{"id":13186,"date":"2017-05-14T07:55:21","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T05:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/petitesbullesdailleurs\/?p=13186"},"modified":"2020-12-15T01:24:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T00:24:19","slug":"ferry-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/ferry-philippines-20170514\/","title":{"rendered":"How to sleep well on a Philippine night ferry"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Philippines, it is impossible to escape from the ferries, when you want to move from one island to another. For long trips, it is often a night ferry...<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The port of Batangas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

March 10, 2017. 20h. My Filipino driver drops me off at the port of Batangas south of Manila, on the island of Luzon. We have just crossed an area of docks a little deserted, not very engaging, bristling with gates and fences, between sheds and containers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It stops in front of a building defended by a new gate, behind which I see people queuing with bags and suitcases. Several large ferries are moored at the surrounding docks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"View<\/a>
View of the other ferries docked from the deck of my ferry. (Batangas, Philippines, March 2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\"Do you have your ticket yet?\", <\/em>my driver asks me when he pulls my big bag out of the trunk. That's right, that's right. \"So just stand in line there with the people, it's to buy the platform ticket. Then you can go straight to check-in.\" <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am about to embark on a night ferry, the St. Anthony of Padua<\/em> the company 2Go Travel<\/a>one of the biggest shipping companies in the Philippines. I left Anilao (where I spent a week diving and photographing nudibranchs) for the island of Romblon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See my previous post \u2192 Diving into another world in the Philippines<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I booked my own ticket, via their website<\/a>from France, before leaving. I received my e-ticket by e-mail. As easy and convenient as a plane reservation! My trip: Batangas-Romblon. Departure at 10pm, arrival at 6am the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This<\/a>
This is the ferry route from Batangas to Romblon. The crossing takes 8 hours. (Map: Rome2Rio.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Despite<\/a>
Despite the crowds, the wait is not long and the check-in is quickly dispatched. (Batangas, Philippines, March 2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is not the first time I take a ferry in the Philippines. As soon as we want to move in the archipelago, it is almost inevitable! During my previous stay in 2008, I had embarked several times in big bancas<\/em> (the traditional rocker boat) for short links, like the crossing from Leyte to Bohol...<\/a>and I had also taken the big Cebu-Bato night ferry to reach Sogod Bay<\/a>, the bay of the whale sharks ...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the queue, platform ticket and check-in, it's all as the driver said. No surprises and no worries. Filipinos are extremely disciplined when it comes to queuing in front of a counter and check-in is well organized. Despite the crowds, it goes fast and I can quickly get to the platform to board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drug sniffer dog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is where the tourist diver that I am is reminded of another reality of the Philippines... Men in black are in front of the bridge, with a dog, specially trained to sniff the luggage and detect the presence of drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, when you're there for a vacation and spend your time underwater, you hardly think about it. However, drug trafficking in the Philippines has been making headlines around the world since the summer of 2016, with President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody drug policy...<\/a>...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of this drug-sniffing dog on the wharf in Batangas reminds me of an identical scene, during my trip to Mexico in 2014<\/a>I was on the dock in Playa del Carmen, when I boarded the ferry to Cozumel Island. I don't think I mentioned it in my posts of the time, but I found these two pictures that I had taken on the sly (I remember that one of the Mexican soldiers had made me put the camera away):<\/p>\n\n\n\n