Bohol
...IS BEAUTIFOL.
And it just left me with the most unforgettable week of my summer so far.
Dolphins (Helen, finally!)
We had a boat ride earlier in our stay to visit the deeper parts of the sea to see (pun unintended)... tadah... the dolphins. Needless to say, having woken up early to see them was just completely worth it! I wasn't able to see their faces well but it was just beautiful seeing them jump out of the water! Mga pasikat nga eh! Hehehe... Tapos ang cute nila! They would come out randomly and make sounds in the distance... especially whenever a boat passed by (we weren't alone... there were other boats around). I just wish they came a little closer. I really wanted to see them up-close.
Snorkeling
This by far has been one of the best things I've experienced in my life. The boat stopped in somewhere in middle of the sea where they had this sanctuary of fish and corals, and after having us wear a safety vest, spandex shoes and the snorkeling gear itself, we entered into the water and snorkeled around with a guide. At anggaleng ng mga guide! They weren't even wearing any floating vests and yet they managed to tread around the water and control their breathing well while dragging us (one at a time of course) with them.
And then there's the actual snorkeling itself... atmehen... ang GANDA ng ilalim! It was like looking into an enormous aquarium where everything was just breathtaking--- both literally and figuratively.
Cruising through the water, you'll hear your own shallow breathing through the snorkeling pipe while trying to take in an entirely enchanting world feet beneath the surface of the water. Peering through those big goggles with our heads submerged in the water paved way for a beautiful revelation of corals, shells, and fish in every form, color and size imaginable. It was just so incredibly beautiful.
And there was even a point when we hovered briefly over an area more than 50 feet deep! Shoot, that was creepy... the water started to get colder and all we could see in that area were vague silhouettes of the corals, sand, the (bigger) fish dozens of feet beneath us, and eerily enough--- plain darkness. The view beyond the shallower area's beautiful display of corals was so overwhelming that the back of my head, I just couldn't help but have these little visions of a shark suddenly emerging from the darkness and moving towards us. Scary.
But nonetheless, ang ganda... this definitely was an experience of a lifetime.
At magyayabang ako... I was able to tread and snorkel through a depth of around 10-30 feet without floaters and without drowning. I was on my own with only my arms, legs and snorkel goggles to help me and I survived!
Hehe... sorry na, proud ako dito eh. =) Normally, I can't even cross a pool of 7 feet without floaters. I really didn't know I could do that... especially without that floating vest.
Fish-feeding
More snorkeling followed just beside the boat where the water was shallower (mga 9 feet deep). We dissolved bread buns underwater for the fish to eat, and it was funny seeing the fish race toward us to grab the crumbs. Parang hindi nakakain ng ilang buwan eh... naguunahan pa. It was amazing seeing all the fish there though; they came in so many different colors and sizes it seemed impossible to take in so much at once.
Starfish
And there were so many starfish! The first time we saw one was right in the beach where we were staying, when one of our relatives (Tito Al, who also acted as our "host" during the stay) lent us snorkeling gear for us to use while swimming, even though there really weren't any corals or anything (except a LOT of algae and seaweeds and even small fish) in the area near the shore... but then when we started going a just little farther, we saw several horned starfish at the bottom! I was even able to pick one up from the bottom with my foot. Hehehe :) Ang ganda rin ng starfish... although most of the ones we saw were horned, we also came across others in varying colors and sizes.
Sandbar
This probably the nearest you'll get to walking on water. Nakakaaliw to... it's this very long pathway of sand that leads to one of the beaches, and it's located right in the middle of sea. It was amazing seeing it where it was placed because it actually allowed us to literally walk in the water! Ang galing.
The Philippine Tarsier
ANG CUTE NG TARSIER. It was really annoying when we came across a jewelry vendor trying to whisper us something about her selling tarsiers for only 3000php. SELLING TARSIERS HAS BEEN MADE ILLEGAL FOR A REASON YOU KNOW...
To the greedy, illegal vendors out there, HAVE A HEART. They're already endangered, for goodness' sake.
Save the Tarsiers...
Loboc River Cruise
Ganda neto. It's only P250 per head, which is already good considering you already get an all-you-can-eat buffet, a guitar/organ player, a good singer, a cruise through the Loboc River, and a nice view of the natives' lives there. In the ambience of instrumental, jazz, oldies, and Boholano music performed by the musicians infront, we got to cruise through the beauty of raw nature coupled with kids jumping from coconut trees distanced tens of feet above the water, women doing the day's laundry, waving tourists from other boats passing by, mini-waterfalls, boys diving recklessly into the river and a lot more. This was such a relaxing cruise... and the whole charm of it lay in the simplicity of the entire trip.
Bee farm
This was actually more of a trip to a lodging place selling bee-products. Ironically enough, we didn't really get to see any bees, but we instead got to eat squashed muffins, corn coffee, and flowers+leaves here... yes, flowers and leaves. It turns out that certain flowers, including bougainvilleas, are actually edible! :P
Karaoke
Self-explanatory. Hehehehe... we had this at Tito Donny's (another relative's) house. Saya! And I learned during this time that one of my grandfathers (husband of one of my lola's sisters), Lolo Dodong, is already 95 years old! Nagulat ako dito... he didn't even LOOK 90. With how he looked and the energy he still seemed to have, I assumed he'd be hovering more around the ages of 75-80.
KIDS
Wait, before anything else-- I'M NO PEDOPHILE, okay? Hehe... ang cute ng mga bata sa beach! Mouse-over for captions
Floating Restaurant
The restaurant wasn't really floating but was instead supported by wooden posts, but it was interesting anyway... and the food was also good.
Names
I realized only now that we actually like giving random names to random non-human objects. Hahaha :)
The Stray Dogs at the Beach - Ning (my favorite dog there), Chelo, Dyogi, Ponchay, Afable, Part III
The Shovel - Krispala
The Crab - Almaning
The Inflatable Tire - Tire
The Inflatable Whale - Namu
Ning's Tail - Scravengous Tail
Family
This trip allowed us to get to know our relatives from my mother's mother's (lola rosie's) side as well. It was refreshing seeing the adults beyond the wrinkled skin and balding hair (Hi NICETA! Hehehe) as they recalled how it was back in their day, as we visited some of the houses they used to go to with their many cousins every summer (for niceta: tita mimi's house and lola nena's house).
These kinds of moments always make me think of how we'd be doing the same thing to our nieces, nephews and children several years from now-- torture them with our stories of old, of how my cousins and I used to get together at our grandfather's house back in OUR day...
This trip, needless to say, raised my entire view of things, especially the sea, to a much higher level. Seeing a whole world of beauty exist just beneath that deceptive blanket of water was an experience, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything else... not even for a month's stay in Boracay (which I’ve been longing to go to, because I haven't been there yet unfortunately.. :P) or even a month's supply of pet dogs (?).
Everything we've seen during the trip was just humbling. It reminded me just how small I really am, and that I still have worlds within worlds to discover.
That kind of beauty was beyond anything I could ever imagine... because above anything else, everything was REAL. There have been times where escaping from reality felt more comforting than anything else, but this is a definite exception to that. Seeing everything would make you want to escape TO reality, or what has been made real for us anyway... right into the depths of the clear, undisturbed sea where starfish reign peacefully as they gaze up into the tiny soft-furred (CUTE) tarsiers on the tree branches above them... did that make sense? Okay never mind.
I am now browner and happier and I can now die peacefully. Joke lang wag muna.
Basta... my point is...
BOHOL IS THE PLACE TO BE. :)
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