Tandag To Cebu Flight

So! End of my Surigao Del Sur sojourn, and I was at the airport on time and in time for my flight to Cebu! Before entering the small airport though, I stood at this corner for my 'ceremonial' last stick!

I'll agree if you say it looks like one or many domestic airports in the country. That's their usual style.

Same position, I just had to turn a little.., and I had my final glimpse at the Tandag City Hall!

I'm not sure if there is any existing or foreseeable significance (or advantage?), but I was amazaed to find here, that the city hall is right across the air terminal! Is this a first in the Philippines? Well, maybe.

I was not done gazing at the city hall when I heard the sound of a plane passing above me..,

No doubt the Cebu Pacific plane from Cebu. And I saw porters / drivers hastening to their positions.

I went inside na, as this is a small plane where after disembarkation, boarding immediately follows!

That door farther to the end, that has 'some' people waiting, is the arrival area. This door with a guard in blue barong is departure area. Wala akong kinalaman sa babaeng yan mag-isang naka-upo. Pramis!

Hey I like this.., from inside the pre-departure waiting area, you could see the arrival area!

See that? That's where passengers walking from the plane will enter to wait for their checked-in bags.

Fortunately for me, there were only a handful of us passengers taking this flight..,

An opportune time to go up front and take pictures of the plane without disturbing too many people!

See there? Ground crews and guards taking cover from the sun as they wait for the plane to arrive!

I actually laughed why that marshal was already standing on the line! Can you see him on the line?!

He was all ready, and facing the terminal. But Oh My Gino-o ko, the plane still had to pass from behind him to enter the tarmac/apron. I was silently screaming "padaanin mo muna yung plane, gung-gong"!!!

Here here.., our very enthusiastically over-excited air marshal fled to the side and let the plane pass..,

Here's a closer look at the plane approaching.., you stand anywhere on that line, goodbye earth ka!

Oh, I shot a short video clip on this.., and I'll put it here soonest.

Until the whole arrival exercise finally became like this, for passengers to disembark..,

If you're an airport/airline insider (like I now claim to be hehehe), that video above and this picture are enough to bolster a fun educational conversation to last for years - depending on the topic of interest!

1] Why is the plane parked facing that way anyway?
Ah.., wala lang, trip lang! Actually, it is more of just passenger courtesy from the airline (at face value). But in reality, it is actually also a safety measure. That's because the doors of that kind of plane (ATR) are at the back, and they usually use the left side. Thus, with the plane positioned like that, few people (airline staff only) would need to pass under the wings and the propellers that are positioned very low.

2] Why is the plane not standing aligned with that yellow line on the pavement?
Ah, you can blame that on the pilot. They are all trained to align their planes with those markings, but somehow some of them don't care. The important thing is their front wheels must be stepping on that yellow paint they're designated to stop (or step) on. In here, who cares, there's only one plane anyway!

Anyway, here's something cute: that airplane door opened at 12:58PM on my watch for passengers to disembark. A minute or two thereafter we were already called to board. In fact, the next pic below was taken at 1:03PM (by me) as the first passenger to board as my seat was up front at 2D. E ano ngayon?

So what? Well, I would like to point to you, that on any Cebu Pacific turn-around plane, cabin cleaning is not done - and/because it's not a requirement. Yuck ba? Try observing at any airport where you see these yellow planes. You will not see the usual platoon of cabin cleaners who attack the plane when all 'guests' are out and boarding does not commence until they are done! Budget airlines don't do that.

Compare that to more 'reputable' airlines, there are still always those cabin cleaners. Unfortunately, it looks like PAL is getting lured into that practice of the budget airlines instead of the other way around. Meaning? Ah, compared to the '80s, now we seldom see cleaners at PAL's local stations. Do you, still?

Here was my plane waiting for passengers to board. And I was first out of a... very few!

How few was "very few"? Ah I don't know if there was even 20 of us passengers on board. Capacity of this "small plane" is 72 passengers. And if there are always just a few passengers on their every flight, it becomes economically or touristically dangerous to the city. Why? Well, they might stop flying soon!

Da! So you people of Surigao Del Sur, keep flying. And you people of the world, keep flying to Tandag!

Take-off! How wonderful I could see Tandag down below! Look, it's far but I can identify the capitol!

I could clearly see Villa Maria Luisa at right. That's where I came from before getting into this flight!

There are Linungao I and II. They are (now) technically not separate islands from Tandag anymore..,

Both are/were supposedly separately connected to Tandag mainland via sandbars that have become developed through the years, and now they even have real paved streets, including the Tandag Port.

This island must be what they call Mancagangi, about 3kms northeast of the Tandag Port..,

I have not been there, but the bungisngis friends told me it has a white beach and there are thousands of big bats (paniki) that dwell and hang on trees not inside a cave. Ha?! Ah maybe like those at Subic.

Final goodbye Surigao Del Sur.., Climbing higher, flight banked westward towards the Bohol Sea..,

That shoreline is still Surigao Del Sur, probably the town of Cortes. But I could sense we were about to cross the mountains heading towards Agusan Del Norte on the other side of northeastern Mindanao.

I guessed right! After 14 minutes from last pic above.., over the mountains we reached Magallanes!

Magallanes Agusan Del Norte is at lower left of the photo, almost directly below the plane. That place at the top-center of the photo is Cabadbaran City. Whoa, I visited those 2 places some 8 years ago na!

Teka, you might be wondering how I'm able to identify places even if I'm way up in the sky without any Wi-Fi connection. The trick is something within Google Maps I just very lately discovered (sorry na if I am too late for this hehe) - the save for offline viewing function! Yes there is such a thing. Very handy!

Then the plane banked a little to the right going west-northwest towards the skies over Bohol.

Ah, I did not see Camiguin as it was on the left side of the plane. But for a very short while, I saw the beaches of Anda, reason why I grabbed the phone (camera), but I missed as we were flying very fast.

It's interesting to see the so many little islands and islets surrounding Bohol main island like these..,

But I got lost and wasn't able to identify those islands, because I looked down to fasten my seatbelt :(

Well, on this one.., there was no mistaking.., it was a fastcraft hurtling out of Cebu..,

Nice activity.., I can make this a hobby! What should I call that, "island (and vessel) spotting"? Pwede!

Anyway.., okay I arrived in Cebu.., and at 3PM I was already checking-in at Waterfront Mactan.

That's next!