We sailed under bad weather conditions then, but thankfully the rains stopped momentarily as we were about to dock in Malalison Island, which allowed me to take this shot. It’s one of my favorites. 
Read my blog post on that here.
Tag Archives: Antique
[Photoshopped] Autumn in Antique
This photo was taken in the town of Tibiao in Antique in the Visayas. The river shown is used today for kayaking, something we didn’t get to try because of the bad weather.
When I took this photo I couldn’t wait to put in on Photoshop to play around with its colors. I tried shooting in Infrared once or twice in the past, but it’s far too technical for my taste. This false color post-process is more like me—instant. 
It was a fairly simple thing to do—one stroke of genius from Nik Software’s Indian Summer, which I just had to adjust to give me the false color on the second photo. I was pretty much happy with the result.
What do you think?
ORIGINAL PHOTO
FINISHED PRODUCT
Travel Snaps: The fishing community of Culasi in Antique
Thriving on fishing, the municipality of Culasi in Antique province was our jump-off point to Malalison Island, one of its island barangays frequented by scuba divers.
At most, Culasi is a very simple community with a breathtaking countryside. Driving along its winding roads had been a visual feast despite the rainy weather. We passed by endless tracts of rice fields, dotted by nipa huts and coconut trees. The sunset beyond the fields and the sea had been particularly stunning.
And on the other side rests an expansive mountain range, locally called Mt. Madja-as, overlooking the whole town. It has no less than seven waterfalls visible on a clear day from anywhere in town—unfortunately, the mountain had been covered in clouds for the most part of our visit.
Culasi is an hour’s drive from Caticlan in Aklan province, Panay Island.
Photo above shows Mt. Madja-as
POSTS FROM MY ANTIQUE SERIES
A not-so-smooth sailing day
Malalison Island from afar
Hiking to seven waterfalls in one go
A crocodile love affair
Spending nine hours at sea
Sailing to Caticlan but not going to Boracay
Malalison Island, Antique: A not-so-smooth sailing day, and then some
I sit here asking myself if that very long wobbly boat ride had been worth it.
The trip we took to Malalison Island had been marred by roughly an hour of bad weather that left me seasick for the first time in my life–something not even Samal Island’s wobbly boat rides could beat.
But I was definitely beyond grateful for all the help given by the local men, who had to take us from the enormous fishing vessel we were riding into a canoe that would take us through the final stretch leading to Malalison (and that wasn’t smooth sailing at all too. Because the boat was going against the gushing current, we had to pray hard the little wooden contraption we were riding doesn’t topple over).
Malalison finally comes into view. And it had made quite an impression despite the less-than-favorable weather.
Ah, but this photo only means one thing: we’re too far from that man, but this is the nearest our boat could go.
The rope from our boat to the sandbar was to be the guide of the canoe as it crosses from end to end. The waves were cutting across the path, literally.
We did manage to clamber out of our canoe alive—panting and nervous, but alive—and into a sandbar, a good part of which was submerged in water at that time due to the weather.
We were welcomed by a feast of grilled fish—at least four different kinds, including talakitok and tambilawan—cooked by the residents. It looked just like any other Pinoy gathering—some bustling about cooking, others exchanging pleasantries. It was a simple, warm welcome, and the freshly grilled seafood was a big come on too.
Unfortunately, the rains continued to batter the island and the sky grew darker as the afternoon ambled on. We were supposed to head to the back of Malalison and trek through its hills, but obviously that wasn’t about to push through.
I spoke instead to the island’s barangay captain Mario Fuenteblanca—Malalison is an island barangay of 700 people and maybe a thousand times more coconut trees—and I simply had to content myself at jotting down sights and activities that could have made a great afternoon.
SNORKELING & DIVING
Apparently the island has a fish sanctuary somewhere beyond our station at the multipurpose hall. Most Malalison visitors—the barangay keeps a logbook for this—go there for snorkeling or scuba diving. Majority of the divers who flock here are foreigners, no doubt drawn to the island’s raw and rugged beauty.
Divers would first have to secure a municipal diving permit from Culasi (the municipality that Malalison belongs to) for PhP200. Then there is the PhP150-barangay diving fee to pay for as well. Snorkelers, meanwhile, would have to pay the barangay a PhP150-entrance fee.
CAMPING
The island has its own chapel and elementary school, but electricity only becomes available from 6 PM to 9 PM everyday. This also means there are no hotels, though visitors are welcome in locals’ homes. Most of them, however, bring along tents and camp right outside the multipurpose hall, which has plain sand dotted only by a couple of trees and three concrete benches. This space stretches all the way to the tip of the sandbar, around a hundred meters from the hall. Locals can cook for visitors who decide to stay overnight. Those who visit for picnics only would have to pay PhP10 each, which covers the environmental fee.
SEAFOOD AND COCONUT, AS MUCH AS YOUR BELLY COULD TAKE
Speaking of provisions, Malalison is a simple island which can’t offer Krug Grande Cuvée NV for those who even want to ask. But lobsters it does—all you can eat, Mang Mario would quip—and everything else the sea could offer, from tuna to lapu-lapu to abalone. Mang Mario would explain that since electricity is limited, refrigeration isn’t an option in the island, which means residents have to consume everything else they catch before these even spoil (couldn’t help but envy the man at that point—all the lobsters you could eat!). Fishing is obviously the main local livelihood.
Apart from that, Malalison also has an oversupply of coconut trees, and hence fresh coconut juice, which visitors can have for PhP7 apiece. Between lobsters and fresh coconut, who needs air-conditioning?
HIKING
This hike would be across grassy hills that would give you a panorama of the rest of the island as well as others nearby, not the type you’d do to reach Mt. Pulag; not even an almost vertical slope—which isn’t a slope at all—just to get to a waterfall. Mang Mario said the trails would be good enough to develop for horseback riding, although we’d have to see in the future how they’d manage to make that work. And they’re planning to include a zipline too—nothing final I assume, but ziplining across grassy hills surrounded by the sea is definitely something to look forward to. Imagine having to do that during sunset.
I only ever saw these kinds of hills in Zambales and Coron. Breathtaking view too. Photo courtesy of Culasi Municipal Office
NABLAG ISLAND
This is more of an islet since it’s connected to Malalison via a sandbar you could walk on during low tide. The part of Malalison facing Nablag is a cove with white sand—kind of makes you think the islet would fit right into that void, or previously did. You could see this view from above during the hike, and though we haven’t seen it firsthand, the photos of it are stunning.
Nablag Island from above. Photo courtesy of the Culasi Municipal Office
GETTING TO MALALISON is relatively easy on a sunny day, especially when you take on the usual route from Poblacion in Culasi, a stone’s throw from the Culasi Municipal Hall. This route would take roughly 15 minutes (we had to take the longer route then because we had to take caution against the waves). A regular outrigger that could sit about seven people could very well handle the water. According to Mang Mario, a round trip would cost PhP1,000 (just make sure to drop by the Municipal Tourism Office, which could help you arrange for a boat for that price).
So, back to the boat ride—had it been worth it? If I do get around to fulfilling my mini bucket list here, then it’d be more so.
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View Larger Map
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MORE FROM MY ANTIQUE SERIES
My attempt to hike to Tibiao’s seven falls
A cruise through the Philippines’ cleanest river and a crocodile love triangle in between
How I got to Antique
Travel Snap: Malalison Island from afar
We were cruising–no, fighting against–a less-than-calm sea that threatened to topple the fishing vessel that was carrying some 20 of us as we headed out of Antique’s mainland and into this island about 45 minutes away. I didn’t have enough sense to check how long we had indeed traveled, but it was the longest sea-borne trip I’ve been to, counting in the bouts of seasickness I never thought I’d ever suffer from.
But hey, isn’t that view beautiful? It’s another of those magical moments I’ve had throughout the [short] years I’ve been taking photos–that a single split second, or in this case, maybe a couple of minutes of bobbing along on the right spot, could turn an utterly disappointing day into an amazing one.
Far from talking about the photo, I’m talking about the exhilaration that came with seeing it and being able to take a snap of it. It certainly gave justice to the relief I had felt seeing as we were so, so near, and that we would be climbing out of our boat soon–but that’s another story.
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Here’s a map of Malalison for your reference:
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OTHER POSTS FROM MY ANTIQUE SERIES:
My attempt to hike to seven waterfalls in one go
A Croc’s Tale
Will be adding more in the coming days. Thanks for reading!
Can you hike to seven waterfalls in one go?
There’s something enchanting about waterfalls. It may be because the cascades, no matter how steep or how wide, exude a kind of serenity you don’t find anywhere else, not even in a beach with blindingly white sand.
Naguilian, La Union’s Tuddingan Falls (Photo by Owen Ballesteros)
Or maybe it has something to do with how difficult it is to reach most of them. The first waterfalls I saw, somewhere in the town of Naguilian in La Union, was located deep into forested area that is not easily accessible to commuters. Another gorgeous waterfalls I once visited, although located just below the national highway, was nevertheless in the northern tip of the Philippines, in Pagudpdud, Ilocos Norte. From Baguio, that’s two bus transfers and nine hours away. From Manila, it’ll cost an hour’s plane ride (or a 12-hour bus ride) plus another two-hour bus ride.
Bugtong Bato Falls, located in Tibiao town, 76 kilometers (approximately one hour) from Antique province’s capital San Jose, is no different. It wasn’t the easiest to reach for commuters because of its distance. In our case, since we docked at Caticlan Jetty Port further north, the 84-kilometer stretch to Tibiao took an hour, most of which spent cruising along the beautiful countryside and about a fourth through rough roads with ravines on the side.
Bugtong Bato Falls consists of seven waterfalls you can reach in one hike. Reaching the first two falls was the easiest—approximately 30 minutes through ride paddies and streams and, at some point, a slope so steep it was almost perpendicular to the ground. That last part, which we had to do to get from the first waterfalls to the second, had been doubly difficult because it had been drizzling the past few days and the steps were slippery. We had to climb on the side—and therefore the whole height—of the first waterfalls’s slope. I had to resist looking down AND looking up for fear of chickening out in the middle of the trail—something I cannot afford to do if I were to spare those behind me from falling.
It was once again one of those “sit-and-reach” moments—a term I had encountered from a mountaineer we did a trek with in Cebu earlier this year (according to him, sitting and reaching are the basic rules for newbies in trekking. You sit and reach for the next rock you can get your hands on). One thing I do know: climbing these waterfalls takes guts (and perhaps a sturdy pair of trekking shoes). It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted, the acrophobic, and one who doesn’t know how to sit and then reach.
For photographers, it’s definitely photographic heaven—if you manage to reach all seven, that would mean seven different cascades which others only get to have after visiting seven different provinces. Now THAT’s something worth preparing for.
AND we have arrived! This one’s the first falls—
—and the second and last one we managed to reach after a very steep climb. A for effort!
HOW TO GET THERE
View Larger Map
Map shows the route from (A) Caticlan Jetty Port to (B) Tibiao, Antique.
You can reach Antique two ways:
By sea: Shipping company 2Go Travel docks at the Caticlan port in nearby Aklan province straight from Batangas Port in Luzon. [See: Sailing to Caticlan? Boracay is just another ship away]
By air: You may fly directly from Manila to Caticlan, Kalibo, Roxas, or Iloilo
From any of these jump-off points, provincial buses ply the route to Antique province regularly. From Caticlan port where we docked, Antique was more or less an hour away.
Once there, you need to pay P10 entrance/guide fee each. The barangay will then assign to your group one local guide (may be more according to how big your group is, but it doesn’t change the amount you have to pay).
Also see: Antique: A Croc’s Tale
A not-so-smooth sailing day, and then some
How I got to Antique and more photos while in transit
How about you, what’s the most challenging waterfall trek you’ve been to?
Antique: A Croc’s Tale
Our bamboo raft quietly snaked along the clear, emerald waters of the four-kilometer Bugang River in Pandan town, Antique province in the Visayas.
It would drizzle now and then, the sky a white blanket with nary a cloud in sight. It was clearly not the best time to head to the beach, but as our rafter would later tell me, a June weekday like this was the perfect time to take this scenic cruise along, it turns out, the cleanest river in the country (Bugang River has been awarded the Gawad Pangulo sa Kapiligiran [Presidential Environmental Award] for this)
Out of the blue, however, one of my companions started telling us about Lolong, the croc in Agusan Del Sur recently recognized by Guiness as the largest in captivity in the world. Apparently, we were thinking about the same thing: the river we were cruising at that time would indeed make a good habitat for a crocodile.
We rounded a curve—something our rafter had done rather effortlessly—and then we saw them: two crocodiles, standing with a woman in between.
They were statues, each about a meter tall, the paint chipped and faded on most parts. Although relieved they were stones, we were nevertheless taken aback–after all, they were standing on a place that barely had any houses around.
Our rafter would then tell us the tale that he—at 32 years old—had heard as a boy. The three statues were built like a monument on the river bank to remember the tale of Inday Gamay, represented by the lady at the center, and two crocodiles Manunggong and Mandurriao.
Like all battle shrines, this spot supposedly marks the place Manunggong hid Inday Gamay from her husband Mandurriao, who comes after them and duels with Manunggong right where the statues are standing now. While the two crocs eventually died, the woman managed to escape and was never head from again.
Villagers who pass by the river would stop at the same spot every time to pay their respects. Each time they ferry tourists along the river, the rafters start their narrative as soon as the statues come within sight–and I’m pretty sure everyone had been as surprised as we were. As if to assuage our worried looks, our rafters did qualify that there were no crocodiles in the river anymore.
One thing I do know, with or without crocs: that was one intriguing ride indeed.
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OTHER POSTS FROM MY ANTIQUE SERIES
A not-so-smooth sailing day, and then some
How I got to Antique and more photos while in transit
My attempt to hike the 7 waterfalls of Bugtong Bato
Malalison Island, Antique 2.0
(View the photo on Flickr)
It was not the best time to head to Malalison Island off Culasi town in Antique. The waves were very rough, something our large fishing vessel Mai Mai found difficult to navigate. Owing to its size, it was impossible to dock right next to the sandbar that would take us to the rest of the island. Instead, the boat kept a roughly 30-meter distance, which left us with one more unnerving episode of water transfers: we had to be ‘manually’ transported from the big boat to a canoe (and my ‘manually’, I mean the guys had to guide the canoe using a rope from the vessel to a couple of men holding its other end at the sandbar so it won’t veer off its course). But that deserves another photo.
Thanks for visiting!
Malalison Island, Antique
Photo on Flickr.