Imagine gazing out at the endless sea, the waves are crashing against the rocks, and the vastness of the ocean is just unfathomable. It is as if the water washes away our mental clutter, allowing us to release negativity, a nonjudgemental confidante no matter what you did. It is like unburdening your worries, letting go of what is not yours, and surrendering to what may come next. The ocean connects us to our memories, the good and the bad, as if whispering a reflection for us to move forward, letting every doubt go with the waves. Surely there is real comfort in being one with the ocean.

This is why some people prefer to travel on ships. Though of course it is not everyone’s cup of tea, because ships take longer compared to planes. However, some prefer the solitude of the open sea, the beautiful landscapes, breathing the fresh air. The ship decks allow the passengers freedom of movement for there are large chairs, bars and restaurants, and entertainment. You can even board your vehicle, unlike on a plane where you are restricted to baggage of a certain weight, not to mention the four-hour pre-departure time.

And you know what? Ships from other countries are already using advance technologies for faster embarkation and disembarkation and for more reliable information from ship to shore in case of incidents.

Ferries in Spain, Sicily, France, and Morocco use the new digital ship stability technology which is cloud based and can connect the on-board crew to the ground crew in real time for crystal clear communication and quick response in case of emergency.

In the Philippines, we need a more advanced system to help ship crews. We are no longer living in the caves of the 1980s and therefore our ships need to upgrade — from data collecting to real-time communication, to easy detection of malfunctions, to avoiding accidents at sea.

I have been riding on ships to travel around our country and, honestly, there are still ships that are not updated and are a bit rusty. There should be a constant checking of ships before they sail. I have written about the dangers of sea travel and the sea mishaps in our country. We need to learn from the incidents of mishandling, miscommunication, misdeclaration of manifesto, overboarding, and the technical issues while in the middle of the sea.

We need to upgrade our ships and train more seafarers, raising their salaries so they would not leave to work on foreign vessels.

There is a saying that goes: "There is calm after the storm.” May the sea accidents of the past enlighten us to strive for better sea transportation so that we can promote ship travel as a great alternative to planes.

Speaking of passengers, on the recent long weekend the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) recorded more than half a million sea travelers — 637,000-plus passengers to be exact. They definitely preferred to travel by ship for leisure and for recreation. The passengers came from Bicol, Negros Oriental, Panay/Guimaras, Davao and Mindoro. PPA general manager Jay Santiago attributed the generally peaceful and safe transport of passengers to the early preparations prior to the long weekend.

There was, however, an unfortunate incident where a person was killed due to a blast on a ship that was initially attributed to an LPG tank. The authorities are still investigating and this may be a lesson to the maritime industry to check on the condition of ships before they sail.

Then again, we can always wish for calm seas. It is a universal expression of hope and renewal in general and, of course, for the maritime and shipping industry. After all, we don’t want to be in the same sinking boat — let us not let that happen. We can always prepare ahead of time and work together for the greater good of sea travel — because we are in the same boat!