"I don't know if I'm going through midlife crisis," Joe Alayra quipped when asked why he is attempting to travel from Boracay to Darwin on a paraw that he had especially built.
Going the distance isn’t foreign to Mr Alayra – after all, he’s attempted this feat once before, 28 years ago. Unfortunately, his partner and instructor at that time decided to abandon ship two-thirds of the way, leaving the journey unfinished and Mr Alayra regretful for the next 28 years.
“Now is the time,” he says with conviction.
Mr Alayra has put up a GoFundME page to help his 'Lone Man at Sea' project. He is asking for financial assistance for his logistical requirements and videography equipment.
Still physically able and having fulfilled his financial obligations to his recent-graduate son, Mr Alayra plans on retracing the general course World War II freedom fighters took to escape Japanese occupation and to deliver vital military information to General Douglas MacArthur.
Being a third-generation US army veteran, he reveals that his attempt is more than just an expression of his interest in history. The journey is a tribute to his grandfather on his mother’s side who was a US army veteran.
While he shares that he went through physical training to prepare for the journey, he admits that there is no specific exercise he can do for it.
Being a natural introvert, Mr Alayra is looking forward to the “down time” he will be having on the paraw. While being alone with your thoughts may be challenging for some, Alayra welcomes it along with the realities of sleeping on the paraw, the harshness of the sun, and the unpredictability of the sea.
He has began his journey, leaving Boracay Island on the eve of its temporary closure last April. He was in Onok Island, Palawan when we spoke to him. He is at the last Philippine stop, waiting out the typhoon season before he sails again.
Mr Alayra hopes to complete his journey in two months.
