A French cruise ship visits Cuatro Islas

A group of tourists coming from L'Austral cruise ship as they come ashore on the cream-white shore of Himokilan island. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

Look. The islands that I helped promote in this blog (the first blog site ever dedicated to Cuatro Islas and our hometown, Inopacan) is now fast becoming a tourist attraction. What used to be a sleepy and never-heard-before islets are now making waves of tourist visits. My slogan then was:

DALI KAMO! DUAW KAMO!

It seems like the world is listening to it, and here they are now finding the four dots in our map of clean and very clear seas and cream-white sands.

The French cruise ship, L'Austral when it visited Himokilan island of Cuatro islas.  (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

An Italian-made French cruise ship L'Austral of Mata Utu, France visited Himokilan island of CUATRO ISLAS on March 28, 2018 where the tourists are welcomed with native foods and entertained by the Hindanganons (people of Hindang) with their presentation of colorfully dressed folk dances. It was, because Himokilan island is under the political territory of Hindang. Only the other 3 islands (Apid, Mahaba, and Digyo) are under the municipality or Inopacan. Combined, these four small islands is called CUATRO ISLAS (four islands).

It was reported in March 31 last year in the Manila Times that according to the Tourism department of Region8, for the first time the historical islands of Leyte and Southern Leyte will be visited by high-end expedition cruise ships four times in a single year—March, May, June and October. So wait for the next visiting cruise ships in our islands. Like the Hidanganons, may the LGU of Inopacan will take its turn to showcase our native delicacies and historical as well as cultural values, to include the legendary Inong pak-an, aside from the factual historical political facts.

Read related post from The Manila Time here.

 

Along its route, the cruise ship would also visit other tourist-attracting and historical islands in other parts of Leyte.

A view of Himokilan island from the upper deck of the L'Austral (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

L'Austral is a cruise ship operated by the French cruise line company Compagnie du Ponant. It is the sister vessel of Le Boréal and Le Soléal, being the same weight, length and breadth, along with having 132 cabins and suites for 264 passengers and 140 crew members like the other two ships. L'Austral was built in 2010 at Fincantieri's Ancona shipyard, Italy. L'Austral was put into service on April 20, 2011 (Wikepedia).

The tourists while being entertained by the Hindanganons. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

DALI KAMO! DUAW KAMO!

Because summer time is perfect time to visit and explore Cuatro Islas.

I just learned last month from my recent visit to a friend, Dr. Macario Tiu (Doc Mac) of Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City, that after Pigaffeta and Magellan first came to an island in Leyte they then took a route that happened to end in Cuatro Islas where they were served by the islanders with seafood and roasted "kabog" (big fruit bats). Doc Mac could not figure then where exactly the island is situated. It was a timely visit for I was able to help him locate the shoe-shaped island of Cuatro Islas now mistakenly labeled as the Himuquitan in the Google map (Apid is also mislabeled  as Apit. Why? This must be corrected). In our discussion, I affirmed to him that the Panaon strait of between the tip of mainland Southern Leyte and  Liloan island could serve as cruise passage for a fleet of galleons because that narrow passage is very much navigable. I also found in my research that it was in that spot of Liloan island where expedition cast their anchors before the galleon boarded by Pigafetta proceeded to the western seas of Leyte and made account of their short visit in Cuatro Islas.

A community map of present-day Himokilan island. (Photo credit to Anabel Mabale)

Historical records showed that Hindang, Leyte was the mother town of what used to be a barrio called Kanamokan (now Inopacan) that was then hard to reach being remote and that folks would have to cross along the way the sitio of Bontok in Brgy. Bulacan, Hindang, Leyte that was then surrounded with a river of deep brackish waters, before you could reach Kanamokan proper.  Bontok is known to have many caves that housed too many bats, snakes, monkeys, and other wild animals. In pre-war era, one of the caves was told be occupied by a very kind "diwata" (fairy) who used to lend kitchen wares, cooking implements, and even wedding gown and groom's dress to would be couple. What the folks had to do was to visit the cave and while at the entrance, they have to speak out loud the things they wished to borrow and come back the next day to collect the items. Eventually, the diwata stopped lending things when some of the borrowed items got broken and some failed to return things they borrowed.

Along the coast (bordering the boundary between the present-day Hindang and Inopacan) there is another cave called Bay sa has that is famous to all Inopacnons because it was where a giant snake-like serpent used to live. The name bay sa has (now Baysahas, one word) is from Boholano words, which means the "house of snake." The cave is near the Himokilan island.

There are more to tell in my ongoing writings and research.

Salamat sa pagbisita.

 
Balik-balik lang.