Sunday, December 7, Palaui Island, Cape Engano
We went to shore at 8:30 am on the Explorer launch to the beach and a very quick journey. It was not a wet landing, so we kept our wet shoes on for the walk. This was a walk along the beach followed by 362 steps up a path to the lighthouse, which had been built at the end of the 19 century by the Spanish to guide ships sailing around here. It was very windy but the climb was not too exhausting and the views from the top were quite magnificent even though it was a dull and stormy day. We took lots of photos out of the lighthouse. It had lots of ruined living accommodation around it and was completely different to any British lighthouse.
Located at the northernmost part of Luzon Island and situated atop the summit of a hill, 92 meters above sea level, the lighthouse provides a 360-degree view of Babuyan Island and the Dos Hermanas Island (Two Sisters) on the North, Pacific Ocean on the West and Engaño cove on the East. Faro de Cabo Engaño is one of the four lighthouses built during the Spanish colonial period, which served as gateway lighthouse for incoming ships. The construction started on 21 September 1888 and finished on 31 December 1892, wherein most of the labourers are Filipinos.
On the way back once at the beach , we were given a Mulberry drink which was very pleasant. There were some outriggers in the sea here. I decided not to have a swim thinking that there would be sunny, nicer beaches ahead of us for the next 10 days. So we took the 10.30 launch back to the ship, had a shower and sat on the balcony for a while
To get a larger photo, click on a thumbnail below
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It blew up a bit before lunch but during lunch we were fairly stable but we then told to go back to the cabins as we would have to go out of the bay into really rough conditions. This was indeed true and we ended up spending the rest of the day confined to our cabin and the meal was delivered very efficiently, course by course, to the room soon after 6 pm. We think the ship being considerably smaller than the 200 passenger Silversea ones, the effect of bad weather is far more on the stability of the ship. The forecast for tomorrow is slightly better but still not exactly cheerful.
To get a larger photo, click on a thumbnail below
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