The best breakfast is breakfast by the sea with the sound of waves and sea breeze ruffling your hair.
The tide is fast coming in, rising to engulf the rocks again.
Very clear waters. ❤️
In a few hours we’ll be driving back to the real world and I will be facing a hectic Monday again. 😔
We transferred to Eagle Point this morning because we decided to extend our stay in Anilao but Blue Ribbon no longer has rooms for us. Because you know, revenge travel.
But before we left Blue Ribbon, we had to consume our breakfast that came with our room.
I had calories. Lots of it. I knew I would be expending energy when I dive in the afternoon.
My sister bought 4 of these as part of the campaign fundraising for Leni. Most of the campaign funds for Leni and all campaign sorties are arranged and funded by volunteers. My sister gave two to my twins and I tried one. Looks cute.
Meanwhile…
Despite the multiple application of sunblock, these kids still got toasted. Well, they started swimming in the morning until sundown everyday. 🙄
We waited for the waves to calm down and for the tide to ease before snorkeling in front of the resort. I couldn’t dive much because I needed to guide my mom as she latched on to the diving buoy. She didn’t last long though, probably just 30 mins.
My older sister was with me but I still couldn’t dive because the resort didn’t have the rope and weights that would keep the buoy in place. It would be such a hassle if that thing escapes. Next assignment: buy rope and weights.
I was in the sea for 2.5 hrs though and it made the trip here worthwhile.
Hopefully we will have more sunsets like this before the southwest monsoon starts. I’ll take a leave probably next month and bring the girls here again. I’ll check another diving resort that is near a marine sanctuary, probably Arthur’s.
Here’s to more freediving, mountain climbing, and camping. ❤️💪🏕️
This has been my office since yesterday. Sometimes I work at the restaurant but it’s quieter up here in our room’s balcony.
The long fins are wonderful! I can go deeper with less effort compared to my old fins. The length and the material (sort of rubber?) that makes the fins flexible do make a lot of difference. Now all I have to work on now is my breathing so I can stay near the corals longer before ascending. The diving buoy was also worth every peso I paid for it. I don’t have to swim so hard to reach the spot where I want to dive and it’s so convenient to have the baby shampoo within reach when my goggles need defogging. It also helped when the currents were strong this morning at Sombrero island and at Sepoc beach.
We left the resort at around 7:30 am. It was high tide so the currents were strong around Coral Garden so we were brought to a place that has less currents with corals that are not as bright as those in the Coral Garden. But still, the currents were strong and we had to battle with these while we dived. That’s why my body is aching right now.
Twin I has become an excellent freediver now that she has my old fins. She has been swimming on her back and flipping underwater. Twin A has improved a lot and has been diving for the corals as well but she preferred to stay close to me because of the strong currents.
We went back to the resort at past 10 am since my nephew still had online quizzes and classes. My twins enjoyed the pool for a bit and they took a nap with me. Of course, I still worked and edited a lot of stories today. The resort’s internet connection is decent for emails and browsing but for video calls, better use your Smart data for steady connection, which I did.
To cap the day and to give me energy (I didn’t have lunch because I slept), I had this…
Tomorrow we transfer to Eagle Point Resort and we got a loft unit that has a lot of beds and is near the restaurant. We don’t have to go far to dive in a marine sanctuary because it’s just right there in front of the resort.
My body is aching. Diving with strong currents is definitely a whole body workout But I won’t exchange it for anything else in this world.
Anilao, Batangas. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Who ever heard of two typhoons/tropical depression during summer??? I mean who could even imagine we would be having typhoons in the middle of what NORMALLY is a dry and hot (summer) season?!
The Pacific Ocean has gone nuts, because of climate change, the waters are getting warmer and we have off-season typhoons. Floods in the summer!!! Gee.
Tropical storm Agaton is staying put in the Visayas area because instead of going westward, it’s being sucked by the bigger typhoon that is supposed to head to Japan. So now Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and Samar are experiencing floods in the middle of the supposedly hottest month of the year.
Climate change, people. Typhoons should be coming in August, not April!
Cropping seasons have gone haywire now and the poor farmers are now left in such a quandary . It’s either they have to gamble on off-season planting or normal season planting but risk getting destroyed by weird typhoons.
On a selfish note, this could derail our diving plans. Any disturbance like this makes for choppy seas and difficult diving in Sombrero island and Maricaban island. It’s disappointing if it happens…now that my flippers and free diving ring buoy have arrived today.
The girls exclaimed, Mommy, why is it so long? I said so I can propel myself better underwater.
Twin A: But mommy, you don’t really go deep.
Me: I can now, because you’re already grown up and I don’t have to constantly watch over you. Nanay and Tita S are also with us so I can leave you and do my own diving 😂
The official diving color of orange was no longer available, also the neon green. I only have pink, blue, and red to choose from so I have to go with the brightest color to serve as an early warning device as well. Having a diving buoy will save us a lot of oxygen when diving infront of the resort. It’s taxing when battling the waves going to your preferred spot.
And of course I needed a bag to house these extra long fins. It’s hard carrying fins without a bag when going up and down Anilao slopes.
I’m so excited. I missed the sea so much. It used to be that every year we go to the beach at least once, even when the girls were still babies. Thank you, Covid, for delaying us. 😑
Meanwhile, there were unsubstantiated reports about tampered ballots in overseas Filipino voting.
I’ve asked SG-based Filipino friends if they have experienced this and most of them have yet to cast their votes. We’re still looking for Filipinos who have personally experienced this and evidence of tampered ballots as some members of local media are working on the story. The Marcoses are pulling all the stops. They’re getting worried about Leni.
SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Within a week, Vice President Leni Robredo managed to stage massive shows of force in her supposed weak spots as a presidential candidate: Davao del Norte, a stronghold of the Dutertes; Pangasinan, a known Marcos bailiwick, and here in Pampanga, Arroyo country.
Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1580787/robredo-completes-show-of-force-vs-rivals-in-pampanga#ixzz7Q80XmMnp
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#NotoMarcos
I’m supposed to do research and follow leads by reading news and now I’m caught in this fascinating story of Yohji Yamamoto, this avant garde fashion designer whose clothes I couldn’t understand but was considered tres chic. Vogue raved about him all the time. He is favored by a fashion journalist that I followed (Kitty Go). Whenever Commes des Garcons (Rei Kawakubo and eventually Junya Watanabe) are mentioned, not far behind is Yohiji Yamamoto, or vice versa.
I’m supposed to be sending emails now but here I am, buried in his story.
If there’s a larger than life I personality I want to be friends with, it would be Karl Lagerfeld or Rajiv Surendra.
Karl’s life is interesting—not because of money that came with his life but it doesn’t hurt, no?—but he lived beautifully and he chased intellectualism not just for the sake of it but because he was very curious. Of course he was sort of a snob and he was raised by a ruthless mother but for some reason he loved her dearly. From his stories (published in Vogue and other interviews), his mother sounds like Elton John’s mother (gleaned from the movie Rocketman).
Anyway, I remember one article in Vogue (when I was still a devoted reader) that he spoke several languages and read in French, German, and English. He loved books. He was one of the biggest bibliophiles there is. He collected books and read them all. He was interested in so many things, especially history. His library is one of my dream libraries and I could happily pass my days in there. We can talk about politics, history, philosophy, art—so many things—over tea and biscuits (he eliminated sweets from his diet).
I also remember his love for wearing Hedi Slimane suits. There was an article in Vogue where he discussed his weariness of flying/airports post 9/11 (how strictly insane and tedious flying became right after 9/11) so he had outfitted several SUVs to be luxurious cabins so he can cross countries in Europe without having to suffer the indignities of stripping your clothes/shoes just authorities can scan you for possible deadly weapons or bombs.
I wish I have his discipline of sketching all the time. He wanted to be a cartoonist, not a fashion designer at first. He figured he could make a better living out of sketching clothes.
I could feel his frustration of wanting to play the piano but this desire to learn it was stamped out by his incorrigible mother. I figured those who leaned towards the arts sometimes find themselves drawn to other art forms as a way to express themselves.
Hmm, the two persons I mentioned above have another thing in common: they’re both gay. I’m good friends with gay men and as I told one gay man in Singapore, I am a fairy princess. I like the company of gay men because they’re interesting and they like my friendship. I had been to gay bars in Manila with K and his friends are fun to be with; we were dancing on the ledge of a bar until the wee hours (this was before I got married).
I’m back to sewing again as a form of procrastination. I can’t finish the poppy sketch yet since it’s complicated for my bleeding brain (I just finished an article today). I think the curtain panels will be up in the girls’ room by the end of this week.
I’m also teaching a colleague how to survive the China lockdown because he doesn’t know how to cook. His initial lockdowns were in Kuala Lumpur and he was privileged enough not to worry about supplies when he was there. I told him to grab lots of Indomee instant noodles (he’s Chinese Malaysian) and do this:
Teaching him what to buy and what to do with them. Gah! I wonder how these people survive all these years by just eating out.
This zero-Covid policy of China has seen a lot of businesses wanting to flee HK. My former APAC boss is now in Manila to escape the draconian policies of HK and give her toddlers a respite from being locked up indoors.
In contrast, Singapore is now allowing people to be maskless if outdoors. My friend-colleague said it’s such a relief especially if she’s taking her walks for her daily exercise. Our new APAC head, who’s based in Seoul, said most people there have been getting Covid that it doesn’t make sense to control movement. So the rest of the world has adopted the living-with-Covid policy and is now opening up borders.
I’m raring to go to the sea.
This photo was taken when we took the boat from Eagle Point Resort to Maricaban island. The diving was not good but the winds were violent in Sombrero island so we were taken here. Some of these boats took novice scuba divers where we were freediving.
Ahhhh, diving. I really, really missed you.