From the port at Matnog, Sorsogon, I took a local boat to Capul Island, approximately halfway across the channel to mainland Samar. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stay on an island so well documented along the galleon route, for good reason. Watching those waves from the Pacific crash into the Philippine seas, from a lighthouse at the entry to the famed San Bernardino Strait, gateway to the islands, was like a scene from a dream.

At the local church, visitors could walk along the walls and courtyard of a centuries-old fort, where you could still see, beyond the trees and a few houses, the same shores that people from this community have done their best to protect over generations.

It was much too short a stay. Can’t wait for an opportunity to return!