Travel Stories

Zean had made a good list, but one destination stood out as if it had a dagger on the map: Babuyan Islands. I had asked Zean, a well-traveled adventurer, to give me a list of the most spectacular, off-the-beaten-path places he had been to – or wanted to go to – in the Philippines. The other six destinations in his list were all intriguing – and I will probably develop several of them into trips in the future – but the Babuyan Islands filled me not only with excitement but with a sense of urgency. I thought to myself, "This is THE Uncharted adventure. We need to do explore this place NOW. The Babuyan Islands, unglamorously named as they are (babuyan is Tagalog for piggery), will be Uncharted Philippines's feature adventure."

Having never been there, I am in no position to rave about Babuyan. Instead, I'll let Zean's photos do most of the talking and mention only these very objective descriptions:

• The waters around the Babuyan Islands are along whale migration routes.
• The coastlines of the islands have rock cliffs, white sandy beaches and tidal pools.
• The islands are home to active volcanoes.
• The biodiversity of the islands is very high.
• The raw beauty of the Babuyan Islands is mesmerizing. (Okay, that one's not very objective.)

So, in November 2010 I got my gear in order in preparation for our reconnaissance trip. Zean had been to a couple of the islands before working on a whale migration survey, but most of the islands he himself had not explored – nor have many others. Even as I laid out my hiking, climbing, camping, skin-diving – essentially all the adventure gear I own – on the floor, I wondered why the Babuyan Islands, with all its beauty, was so uncharted. Within a few hours I got my answer. Travel to the islands was impossible. The waves were too high and too dangerous. We were going nowhere until February.

Defeated, I nonetheless got a better appreciation for the adventure that will be the Babuyan Islands expedition. Given the short window when the ocean is relatively calm, the scarcity of boats, the lack of any commercial accommodations, and the sheer remoteness of Babuyan, it is very difficult to experience its glory.

Within the next few weeks we will try again. After the recon not much time will be left for more trips. I will have only one commercial trip for this season, and having no time to train a trip leader for it I will lead the expedition myself. It will be a lot of trouble for one product. Not very sound business-wise, but this has never really been about business. We need to explore this place.