I CAN SEE YOU
...what the hell are you doing?! O_o

March 24, 1:38am

I just got home from a 4-days-3-nights (tama ba to?) stay in Bicol, at POTEK ang saya. Pero bukas na ako magkukuwento dahil pagod na ako. Hello, 14-hour drive daw ba (dapat 12 hours lang kaso dumaan kami sa Legaspi to see the Mayon Volcano). Goodbye, my puwet, it was nice knowing you.

Butanding ulet! Wheeee!

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Ayan, puwede na ako mag-update. ^^ A quick warning, though. This is a pretty long entry. ^^

Water Fun

When my sister asked if I wanted to go to Bicol for the Holy Week, the first thing that came to mind was how going there could lower my loser level so I said yes. What good luck that our food, transportation and accommodations were free, thanks to the Chua's (Bri's family). My sister and I left last Holy Wednesday on a taxi to San Pedro, Laguna, where we met up with our other companions - Roxy, Ica, Anne (aka Alay sa Bulusan), Jerlyn (aka Alay sa Butanding), and Norie (If any one of you girls happens to read this, I'm sorry if I got the spelling of your names wrong ^^;) before hopping on a rented van and making that looong ride to Sorsogon City.

It's been a while since I went to the beach. Not that I avoid going to one, it's just that the salt water, the heat and the inevitable complexion, plus the thought of some icky seaweed wrapping around my foot has never been very appealing to me. So when we went to Rizal Beach in Gubat, Sorsogon last Thursday, I only had one goal in mind - take lots and lots of pictures.

I took pictures of trees. Rocks. Clouds. The shore. A lone kikay shoe. Words written on the sand. Girls scampering to the shore after one of them screamed "DIKYA!!" Kids playing catch-the-helpless-little-crab-and-bury-it-in-the-sand. My companions taking pictures of the scenery. Couples walking along the shore. Couples giving me odd stares because I was taking their picture. And a whole lot more.

I had three cameras with me - my Holga, Vivitar IC100, and my spankin' new Black Vivitar UW&S. I got a few weird stares from people especially when I start winding my cameras. Gusto ko film eh, bakit ba.

The next day, we went to Bulusan to see the lake and the volcano. My companions went kayaking while I decided to stay on dry land because I didn't want to get wet (and I didn't have a change of clothes). After an hour of watching the girls have fun (aka paddle, play "bump cars", and scream as their kayaks went straight to a tree) and a guy catch fingerlings and shrimp, we drove to Masacrot Springs for lunch and more swimming (in the rain).

Saturday was Butanding Day, but I'll tell you more about that later.


Foodtripping

Adobo. Chicharon. Pili fruit (Ang masasabi ko lang...para kong kinain yung rocking chair ng lola ko. Lasang kahoy, blehk). Crab. Shrimp. Shells (I forgot what they're called). Dried pusit. Bicol Express (anghang, solid!). Adowbowng muhnak. Fried pork chops (na puro taba). Omelette. Spanish sardines. Pandesal. Pancit bihon. Chicken curry. Fried chicken. Chopsuey. Sweet and Sour fish. Yellowfin. Baby back ribs. More chopsuey. More fried chicken. Nido soup. Breaded shrimp. Kadinggan. Beef Caldereta. More Bicol Express. Lumpiang ubod. Lasagna. Kare-kare. More sweet and sour fish. Pork asado. Cheetos. Jolibee large fries, Yum with TLC. More Cheetos. M&M's. Pili candy. Bulalo. More sweet and sour fish (ang hilig nila dun, pansin ko lang). More adobo. Deep fried shrimp.

Woooo. Damn, I ate a lot. O_o


Butanding Day

I mentioned earlier that I have never been comfortable in the water. I've always been scared, especially when I can't see the bottom anymore. When the time came for us to board the boat and don the life vests, I started having second thought. I mean, diving for whale sharks? That would mean we had to go far out to a deep part of the Donsol Bay...

Dan dan daaaaaaaan. Homaygad, I'm scared.  

The BIO (Butanding Interaction Officer) gave us instructions and told us what to expect. He said we might come face to face with a whale shark.

Dan dan daaaaaaaan. Homaygad, I'm petrified. Hence the resolve to stay near Manong Gilbert (the BIO) and make kapit to him if something weird happened.

Okaaaay, that did not sound very nice but I think you understand what I mean.

We spent minutes going around the bay looking for a butanding near the surface. As soon as one of the scouts spotted one, the boat driver veered towards it while we positioned ourselves on the side of the boat. The scout gave us the signal, and we (plus Manong Gilbert) jumped into the water and held on to this orange thingamajig Baywatch lifeguards always carried while running in slow motion. *starts hearing the Baywatch theme song*

Manong Gilbert pulled us away from the boat towards the butanding. I barely noticed that we were near the creature because I was struggling with my rented, suspiciously-unsanitized-but-I-really-had-no-choice snorkeling mask and breathing tube. Next thing I knew, he was telling us to go under so that's what I did.

I couldn't see anything at first, and then there it was. All I could see was the top of it's head, but it was huge. Cleaner/janitor fish were attached to or following it. It was swimming slowly like it didn't have a care in the world. I was so in awe of the whale shark that it took me a few seconds to realize that water was entering my mask. Panicking because I thought I was drowning, I went up for air and floundered a bit, drinking a lot of sea water in the process.

O diba, plankton diet. Ang alat.

Once I got my bearings back, I wanted to look down again but the guide said the butanding had gone deeper and was no longer visible, so he pulled us back to the boat. We spent the next three hours going around and looking for butandings. A baby butanding (which was about 6ft long) swam right under our boat, and it was so near the surface that we didn't have to dive to see it. It was so amazing!

During the butandings' lunch break (yes, they went out for lunch for about 30 minutes which would explain why we could find any at the time), the girls and I decided to swim a bit and take pictures using Miwa's underwater camera. I was the last to get off the boat and when I did, I accidentally knocked the ladder off the boat and it fell on my head (May bukol tuloy ako. Mashaket). Ica, who didn't know how to swim, was holding onto the ladder for support and started panicking when we couldn't hook it back on the side of the boat. I panicked too because she was panicking and we were both holding on to the ladder for dear life, completely forgetting we were wearing life vests. Hahaha, eng-eng moment. Sorry naman.

We had five butanding sightings before going back to shore. Now I feel incredibly stupid for being scared, haha. I would love to go back to Donsol to see those "gentle giants" again.

I am so buying my own snorkel.

Ayun. Would you believe it took me the whole day to compose this entry? Hehehe. Thanks again to Bri, Roxy (kaka-add ko lang sayo sa Multiply!), and the Chua's for this experience. Alavet alavet alavet!

And by the way, yung mga alay ni-reject daw kaya kumpleto parin kami pabalik ng Manila. LOL.

Pictures to follow, as soon as I have the money to have my films processed. I'm thinking of robbing a bank sometime this week.