The One that Romblon Away: A Dream Paradise Outreach Mission with a Twist

When nature is a factor, expect the unexpected. That's exactly what happened in our Project Biyahero Romblon Outreach mission. 

Tropical Storm Domeng was passing by Philippine Area Of Responsibility when the team pushed through with the mission to give school supplies and more to the kids of Sibuyan. No cancellation of travels in Batangas Port were made so we were confident that we can be with the Mangyan kids.

I could feel the large RORO being swayed by huge waves. It alarmed me

Just like our travel via 2Go to Romblon, Romblon, we were in for a bumpy ride on this outreach mission. All of the items on our itinerary where scraped due to mother earth's seemingly predictable mood: uncertain. Upon arriving at the port of Romblon, the coast guard cancelled the Querubin's trip to Sibuyan. Locals there weren't also keen on travelling to Sibuyan on the premise of waves that can topple a full size RoRo. 

Donations and Schools Supplies
Thanks to our sponsors!

With this situation, we stayed in Romblon, Romblon for a day hoping that on our second day, the weather is much more suitable for sea voyage. I find comfort of knowing a local there was overseeing our activities, helping us along the way. It was kuya Benjie Jacobo who made our stay convenient and very relaxed even with the setbacks we were facing. 

We stayed at Dream Paradise Mountain Resort, an 18 year old property the very first resorts of its kind in the island of Romblon. It's an instagrammable resort.The entrance will wow you with umbrellas lining up to the main receiving area. A 7 ft deep pool to accent the center of the resort with huts and rooms nestled on the side of the hill. We were the only guest at the time hence it was like we rented the whole place. 

Entrance to Dream Paradise Mountain Resort

So much things have happened here

Drone shot by @davful

Swimming time at the 7ft Pool at Dream Paradise Mountain Resort

Side trip to Bonbon Beach was a breather from the cancelled trip to Sibuyan Island. What you normally see in social media about Bonbon is sunny. But in our case, raging waves and howling winds greeted us. It didn't stop us though. We had fun, played and danced in the rain.

Gloomy Bonbon Beach

Emote lang swak sa weather

Pero choose to smile!
Happy Birthday Ja! (ung nag selfie)

Staying salty despite rainy

Second day blessed us with a better weather. We hurriedly went to Romblon Port and jumped on Maria Querubin. All the donations were placed, we found our happy place in boat's deck waiting for that sweet "all aboard". A few minutes in, and the captain announced the most heartbreaking news; Trip to Sibuyan was again cancelled due to the big waves. This news left us dazed and paralyzed. What to do now? It took us quite a while to regain ourselves and adapt to the situation. 

Repacking of donations should be water proof so
we can hand carry each parcel going to the community

Selfless ladies

Composition, Grade School Supplies section

Thank you to the donors and supporters of the cause

We got back to Dream Paradise Mountain Resort and assess our options while making the most of our stay at the island. A side trip at a hidden pebble beach helped ease the lingering sting caused by our hopes to visit the kids of Sibuyan crushed with the announcement morning of that day. Talipasak Beach Cove is a pebble beach with karst stones on its shores. Some spots were snorkeling friendly. It was still cloudy with the sun occasionally gracing us with its attendance. We had boodle fight on the shore and chill under the gloomy sky.

Talipasak Beach Cove

Boodle Fight

 On the eve of the second day, we had planned to try again and go to Sibuyan via charted boat around 2AM. With a lot of things happening, the team decided to just send the packages we came with to Sibuyan when the weather have stabilized. This decision later on became the right one when we heard the next day that a vessel was toppled by the waves going to Sibuyan. It was a dreadful news to which we felt blessed but somehow sorry for the people who were missing on that shipwreck.

Wala ako dito, asa baba, na OP (joke)

Miss Elang Gala

Facade of Fuerza San Andres

Third day of the trip we were bound for Tablas for our travel back to Manila via Odiongan. Departed around 1PM in Romblon Romblon Port, arrived around 2:30 PM to San Agustin port. From there, an hour or so we arrived at Aglicay Beach Resort in Alcantara, Tablas Island. 

View from the Hill, not a Drone shot FYI

Beach Front of Aglicay

Picturesque view awaits you with rock formations, coves and hills around the beach were note worthy. A couple of minutes of hike, you can have a drone like vantage point seeing the surrounding coves of Aligcay, a 360 view. All drone shots here is from @davful

We celebrated our Mommy Beth's 65th Birthday (also her retirement from CHED) with pancit, loaf bread and coke. Truly a feast for the tummy given the amount of time we spent going around places.

Mommy Beth

I love Romblon Sign in front of the Romblon Port

Even though our main purpose of giving joy to the Mangyan Kids and providing knowledge to a local community of Sibuyan didn't came into fruition, we found a new (to me personally) perspective on travelling, friendship, hardships and life in general with the stories shared and memories created during this trip. That clichés happen, jolly people are those who have been tested by hardships in life still manages to bring joy to others; silent people are those with the loudest ideas; that love based on friendship endures and most plans tend to skew sideways. All can be an amazing experience with a happy disposition not letting a small or even big things dampen the mood. 

Fuerza San Andres

To the new friendships that were created by the a diverse set of people who joined, thanks for showing me new set of eyes on seeing the things around me. When sharing is part of the mission, anything that might hinder you, you just shrug it off and think for the greater good. That even if we weren't physically present to deliver the school supplies, we never gave up until all options were exhausted. In my observation, there were no ill emotions towards the changes of the itinerary in general. We had a great time. Not unless someone stayed at the resort due to tummy ache and missed out the fun (ehem haha inside joke)

Team Project Biyahero and Joiners with Kuya Benjie Jacobo

To the Project Biyahero Team, it was all your effort that made it a very fun experience despite confronted by many challenges. A learning experience indeed was made with this 1st founding anniversary of Project Biyahero. A rough start doesn't mean you won't be successful, it does mean you haven't loss anything but gained a lot to elevate to the next level. Onward and always Forward!

Project Biyahero Core Team