Beach Walk To San Jose

Beach walk again? Yes, to the other side this time!

Back from that long walk along Aroma Beach, I took my second shower of the day at exactly 7:50AM! Just a quick one, on this hot humid day. Summer has started, I guess!

But what was I to do other than sit out at the beach-side tables of my resort? Itchy feet ruled again… I walked leftwards to town center via the beach – opposite direction of my stroll earlier on this same beach. Here we go…

Getting to be nicer (clearer) views as the sun inched up...
boats docked on the beach in San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Heading leftwards this time, this view is to my right and back!


There are the islands again… Illin, Ambulong and little White Island…
view of Illin Island, Abulong Island and White Island from the beach of San Jose Occidental Mindoro
I was still not dropping the idea… Should I see them up close or… should I?!


Noticeably no people on this part of the beach. Why?
no people on this wide part of the beach, it's a cemetery just right up the edge of the road
It’s a cemetery up there! There’s a house on the left yes, but all others are, duuu!


I walked faster hehehe!


Fishing boats anchored some distance from the shore…
fishing boats at sea with Ambulong and Illin Islands in the background at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Why so? Are they afraid of the shore?


Here’s the reason.. they are actually big boats! This one is on dry dock for repairs.
close up of the outriggers of a drydocked fishing boat at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
If they came any closer, the hulls would hit sand or shoal and break. Look in the shadow at lower-right of this photo, you should find a man squatting and see how tiny he is compared to the boat!


These boats just look small or regular-sized when afloat. They’re enormous, actually!


Here is another one… a boat-in-the-making! Can you see the man up there?
a boat being built on the beach with a man tending to the mast at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
I think these boats are 10 to 15 feet tall from hull up to where ‘passengers’ would be!


Hey I learned something new! See those pipes running along the hull of this boat?
close up shot of metallic pipes lined on the outside hull of a boat in San Jose Occidental Mindoro
I asked the makers, and they told me its for cooling the engine. Coolness!


Now am still imagining how that works! At least I already learned it’s a cooling thing!


I saw small boats darting between the shore and those big boats. What for?
fishing boats moored at a distance from the beach in San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Hauling the day’s catch to shore, and, new supplies back to boat.


Here’s an example: They were like running because the containers are heavy...
a containerful of big and medium sized fish including a baby shark being carried by fishermen at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
This one includes a baby shark and everything you’d like from the grill. Yumminess!


Another new boat…
close-up shot of the outside hull of a boat under construction named "Thanks Giving 5" at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
I like the name! Those are two words! It even got its initials for a logo – TG!


See?! Quite a realization I learned having walked this way. Who needs a shipyard? In San Jose, they do their boats right on their yards - the beach that is! Lovely isn't it?!


Oh, And there is White Island again… ah it was like teasing me! Calling at me!!!
view of white island out at sea from the beach of San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Not an easy decision. Its expensive to hire a boat (alone) going there and back!


Aside from the boats, I of course also saw other snippets of life and industry in and around this side of San Jose. Here are some...


Unloading bamboo furniture from a boat...
man carrying a bamboo sofa on the beach of San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Bamboo products are made at the islands, then sold at the San Jose market.


These guys were willing enough to answer my questions...
bamboo baby cribs and a bamboo chair laid out on the beach before transporting to the market at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
One man said there's an ample supply in the islands - but not for factories. Nice one! That squatting guy even told me, their hands can only do so many in a month, thus, by the time they need more bamboo, the younger saplings will have already grown just in time. If I take his word for it, at least they are still living a proper balance between supply and demand. Sustainable livelihood!


And they do charcoal too! Owned, or being handled by the same bamboo men...
sacksful of charcoal (used as cooking fuel) beside the bamboo furniture on the beach awaiting transport to the market at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
They told me they only pick fallen trees and branches for this. One even intimated that those they bring here even comes from a specific tree, and that they don't make charcoal when there are no fallen branches as its hard to burn fresh wet wood.


It got me thinking... sometimes education the way we in the metropolis have learned it, is actually dangerous to nature. Take their craft and their products for an example... if anyone got to them telling them how to find the "proper" markets, or how to sell "effectively", their products would have a lot of buyers causing them to make more, beyond what the life-cycle of wood and bamboo can provide, causing denudation of the forests! Unless they're planting those trees and bamboos, which I can't imagine!


Anyway...


There were children on this part of the beach too!
children playing on the beach sand at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
But unlike near Sikatuna Resort, there were no adults with them.


Saw this boat ready to depart for the islands and I was craving to ride with it…
a passenger boat full of passengers on the beach at San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Unfortunately, boatman told me that the return trip of any boat is still tomorrow morning. Ayayay!


Nearby, after a little island, was their public market where I walked to. I would have wanted to snap pics of this and that, but I was passing amidst a lot of shore-side huts where almost all men didn’t wear shirts and curiously looking at me. Afraid! Hahaha!


So I just briskly walked past everything and emerged on the street to hail a tricycle. Where to? Ah, that is a fantastic find I’ll tell you in the next entry. Promise!


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