For our second stop in the Philippines, we found ourselves in Salomague. For our excursion, Matthew, John, and I went to the sand dunes! We rode in a 4×4 vehicle (basically a Jeep with huge tires) across the massive coastal Suba sand dunes, a desert-like setting near Suba beach.

The landscape was simply extraordinary. Besides being enormous, the sand dunes are steep and driving over them was like riding a rollercoaster at times. We stood in the back of the Jeep as the driver navigated the dunes, up and down and all around. We had a fellow cruise passenger, Jim, with us for this adventure.

Along the way, we stopped by the beach for some pics. It was so neat to see the sand dunes so close to a big body of water. Absolutely gorgeous!

At another point we stopped and had the opportunity to be sand boarders and “surf” the dunes. Ok, actually, Matthew surfed. I was forced to ride the board like a sled because they said girls weren’t allowed to stand, which was a bummer but was still fun. John attempted to surf as well but wasn’t as successful as Matthew (who wound up doing it twice to the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of everybody there).

As a more subdued complement to the experience, we visited Saint Augustine Church in the town of Paoay. Wide and heavily buttressed, it was built to withstand earthquakes and it has since 1710. UNESCO listed the church along with three other baroque churches as a World Heritage site. The separate three-story bell tower out front was used as an observation post during World War II.

After the stop at the church, we headed back to the ship. Worthy of mention, however, is that everywhere we drove we were surrounded by motorcycles with little seaters next to them. The tour guide told us that a family of five could travel on one of these! Honestly, I kinda want one now….