It's one of those unplanned "let's go somewhere this weekend" trips with my housemates. Our destination: Real in Quezon on the eastern side of Luzon, facing the Pacific Ocean. Several points had been raised just hours before the trip like: its constantly raining in Real nowadays, wasn't there a typhoid outbreak in Real several weeks back. These were met with a nonchallant "So?". The final decision: strap two bikes at the back of the car, pack lightly, and head to Real at 10PM.

By midnight we were sipping hot "goto-Batangas" (a thick stew of ox skin and innards) in Siniloan and by 2AM we were navigating the endlessly snaking roads on the Sierra Madre, with a fog so thick visibility was reduced to a couple of meters.


We arrived in Brgy Tingnoan at around 3AM amidst heavy downpour. Even with the heavy rains I can still hear waves thundering as they pound the shore. I woke up in a different Real, far from the sunny shores I remembered the last time I was here. Different but still beautiful.

So what does one do in a weather like this?


Go wave bashing! Its accurately more like the waves bashing us around like rag dolls. Some waves were more than 5 feet tall!

I biked around trying to find some rocks to shoot. I found a nice formation just a kilometer or so from where we were staying. I started taking shots while the the waves got bigger. The locals must have thought I'm crazy. It was raining and I was on these sharp rocks, too close to the edge for comfort.


Crazy or not, I went back there the next day. This time the sea was friendlier and calmer (by Real's standards). Here are some of the shots that day:




Taking photos in conditions like this can be very tricky. I was soaking wet the whole time. I had to hold an umbrella with one hand and hand hold my GND filters with the other. Triggering the shutter was an acrobatic feat, believe me. My filters are full of water droplets within a few seconds and I have to constantly clean them. I would hold them in my mouth as I change camera settings (yucky I know, and I bet nobody's going to borrow my filters any time soon hehe).