Under A Million Miles Of Sky: Biri Island with the Baraks

This past Sunday, I joined a group of friends from Rosario on an outing to Biri Island. We had a group of 14 people, all of whom are active in the local Catholic Church. 10 of those people are young men from the Baraks Boys, a group that I often join to chat during my free time. The other 4 are young women whom I have also gotten to know over the past month. Jazel, one such woman, lives in Rosario, but is posted to Bagong Silang, in the municipality of Biri Island, as an elementary school teacher. She served as our host during the trip.

Our entire group pictured on Hinablan Rock.

The municipality of Biri Island, made up of several small islands, is the premier tourist attraction in Northern Samar province due to its astounding natural beauty. While it certainly did not disappoint, the bigger part of the trip was actually the food. Whereas we as Americans are used to food taking center stage on vacation, we generally see vacation as a reprieve from cooking and an opportunity to sample the local fare. In this case, the guys made use of most of our available time to cook every meal, each of which was completely fresh and delicious.

The following are select pictures from our outing, and thanks to the Filipino affinity for picture taking, there were a lot to go through:

Our group at the onset of our excursion. We hired a boat to pick us up directly from our town Sunday morning using the Pinomkran River. Unfortunately, the originally hired boat never actually came, but we eventually made arrangements with another boat for later that afternoon.

The motor boat then made the hour and a half journey down the Pinomkran River and through the bay, separated from the Pacific Ocean by islands. Pictured above, our group debarking at the port in Basud, a small town in the municipality of Biri Island.

From Basud, we took local transportation to a long, wooden bridge leading to the famous rock formations of Biri.

We brought our lunch of pancit (asian rice noodles), rice, boiled crabs, and dried fish to enjoy seated in an alcove within the rocks. The guys cooked the pancit and rice before we left Rosario, while the crabs and fish were purchased in the nearby village; the only time during our trip we made use of prepared foods.

A view of the Macadlaw and Puhunan rock formations from atop the Bel-at formation along the Pacific coastline.

A view of the Caranas rock formation from atop Bel-at. In the foreground is the entrance to the pool of water lying between the two formations, where we would later swim.

The rock formations, weathered by erosion, are stunning.

Pollard having some fun just hanging from one such rock.

A group picture of the Baraks while at Biri.

Swimming and diving in the pool between the rock islands. The water was beautiful, but the floor was quite treacherous. A shallow floor of jagged rock gives way to 10-foot deep pools at random. (Photo Credit: Ida)

The tide was rising while we were there, covering many of the rocks which were exposed upon our arrival.

Just before sunset, we walked through the now-flooded lowlands, across the bridge, and back to port to again board our boat. We headed across the bay to Jazel’s island of Bagong Silang. (Photo Credit: Ida)

We stayed at Jazel's quaint little residence, both inside and in a tent out front.

For dinner, we purchased some fresh clams and cooked them up, adobo style. This recipe involves sautéing the food with a combination of soy sauce, vinegar, and hot pepper. (Photo Credit: Ida)

On Monday morning between breakfast and lunch, the guys took some time off from cooking to play basketball against locals in Bagong Silang. Their court may have a great view, but is also quite hazardous, dropping off into piles of jagged rocks at the edge.

Anot and Rik-Rik preparing a lunch of clams cooked in coconut milk, vegetables, and local tree leaves.

After lunch and a brief nap, our group took two traditional dugout canoes over to a local rock island known as Hinablan Rock. The boats were very precarious, especially when loaded with 8 people. Any slight movement sent the boat wobbling from side-to-side, threatening to capsize. We each sat down Indian style while one person rowed at the back, and another propelled the boat forward pushing off of the sea floor using a bamboo rod. (Photo Credit: Ida)

Once on the island, we trekked around the coastline, until a water snake led us to turn around and try the other direction.

We trudged through waters and trekked on rocky terrain to make it around the island.

A group picture in front of a large rock face carved by the ocean.

We stopped off at the nearby town of San Pedro on the way back to buy some fresh fish for our dinner.

After our fish stew dinner, a couple large fish were grilled as an appetizer alongside our nightcap of Emperador brandy. We spent the night drinking, chatting, and singing as people took turns at guitar. (Photo Credit: Ida)

Tuesday morning was all about cooking. The guys concocted a fresh porridge of rice, chocolate, and coconut milk for breakfast, then jumped right into preparing our lunch of eggplant and fish cooked in coconut milk and served with rice. We brought the food down to the beach for a nice, final picnic lunch. (Photo Credit: Ida)