Home of the Winds

Of the 10 islands in the Batanes, only 3 - Batan, Sabtang and Itbatyat islands - are inhabited. Sabtang island requires just a 3km crossing while Itbatyat island is the furthest away from the 'mainland' or capital city of Basco on Batan Island. A direct route is a 35km crossing where the south china sea meets the pacific ocean. The currents squeeze themselves trough this gap, the winds squeeze through this gap, and today we have to decide if we are going to paddle across this gap.

The concern is of course the northeast monsoon, currently blowing with strength across much of Asia. The winds can churned up strong and high waves. Strong winds can make paddling difficult, especially in this crossing where we expect headwind or crosswind. Yesterday's wind blew up to 45km/hr across this channel, building up white struggling crests across the vast ocean surface.

Its day 2 in Batanes, and we are still grappling to adjust the route and plan.

Anyway, when talking about kayaking weather, nothing is left unsaid. Here's the top ten list:

"What shape is the moon?"
"I heard there are 2 ships who sank recently here... (Titanic song starts playing in background)"
"万事俱备，只等东风?!!!" translated into "Now everything is prepared, just waiting for east wind." - NOT WHAT WE WANT in this case
"How strong is the wind?"
"Let's eat first"
"Let's sleep over it first"
"Let's eat then sleep over it first"
"The sea is too rough to go"
"The sea is calm... must be a trick to get us onto water"