Puerto Galera 2019 - Day 3

April 8, 2019 (Monday)

¡Hasta la próxima, Puerto Galera!

My alarm sounded off at 6:00 AM. Ernesto cooked breakfast while Venus and I went to Muelle Port to reserve tickets for our trip back to Batangas Port. Our original plan was to reserve tickets for the 12:30 PM trip, but when we arrived at the ticket booth, we saw that it was already fully booked! The tickets can be reserved on the day of the trip, not earlier, so we were surprised because we went there early. It could be that others did the reservation through their accommodation which had connections at the ticketing office. Ours didn't have that's why we had to personally go to Muelle Port that morning. The closest times to the 12:30 PM trip were 11:15 AM and 2:30 PM. We chose the earlier schedule.

Minolo Shipping Lines schedule (between Muelle and Batangas Ports)

RDI Genesis schedule (between Muelle and Batangas Ports)

Back at the hotel, we feasted on scrambled eggs with tomatoes, left over stir-fried vegetables spruced up with pancit canton, corned beef and garlic fried rice. Venus and I had instant coffee, while Ernesto enjoyed his cup of Milo.

Since it was still early, Venus and I went for a quick dip at the beachfront. Ernesto opted to chill on one of the sun beds. The weather was favorable that morning because of the scattered clouds blocking the sun's ray so it wasn't hot. The water was cold but we got used to it.

We went back up at our apartment unit around 9:00 AM to take a shower, change clothes and pack our stuff. We checked out from the hotel at 10:30 AM and went to the port by tricycle. When we go to Muelle Port, there was already a large crowd of people waiting to board the fast craft. Venus secured our tickets from the booth, that time it had seat numbers written on it. Since we still had time to spare, we snacked on halo-halo at a nearby food stall.

Ticket back to reality

It was almost our boarding time when we went back to the departure area and lined up to board the fast craft. Upon ticket checking, we learned that the parked fast craft was for the delayed 10:30 AM trip. I wish the local officials could improve Muelle Port in terms of accommodating waiting passengers and their boarding system. The place is a bit small so passengers waiting for boarding are cramped in it.

Once we boarded the right ferry, Venus and I were seated at the same row, while Ernesto was behind us. We left Muelle Port around 11:30 AM. I was planning on continue watching Insatiable on Netflix but when I opened the app, it said my downloads were already expired. The movie "A Quite Place" was shown inside but it had Korean subtitles. I listened to Spotify instead. Besides, I already know the ending of the movie.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

We reached Batangas Port by 1:00 PM. Before heading to the buses going back to Metro Manila, we ate lunch at a nearby turo-turo just outside/beside the main port area. It was only then that I learned that "Goto Batangas" was utterly different from the regular Filipino "Goto" (rice porridge) because Ernesto had it for lunch (you can google both to know what I mean). I ordered Adobong Pusit and Pinakbet while Venus had something like Kaldereta or Menudo.

After eating our late lunch, we went to the bus loading area where we bid each other farewell. Venus stays in Boni, Mandaluyong so she rode the bus going to Cubao. Ernesto lives somewhere in Parañaque and I live in Makati, so we both hopped on the bus going to LRT Buendia. There was only one seat available at the back of the bus when we got on it. Since we wanted to go home already so we can rest early, we still went with it. Ernesto sat at the last available passenger seat while I sat on the conductor's chair which both the bus driver and conductor graciously offered.

The traffic wasn't bad that day considering it was a Monday and a holiday the next day. I got off at Dela Rosa Street (near PNR Buendia station), then rode the Guadalupe bound jeepney in Buendia just in front of Cityland Makati.

I was home before 5:00 PM.