A live WW2 mortar, a narrow isthmus to the conical hill and strange Guisian stories

The trip being unplanned, we didn't bring any food nor drinks with us to Bagtasan, a special spot in Brgy. Guisian, Mogpog.  But there was a sari-sari store located south of a rocky isthmus where we all headed to upon disembarking from the boat driven by our friendly guide. The narrow Bagtasan isthmus separates two bodies of water, Sayao Bay to the east and a smaller, more quiet bay to the west they call Tabia.

There are coconut, talisay and other trees growing there keeping the houses pleasantly cool. Some ten families live there. By the time we arrived, the men have returned from their early morning fishing and have parked their boats ashore on the smaller bay.

Bagtasan is part of sitio Manlumod in Guisian which, just like the main coastal village on the east side, is located in a narrow strip of land between mountain and water. The two villages are separated by a steep mountain that makes it somewhat difficult for villagers from both sides to interact with each other more frequently. An elementary school, however, is located atop that mountain where children from the two villages meet and study.

While having a snack of biscuits and soft drinks, we engaged in lively chatter with the friendly local folks: No, one woman claims, this Bagtasan never goes under water.  Yes, there have been occasions when young people from sitio Manlumod studying in Mogpog invited their schoolmates to camp out here for a day or two. Climbing the summit of Susong Dalaga Hill is always a part of their activities aside from swimming, and that happens only during the Lenten season. Otherwise, only local residents come here from time to time to swim or to just have fun, she said.

Yes, many people have experienced strange things here – fireballs, apparitions of ghostly creatures pointing to a supposed buried gusi here or there with treasures, like this very spot where we are sitting now, but no gold was ever found in spite of attempts by many to dig their way to riches. But, fireballs, I’ve seen it myself, the lady tending the store said, but that was many years ago...

And many years ago, in the early 1950s, I had an uncle, she said, who found a live mortar shell under the water. For some reason he wanted to take the explosive powder out; got a hand saw, went to the beach and started working on the unexploded bomb with the object submerged so it would not heat up, he thought. He was wrong, the mortar bomb exploded - together with him, and all parts of him were blown up into countless tiny pieces and we mourned his loss!

And there’s another bomb right there under the water now (she went on, pointing to the water), but at low tide you could see it and even touch it, the children used to take turns lifting it but they always gently put it back. But now, my father has given strict orders to the small kids not to touch it anymore, it’s still there.

I was thinking, an unexploded WW2 mortar shell has been sleeping in the shallow waters here and getting exposed to all the elements during low tide for some seventy years! I was conjuring images of very strong waves causing it to be tossed violently into the rocks and boom! 

A boy, the storekeeper's nephew, happened to be swimming in that nearby area she pointed at.

She called the attention of the boy, show the bomb, she said quite confidently. The boy couldn’t seem to find it right away. With curiosity growing I wanted to take a picture of the mortar bomb the moment he finds it but he was some fifteen meters away. Larry, our guide, was quick to drag a boat and he said, come! By this time, I saw that the boy had the thing in his hands. In an instant he was carrying the object, it was corroded, part of the outer layer actually had peeled off. Then he held on to the boat with his right hand, his left hand steadily holding the bomb so I could take a good look (above photo).

After a couple of hurried shots with my cellphone camera I said, put it back boy, very, very carefully, and the boy did. I said they should still report it to the local authorities for proper disposal as it might cause harm.

The unexpected live mortar shell seemed to confirm that, indeed, something dramatic transpired right there during WW2. Then I asked them if anyone had ever heard of a Japanese ship that might have sunk in the area somewhere north or northwest.

Yes, they said. But they referred to the bombing in 1944 of Japanese ships in the harbor of Balanacan, a neighboring barangay. Not that one, I said, I am talking about a Japanese ship that was torpedoed and sunk more than one year before that, in 1943?

Maybe that’s the one that sank in a location about four miles away from Susong Dalaga Hill that fishermen refer to as Kantong Bahura, one elderly lady suggests. It's just about 15 to 20 fathoms deep and big fishing vessels are careful in that particular location because their nets could get entangled in that sunken vessel, as had been the case in the past with some commercial fishing vessels.  There's also in a spot nearby where the depth suddenly plunges to 40 fathoms deep but where it's safe to cast nets, she adds. (She said she had worked with fishing vessels in her younger days and therefore knew what she was talking about).

Shallow cave on the western side of Susong Dalaga (Maiden's Breast) conical hill - or is it really a pyramid? I have not uncovered its tightly guarded secrets.

More information came forth from that lively conversation, like the northern side of Susong Dalaga Hill being cantilado (from acantilado, cliff), having a depth of from 15-20 fathoms. Two other fishing vessels have reportedly sunk in that area in recent years because of major typhoons.

After further sharing, it was time to go back and we were glad our patient guide did not seem to mind at all our tarrying, apparently finding himself the subjects new, even interesting.

A fisherman’s wife approached us to ask if we might want to buy some of her husband’s catch. We paid Php 250.00 for an octopus that weighed 1 ½ kilos and half a kilo of fish (above). That’s too much for us, our host said. No, we’ll eat all of it, I joked. Truth is, I had a feeling we were not about ready yet to go back home to Boac...

Google map of Bagtasan isthmus and Susong Dalaga conical hill

Big break for Brgy. Sayao and Sayao Bay, their natural treasures awaiting to be discovered

Construction of Sayao Seawall! Big break for Brgy. Sayao indeed, thank God! And my reminiscences there...

Cong. Lord Allan Velasco thanks the Duterte administration and DPWH as the construction of Sayao Seawall in 2017 has been prioritized by the national government. Kung hindi lamang nagkaroon ng interruption noong 2013...

From FB of LordAllan Quinto Velasco:

Noong taong 2012, hiniling ng mga taga-Barangay Sayao sa Mogpog ang pagpapagawa ng seawall dahil sa pinsalang dulot ng malalaking alon kapag ang tubig ay tumataas at umaabot hanggang kalsada at sa mga kabahayan.

Para sa kaligtasan ng ating mga kababayan sa Mogpog, lumapit sa DPWH at kay Sec. Mark Villar si Cong. Lord Allan Jay Velasco upang isulong ang proyektong ito na maipagawa ang seawall sa Barangay Sayao.

The coast of Sayao as it looks today. Photo: LAV

Nais naming magpasalamat sa DPWH at sa kasalukuyang administrasyon sa kanilang kagyat na aksyon sa ating inilapit na proyekto. Ating napag-alaman na ang Barangay Sayao Seawall project ay kasalukuyang pino-proseso at maaari nang maisagawa sa 2017 dahil ito ay napabilang na sa priority projects ng DPWH.

Asahan po natin ang patuloy na pagsisikap ng ating mambabatas pará sa ikauunlad ng ating minamahal na probinsya ng Marinduque. - LAV

Many will be lured to visit this beautiful place once the seawall is constructed.
Photo: LAV

For several weekends in 2012, together with some staff of Cong. Lord Allan Velasco (it was during his first term), barangay Sayao and Guisian became my favorite hideaway. Once shunned by natives due to the presence of  rebels, occasional encounters with government forces, by that time it had been declared a rebel-free area.

There was no end to our amazement discovering many hidden sites such as a waterfall, Guisian shore cliffs where you could dive, several caves and jaw-dropping seascapes such as a little known isthmus leading to a cone shaped hill. 

Most of all, many of the local folks' narratives, from their WW2 adventures in the area to stories that dwell in the realm of mystery have yet to be shared by them. 

I posted some of our weekend adventures in Sayao Bay. It has become my favorite spot in the island of Marinduque. 

A 10-year old boy's tidal garden (in circle) has survived after all.
There's a unique story behind it, please read on. Photo: LAV

Seeing photos posted by Cong. Velasco, such as the one above, I am reminded of that tidal garden story (shown in red circle), that I wrote about four years ago:

A 10-year old boy's tidal garden

Excerpts:

The barangay kagawad saw that I took pictures of some transplanted mangrove seedlings (above) not very far from the estuary, but where no other mangroves stood. Did you know that it's just a small 10-year-old boy who planted those mangroves there, he asked us. No one had asked that boy to do that, he said, he just did it by himself. Then some neighborhood fishermen voiced their opinion, the kagawad said, that it wasn't right to plant there, that those mangroves would never grow there anyway, that it's such a waste of time, that those plants would just be run over by bancas going ashore, that in fact those mangroves, if they survive, would only serve to limit the space where their boats could move more freely.

The boy learned about the complaints, the next thing he did was to install a few long sticks to mark his unique dream tidal garden, just so any thinking boatman would not cross it and not destroy what he was creating.

The boy's tidal garden (2012). Against all odds.

The grown-ups' voices were repeated thereafter, the same arguments, but this time, the kagawad found an opportunity to express his own voice telling the big guys: 'Pabayaan na lamang natin siya at suportahan na lamang ang kanyang ginawa'. (Let's just leave him alone, and just support what he has done).

They have listened so far, and nothing more has been heard from the grown-ups since then, the considerate kagawad said.

The boy's transplanted mangrove seedlings in 2012.
Children play in the sand at low tide.

Read more related stories:

Sayao caves, fishes and a tidal garden story

Sayao Bay's twists and turns

Turbulent past is evident in the shores of Sayao Bay

Sunrise in Sayao Bay (Video)

Sayao Bay Sunset

Busay sa Sayao, Sayao Falls and its message

Sayao's mangrove-lined estuary

Guisian

Revisiting Guisian in Mogpog, Marinduque

Guisian shore cliffs plunging into the sea

Sayao Falls' flare for surprises

Sayao Falls

This rocky isthmus known as Bagtasan connects Susong Dalaga hill (from where the photo was taken), and the highly populated sitio Manlumod in Guisian. The main village is nestled farther down behind the hill towards left.

Spur-of-the-moment Sayao beach clean-up

"But keeping a clean environment, particularly, keeping their beach clean is a concept that apparently, has not seeped into their minds. Plastic and all kinds of rubbish are just left scattered ashore. Have they ever engaged themselves in the coastal clean-up of their own beach, one could ask, and certainly get differing answers. Why not, one might ask again, to more differing answers..." (Earlier post).

Out of curiosity, we took time to have a look at Sayao Beach to check if the area has really been cleaned up, as reported to us by a resident, of all sorts of plastic debris that occupied the whole area, including the water that was simply dirty, the last time we were there. We hadn’t been there for over a month, but what we saw was an obvious attempt or attempts to rid the entire area of plastic as it looked cleaner. But not quite. There were many piles of rubbish just about ten meters away from the highest tide, and there were still many longstanding plastic trapped in the growth. We were told that the youth cleaners decided to just bury most of the hundreds upon hundreds of kilograms of plastic within the beach periphery, and have identified a place they would enclose with a fence where the remaining rubbish would be buried later.

There were children swimming and having fun in the shallow, murky water. A boy found broken bottles underneath and realizing the danger they posed to his playmates, threw them ashore as hard as he could that the pieces landed in the bushes. We found an opportunity to challenge the children to do more cleaning please on this side of the beach, getting rid of all the remaining plastic and broken bottles they could find, so swimming could be more fun. 

They happily jumped out of the water, conducted their own amazing clean-up, and probably taking the cue from what they saw done by the older beach cleaners who did the same thing days or weeks before, buried their collection beneath the sand farther away from the water. They decided to just make a bonfire out of the coconut husks, dry leaves and all sorts of sticks that they gathered. In no time they declared ‘tapos na po’, finished.

Kids proud of their unique achievement.

Some went back to the water to swim again. For some reason, like the sea was probably more calm than earlier in the day, the water cleared. We also jumped into the water to swim.

Who knows, maybe when they get home these kids would be chief promoters of the idea to keep their very own beach safe and clean.

Sayao Falls' flare for surprises

Friends Jenny Anne and Haydee (Boy) refresh themselves and other friends at Sayao Falls. As those familiar with this Busay, compared to last, she's bigger, noisier, more inviting when the rains come, indeed.

Haydee Hirondo strikes a pose as Sayao Falls roar like a heavy rainfall.

A daring buddy, RJ dives.

Sooner than you think, they'll come back introducing Busay to more friends.

Fast rewind and forward to Sayao Falls

Sayao Falls in Mogpog, Northern Marinduque, simply called Busay. Logging and climate change have left their impact on this once astounding beauty, yet local Filipino residents still play and have fun there, taking time now to spread the word that it could still be saved, brought back to its former glory... that their future children and their children's children could be joyful, too, finding it's still there for it would be their turn to play.

Sunrise in Sayao Bay video

Sunrise in Sayao Bay

Sayao Bay is located on the western side of northern Marinduque. Its shores are fringed with volcanic rocks that run through the three barangays of Sayao, Paye and Guisian. These are some of the poorest villages in the town of Mogpog, but with a rich and colorful history, and they offer some of the most scenic and varied landscapes and waterscapes on the island.

Turbulent past is evident on the shores of Sayao Bay

Sayao Bay's turbulent geological past is reflected in rock formations and debris found along the shores. Above is what appears to be a piece of fossilized tree-trunk, just one of the mind-boggling things you will find there...

...reminiscent of artifacts found in Egypt (screen capture) and elsewhere.

Irregularly shaped blocks of stone in Sayao resting over solidified frothy lava, pumice...

Another turn in Sayao shore reveals these igneous rocks formed from solidified magma and lava that flowed from Malindig Volcano eons ago...

...similar to this magma flow elsewhere.

This compelling video on the Pyramids of Egypt tells about the cycle of the equinox, messages from the past, the earth's shifting magnetic fields, climate change, other astonishing facts and probable new cataclysms next.

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Road leading to northern Marinduque.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Guisian. Defining the character of a scenic barangay.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

Paye in Mogpog. Reflecting a people's self-image.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

Just one of Sayao's vast range of landscapes.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Sayao caves, fishes and a tidal garden story

On the way back from trekking and taking a dip in Sayao Falls, we had planned to take a look at a nearby cave that residents there talk about. They say the cave, as well as many other caves and caverns there, are frequented by locals who collect swallow's nests, one of the most expensive edible products in the market, that are turned into bird's nest soup. They also talk about rock formations inside the caves and, based on their account, seemed quite interesting enough to see. A man was approached by our guide to assist us, he being quite familiar with the cave, but he said: 'Bukas ng umaga na laang kita pumunta, may tao doon pag hapon.' Tao, of course, refers to the feared unseen entity who must not be offended. Another one blurted: 'delikado dun dahil may malaking ahas.'

But people tell me that the nest collectors find it best to harvest them at night. Something then also tells me that even if we came back the next morning, we'd only hear of new situations, so we just politely thanked them, next time na laang po.

Scary-looking sea predators

Going directly to the beach to while the hours away, we saw a fishing boat with two men waving their hands and heading for shore.They've been fishing in the waters of Tayabas Bay between southern Quezon and Marinduque and had apparently caught many big fishes. Above, a pindangga is sandwiched between two payangitan, the longest one measuring more than five feet.

The five-foot-long pindangga.

A rompe/barracuda beside another pindangga.

The fishermen were quite pleased with their catch. We paid Php 180 for a pindangga that weighed more than two kilos. Our host said we were lucky because the other fishermen were able to catch just enough for their own families' consumption. The lady of the house sliced the fish into serving sizes, cooked it in coconut milk mixed with luyang dilaw, tumeric, salt and vinegar and it was really, really good - yellow colored saucy adobong pindangga.

Sayao's coastal village.

The Sayao estuary lined with mangroves is located on the east side of the beach facing north.  A number of informal and permanent settlers have occupied this beach area (above). But keeping a clean environment, particularly, keeping their beach clean is a concept that apparently, has not seeped into their minds. Plastic and all kinds of rubbish are just left scattered ashore. Have they ever engaged themselves in the coastal clean-up of their own beach, one could ask, and certainly get differing answers. Why not, one might ask again, to more differing answers.

An amiable barangay kagawad who understood our concern eventually promised to spearhead a weekly coastal cleanup starting this week. That was nice. But remember you are mainly doing it for yourselves, not for anyone else, we had to stress. The man perfectly understood and was even moved to share with us a simple episode that probably exemplified the predominant thinking there.

A 10-year old boy' tidal garden

A boy's tidal garden

The barangay kagawad saw that I took pictures of some transplanted mangrove seedlings (above) not very far from the estuary, but where no other mangroves stood. Did you know that it's just a small 10-year-old boy who planted those mangroves there, he asked us. No one had asked that boy to do that, he said, he just did it by himself. Then some neighborhood fishermen voiced their opinion, the kagawad said, that it wasn't right to plant there, that those mangroves would never grow there anyway, that it's such a waste of time, that those plants would just be run over by bancas going ashore, that in fact those mangroves, if they survive, would only serve to limit the space where their boats could move more freely.

The boy learned about the complaints, the next thing he did was to install a few long sticks to mark his unique dream tidal garden, just so any thinking boatman would not cross it and not destroy what he was creating.

The grown-ups' voices were repeated thereafter, the same arguments, but this time, the kagawad found an opportunity to express his own voice telling the big guys: 'Pabayaan na lamang natin siya at suportahan na lamang ang kanyang ginawa'. (Let's just leave him alone, and just support what he has done).

They have listened so far, and nothing more has been heard from the grown-ups since then, the considerate kagawad said.

The boy's transplanted mangrove seedlings. 

We look forward to the day when their leafy arms, too, could pray.

Some children taking advantage of the low tide to play in the sand. 

I got curious just to see the boy, passed by a nipa and bamboo shack a few meters away, where he and his family were supposed to be living. There was no door to the shack, one could see everything inside and there was not much of anything. l saw a boy cooking a pot of rice and the mother, heavy with child behind him, was also busy talking. 

I walked away quietly, went back to the beach and just watched the Sayao Bay sunset..

but thinking, they, the young, could probably do it better in this instance, slowly sharing, showing love of nature to many grown-ups.