If Joy were with us, it would have been the third summer that we divas spent with each other's company (Disneyland in 2011, Guimaras in 2012 and now). For this trip, there's only Doc Bing, Atty. Nance (whose Bucket List #4 is the reason for the outing) and myself.
Like all the vacations that we've had, this one is nothing different. We didn't follow any schedule except that of A/C bus :) Due to the unforeseen traffic at Sum-ag bridge, we issued a challenge to Atty to save us seats and get the bus to pick us up at the old airport. After so much ado, she rose to the bait and we made it to the 9:30 trip. That gave us more trip options when we reached Amlan port. We left Negros soil with enough time to get to the resort before sunset. In between talks, I read "Para sa Hopeless Romantic" by Marcelo Santos III given to me by bff as a late birthday present. She said that I was the first person that the character in the book reminded her of (Waaaah!!!)
On the other side of the strait, we were subjected to local transportation fiascos. First, the trike driver charged us P10 for the less than a kilometer ride to Ceres Terminal. And the Ceres conductor who seem to not know where Tan-awan was, charged us P20 for the trip and dropped us nearly a kilometer away from our stop. Being excited at what we went there for, we let that pass, hiked our way down and found our resort. While Doki freshened up, Atty and myself changed into our swimming attires and took advantage of having the beach front to ourselves.
The surf was big but the water was soothingly warm, it was akin to spending some time in the jacuzzi. Summer must be sea lice season, we had to withstand a lot of nips here and there. But it was a small sacrifice to enjoy the peace of seeing the sun's light wane, giving way to thousands of stars winking through the dark skies.
Dinner was a short affair of Pork sisig and buttered chicken. No sooner did we convene at our small room and talked the night away. We slept so late that the sun was high already when we decided to join the living.
The requisite pre-butanding interaction briefing was two resorts away but our guide chose to get us there by banca. We did not complain. The earlier we start the, the better. The talk did not last a minute actually, then we were on our way:
1. there should be 4m distance between human and fish (but boy the gentle giants swam next to the boat with the boatman feeding them as we watch with delight from our boat)
2. the use of camera with flash is prohibited (an easy one to follow. we didn't have any submersible cam anyways)
3. human should not cause any splash when swimming (doable too)\
4. must wear life vest the whole time
I can say that I have been a very good tourist except for the part of wearing the life vest while at sea. It was impossible to dive and swim. And the thought of using the snorkeling gear was repulsive (you know what I mean). After the must-pose with two or three of the fish, I got back on the boat. Just looking at them is already a miracle. Only that I couldn't help wonder at what would become of these butandings with the existing ones already dependent on their human neighbors.
If there's one thing that's worth emulating in this eco-tourism industry in Oslob is that they use paddle boats instead of motorized ones that are being used for Dolphin Watching in Bais.
Thank God for making this trip possible...
Like all the vacations that we've had, this one is nothing different. We didn't follow any schedule except that of A/C bus :) Due to the unforeseen traffic at Sum-ag bridge, we issued a challenge to Atty to save us seats and get the bus to pick us up at the old airport. After so much ado, she rose to the bait and we made it to the 9:30 trip. That gave us more trip options when we reached Amlan port. We left Negros soil with enough time to get to the resort before sunset. In between talks, I read "Para sa Hopeless Romantic" by Marcelo Santos III given to me by bff as a late birthday present. She said that I was the first person that the character in the book reminded her of (Waaaah!!!)
The surf was big but the water was soothingly warm, it was akin to spending some time in the jacuzzi. Summer must be sea lice season, we had to withstand a lot of nips here and there. But it was a small sacrifice to enjoy the peace of seeing the sun's light wane, giving way to thousands of stars winking through the dark skies.
Dinner was a short affair of Pork sisig and buttered chicken. No sooner did we convene at our small room and talked the night away. We slept so late that the sun was high already when we decided to join the living.
1. there should be 4m distance between human and fish (but boy the gentle giants swam next to the boat with the boatman feeding them as we watch with delight from our boat)
2. the use of camera with flash is prohibited (an easy one to follow. we didn't have any submersible cam anyways)
3. human should not cause any splash when swimming (doable too)\
4. must wear life vest the whole time
I can say that I have been a very good tourist except for the part of wearing the life vest while at sea. It was impossible to dive and swim. And the thought of using the snorkeling gear was repulsive (you know what I mean). After the must-pose with two or three of the fish, I got back on the boat. Just looking at them is already a miracle. Only that I couldn't help wonder at what would become of these butandings with the existing ones already dependent on their human neighbors.
If there's one thing that's worth emulating in this eco-tourism industry in Oslob is that they use paddle boats instead of motorized ones that are being used for Dolphin Watching in Bais.
Thank God for making this trip possible...
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