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New Year, new chapter
Fireworks viewed from my neighbor’s roofdeck. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com.
Took a break from posting travel stories to say Happy New Year 🎉 to all of you. May 2020 be less stressful, filled with love and laughter, and more financial freedom so I don’t have to sacrifice one thing for another.
Christmas tree outside Manor Hotel, Camp John Hay, Baguio City on 25 December 2019. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
God bless us all
Balicasag: The place where I fell in love with underwater life
First of all, skip the dolphin watching. You are unduly stressing the dolphin pods since the boats’ propellers disturb them. The first time I encountered dolphins in the wild way back in 2003, we were the only boat then at 5:30 am. This time, there were more than 20 boats chasing these poor dolphins. I should have told my boatmen not to go. I just wasted time. I told them to head straight to Balicasag. I was not interested in stressing the dolphins anymore.
When I went snorkeling in Balicasag 16 years ago, I was still wearing a life vest to keep me afloat even though I was a competent swimmer. At that time we didn’t anchor on the island and just stayed near the shore for snorkeling. There I had the life-changing experience: I saw schools of fish, of different kinds and sizes and felt like I was in a gigantic aquarium or was in National Geographic. It was sooooo beautiful. My stories of Balicasag entranced my mother, who immediately booked her trip to Panglao and dragged some friends with her. Twice.
Anyway, I was back after more than a decade, now braver in the water. This time we were able to anchor on Balicasag’s rocky shores but had to pay PHP 250/per head/per attraction and have a man row a small boat to spots like “Coral Garden” or “Sea Turtle Dive”. I opted for those two spots (That’s already PHP 500 but that’s ok since it keeps them employed and keep them from engaging in dynamite fishing). Since I am more mobile this visit and more inclined to dive deeper and farther, even away from the sea wall, my boatman grew exasperated with me because he was trying to keep up with me.
I still suck at equalizing so I could not really dive deeper along the sea wall and I was a bit afraid of the vertical currents–the bane of SCUBA divers. Still, I was able to dive deep to reach (but not touch) the corals.
In the sea turtle spot, I was able to get close to some turtles and swim above them, behind them, ahead of them. It was so beautiful but this experience was ruined by my grumpy boatman who wanted to head back to Balicasag shore earlier than scheduled. Annoying, really.
The next stop was Virgin Island, which was really a sandbar. It was already high tide so there was nothing left of the sandbar and basically the fish mongers/ambulant vendors were all underwater.
The vendors cater mostly to foreigners since they sell sea urchins, for only PHP 20 each. I don’t think Filipinos would waste their precious time in the water just to eat raw sea urchins. Unless they have a taste for uni sashimi.
This guy told me they just harvest the sea urchins in the nearby seagrass spot a few hundred meters away from where we were. Judging by the amount of sea urchins consumed that moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if the creatures would be decimated from the area.
Just like any local, I was more interested in the sandbar than filling my tummy with raw sea creatures.
So after cooking under the sun for hours, I just decided to relax a bit and explore Panglao island more via a rented motorbike and I had a driver.
Lovely, lovely day.
Panglao, Bohol. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
Back to Bohol after 16 years
This. This view is one of the reasons for loving this country when everything else seems to fail. The two-hour travel time from Quezon City to Ortigas for ~7 km. One stupid thing from the government to another stupid thing…Endless reasons why I am so stressed out.
Anyway, as a birthday gift to myself, I used my Cebu Pacific GetGo miles to have a free roundtrip ticket to Bohol and booked using my Agoda VIP points. What I did was I tried to locate where Bohol Beach Club is on Google Maps and checked which resort is beside it. That way I am assured that the beach front is good. Bingo! It was Dumaluan Beach – Marilou Resort. My hunch did not fail me; I chose the perfect spot for my decompression in late October.
I took the earliest flight out of Manila and arrived in Panglao International airport at around 7:30-ish. There was no public transport available at the new airport (the last time I was in Bohol in 2003, there were tricycles outside Tagbilaran Airport). I had no choice but to book one of the white vans for PHP 400 for a 15-minute ride to Dumaluan Beach.
Warning: There are two Dumaluan Beach resorts there. The two resorts are owned by siblings but Marilou Resort is the newer one. Dumaluan Beach I is a semi-public beach which can be accessed by day trippers.
It was still early and the check-in time is around 3 pm (really??? It sucks, I know) so I asked the front desk if I can leave my stuff there so I can maximize my time in the crystal clear waters surrounding Panglao.
I remembered that waters around Panglao are shallow so I had to swim all the way past the fishing boats for the perfect depth for free diving. Its tiring; so next time I better bring a torpedo floater with diving flag (there are a lot of diving and fishing boats around that can kill you if you suddenly surface with a propeller just above you) and a diving donut to hold my stuff (like baby shampoo to defog my mask). Kayak is useless because I just tipped it over and getting into that silly thing was harder than I thought. I rented a kayak in the nearby water sports rental shop within Bohol Beach Club. It was a complete waste of money since I just tethered the thing to one of the buoys, which was still halfway to where I was supposed to dive.
The island’s underwater ridge slowly descends but the thought of encountering sharks or strong currents was enough to scare me into sticking along or just near the edge before the sea floor slopes deeper into blue nothingness. I also made sure the fishing boats were within hearing distance in case something happens to me. NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT DIVE ALONE.
There was a man spear fishing among the sea grasses. He was using homemade wooden flippers, not different from what the Badjaos use, to dive deep down. He had a kayak with him for his gear and to take him back to shore. He set up his net to close in on the fish he needed to make bulad (dried fish). I watched him for some time, fascinated with how he speared the fish and then hooked them in his line. I proceeded to swim further as not to disturb him.
I chatted with some of the guys in the white boat just anchored nearby. They said theirs is a diving boat and they just wait for summons from resorts around Panglao if guests wanted to go on a diving trip.
I realized that swimming from the shore to the diving spot is uber tiring so I really needed a boat or a kayak. This affected my ability to dive since my oxygen intake is already compromised. Note to self: hire a small boat to spare me all that swimming and to use a spot to rest in between dives. There’s a reason SCUBA divers rent a boat even though its just shallow diving. This is not Anilao where you can have enough depth for diving.
I came ashore about noon, as the water became more violent, with the waves rising as the tide came in. I panicked for a moment but got hold of myself. But what the waves did to me was it just made diving more tiring and swimming to shore is double the hassle.
Had lunch at the resort’s restaurant. Food was ok, but be prepared to spend around PHP 400-PHP 500 for a meal/pax. You are a captive market. For other options, you need to travel further, either you hail a tricycle by walking a few hundred meters and hope that a tricycle pass by to take you to Alona Beach or in the opposite direction. Or you rent a motorbike for PHP 500/day.
The pool was tempting to help me cool off. I think I already turned brown after just a few hours in the sea.
They have a couple of kiddie pools, which I think will amuse my girls for a bit. But since they’re intermediate swimmers and good divers, they would opt for the biggest pool, which was over 6 ft at one end.
I thought I’ve had enough diving for the day; I didn’t want to fight with the waves anymore and just relaxed by the pool and by the shore.
I arranged for a boat trip to Balicasag the next day with the front desk, which was PHP 2,500, which included dolphin watching at 6 am.
I am in love again with Bohol.
Maricaban island, Batangas. This photo is owned by callmeacreation.com.
To cope with the stresses of being a journo under this administration, I take vitamin sea
I don’t know how to express this exasperation, this weariness I have for my life right now. I have been having some kind of anxiety attack, not because of my personal situation, but because of the problems this government has been heaping on this country. Problems upon problems. I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
To save me a trip to the shrink, I just resort to taking the occasional vitamin sea, to throw my cares away into the sea breeze, to remind myself that there is enough to love about this country.
So in September we went back to Anilao, this time we checked in Eagle Point Resort because 1) as a VIP member (been booking all my local and foreign travels with them) I had enough discounts from Agoda to make our stay there more affordable; 2) they own a private beach in Maricaban island where my girls could enjoy the beach sand because they are usually deprived of that in rocky Anilao; they have a house reef called Eagle Point (har har) just in front of the resort; and 3) better restaurant.
The water is clear and it was a bit calm on the day we arrived considering that Typhoon Onyok was just exiting the country. Just like in our past visits to Anilao, the water has floating plastic rubbish that could endanger marine life, even though it was clear. My daughter and I had to pluck them out of the water for proper disposal on land.
Late in the afternoon, my daughter and I freedived and encountered a pawikan (sea turtle) feeding among the corals. We chased it to be closer to it as much as possible because it was a surreal experience and because I want my daughter to appreciate the environment and the beautiful marine life we have here. Her twin sister is just content playing in the resort pool because she isn’t a fan of salt water.
To amplify this experience, we again took a boat ride the next day (PHP 3,000) to take us to Sepoc Beach and to Sombrero island for the coral gardens. But the winds and currents were strong due to Typhoon Onyok’s exit at West Philippine Sea, so our boatmen advised us to do our diving on the opposite side of Maricaban where the winds and currents are more forgiving.
So we had to agree because I don’t want to compromise our safety. But unfortunately, the corals are almost nil and the diving experience was better the previous day.
We were early enough to enjoy the peace and quiet all to ourselves (this time both of my girls came with me) but later on the beginner SCUBA divers came because the currents in other places where they usually have their lessons were stronger that day.
I asked our boatmen if the edible sea urchins are plenty in Anilao. He said they used to be a lot in the area, before the Koreans, Chinese, and the Japanese descended on Anilao. I knew sea urchins don’t end up traditionally on Filipinos’ dining tables because they are detritus feeders and not enough meat in them so harvesting them is more trouble than they’re worth. But now with the high demand from North Asians, they suddenly became prized delicacies.
I still haven’t warmed up to sea urchins.
We didn’t stay long in that place as expected. Not much corals, no sea turtle. To make up for it, our boatmen obliged me by stopping briefly at Arthur’s Rock, another house reef in front of (whatelse?) Arthur’s Resort, for some corals. But the currents were getting stronger as the tide comes in. We had to head back to Eagle Point.
I hope we can come back in January before the stressful life I lead comes to eat me alive.
Self-medicating with food
I need to discipline myself again. I realized that I gained all the weight I lost the past year when I self-medicated again with food. I didn’t want to go through days of out-of-whack sleeping patterns again because I was taking pills that balanced my brain but messed with my sleep. And work. Although at that time, it helped me get through the dark days so I stuck with it. But I wanted my sleep back. So now I am off it for a year now and haven’t seen my shrink. I know it’s not recommended to just drop out of therapy but I did. Anyway, something happened again and I blamed myself… I went through self-flagellation and binged on junk food again. I was comforted by food. I knew I hit rock bottom when a friend found me in the dark munching on corn balls. I went through two bags. But it has to stop. I am taking my life back.