (picnic area) was manong trike driver’s response when I asked what those two buildings are/were. What makes it interesting to me is that both buildings are “submerged” in sea-water – at least their floors – up to about waist-deep. I can’t imagine any normal-thinking person would build his houses/buildings as such. I suspected those were built to be something else, though for now they really do function as a picnic area hehe. My buddy offered that those might have been the remnants of two houses but abandoned when the tides kept constantly above their ground or floor levels. Hmm, whatever… they really were a conundrum to us.

If the tides have reached those buildings, why? Is this portion of the planet sinking? Or maybe water levels increased when the causeway was made as it forms some kind of a dam? What were those two houses really were? Why was it so dispensable for the folks to allow it to be “under water”. Hmm, that line of thinking occupied us and we caught ourselves discussing possibilities while manong driving was not of any more help.

Fast-forward… on return, after making a round of Pangangan Island, we saw the same place and the buildings were not anymore subrged as it was low tide. Hmm, all the more that we kept imagining what those previously were. Anyway, as for now, they do seem to be a unique picnic area in the shallows near the mangroves. I itch to bring some friends there, those who are fond of going with us to beaches but never “EVER” go swim nor even touch the water. I can count 3 such ridiculous lovely friends hehe. Why do I want to bring them there? Well, obviously they won’t have a choice but to be wet and wild during high tide hahaha!!

Now, if anyone of you dear readers know the story of how those two “houses” came to be… I’d be really glad to know. Just curious!

Ah, let’s proceed to the island. Shall we?!


If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

Previous

Next