The last two days kind of blended together—but in a good way! Sunday morning we got up and rented snorkeling equipment. We took a mini boat ride to an island across the way and then snorkeled around the small beach we were on. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t hold up and it rained off and on the entire day. We still decided to sit under our hut and relax though. Although I was bummed that the sun didn’t come out, I can honestly say that I got more sleep than I have the entire time I’ve been in the Philippines.
Monday, Melissa and I got up early to have breakfast and rent our snorkeling equipment again. When we got to the sports hut they happened to be having an island hopping tour, so we got on the boat with a group of Koreans and headed off.
All of our stops involved coral and lots of fish. I would say the highlights involved the following:
1. The three motorboats that came speeding up to us at our first stop. Nehall, can I say that when you’re wearing flippers, it’s hard to run away! It turns out they were locals selling pearls and fish…I actually wished that I’d had money b/c they were probably real and cheap.
2. While we were swimming at our first stop I noticed that I started to feel like my entire body was stinging. I wasn’t sure if it was the salt water reacting to my skin or what, but the tour guide told me that during a certain tide the sea anemone release their eggs into the water and it stings. I was only mildly grossed out at that.
3. Next we went to another dock and played on the beach. The motorboats followed us there as well. They didn’t believe we weren’t carrying any money. At this beach we drank fresh coconut juice, from the actual coconut, and then ate the inside. Ummmm!!! At this beach I had another encounter with the “comfort room.” By the way, no matter what the condition is of the bathroom, comfortable or otherwise, it’s referred to as the comfort room. This time there was no way I was getting TP, so I got to use the big dipper; it wasn’t so bad since I was already wet…refreshing actually =)
4. Our third stop was really cool! As the title of my blog mentions, I did find Nemo; he’s hanging out on the coast of Samal Island. I also got to see a real life sea cucumber! I learned freshman year of college in Principles of Biology that when a sea cucumber is being attacked it will actually poop out it’s innards so that the predator eats that instead. The sea cucumber then will re-grow its insides. Interesting, right? It was a little scary because it looked like a snake…
After the boat ride I hung out by the pool and tried not to feel like I was still on the boat or floating in the water. For 2 hours or so I read Kite Runner—which is an amazing book—and finished it.
Unfortunately, I soon realized even although I reapplied sunscreen 3 times, my back still burned from the snorkeling. BAD. I pretty much stayed in the shade for the rest of the day and enjoyed the view. The sun is so strong here and I’m so white!!!!
Anyway, dinner was nice. Melissa and I hung out with a Japanese woman we had met on the island hopping tour named Yuka. We ate dinner and joked about the bad music and horrible desert. This resort is really great at fruit and SOME meals…but desert is not its strong point. You know that cheap birthday cake you get from the supermarket? You know how the icing is really sugary and you almost can’t stand it (maybe that’s just me)? Well, that’s how the cake deserts are—any kind of cake they serve tastes the same. They have great homemade mango ice cream though! They should stick to that…
Melissa, Yuka, and I then headed up to the bar to see if there was any action. I guess being Monday night things were kind of dead. No one ever came up to the bar; I knew there had been people around all day at the beach and pool. But seeing as how it’s a romantic beach resort, all the couples probably went back to their bungalows to get busy =) Especially, the cute Korean couples; the one couple on our island hopping tour actually held hands as they snorkeled…I’ve even seen two couples wearing identical outfits (see example below).
We had a drink and talked about the perception of Asian and white women in different parts of the world. We toyed with the idea of starting a karaoke party, but we would be too loud, both competing with the singers in the restaurant and waking up all the love birds.
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