Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo*: Under the Sea

As if 2 consecutive days of being in the water weren't enough, our 3rd day started with what else but snorkeling at Moalboal! Walang kasawaan lang?? At first, we were hesitant to wake up early for today's activity because let's face it, snorkeling in the rich Philippine seas is a pretty common activity during beach getaways. But after learning that we might get a chance to see dolphins, we immediately agreed to stick to the itinerary which was to start the activity at 6:00 AM. Ang dali lang kausap e! :)) If you've tried dolphin-watching before, you'll know that the best time to do it is early morning when the sun's rays aren't as harsh and the waters are cool. Learned that from our boatman in Panglao!

I have no idea how I do it but I magically turn into an early riser during trips. I was already awake before an alarm blared off at 4:30 AM. Crazy and brutal! Erin was the first one to react so I assumed it was her alarm and I immediately reprimanded her for being too loud at an ungodly hour. I don't think she heard me though because she went right back to sleep. Ty was the second one to get up so he was obviously my next suspect. FYI, I only found out who the real culprit was when we were already on our way to the airport. Haha It's Bry btw.

Ready for more swimming!

After changing into our swimwear (for the nth time!) and a rushed breakfast, we're ready to go snorkeling! So we went to the beach and met up with our boatman (Kuya Michael) which kind of surprised me because he was all alone. Usually when we go island hopping, there would be 2-3 boatmen accompanying us but not in Moalboal, I guess. Or maybe Kuya has superpowers so he can manage everything on his own.

The cool sea breeze felt good on our sunburnt faces, I couldn't help but close my eyes from time to time. Only when Kuya spoke up (for the first time, I think?) did I come to my senses. Did someone say dolphins?? Okay, I'm alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic!

It wasn't my first time to see dolphins but nevertheless, they always amaze me. Each time is just like the first time. Wow parang kanta lang! Anyway, my idea of dolphin-watching was to watch them from a distance. But this time, not only was Kuya a good spotter, he also chased after the dolphins so we can see them closer! Sugoi naaaa~!

Kuya, follow those dolphins! Daliiiiiii~!

We were literally (at least, Mabel and I were) clapping our hands with glee and giving the dolphins a standing ovation. Kuya even had to remind us to maintain our boat's balance! Haha But then an even more amazing thing happened - the dolphins came closer until they were swimming alongside our boat! Parang movieeee!! Sure, it was awesome but I got a little worried for their safety too. I kept telling Kuya to slow down a bit or to steer clear of the dolphins but he assured us that the dolphins know what they're doing. They are naturally playful creatures which explains why they were racing with our boat. But once they get tired, they'll fall back. At least that's what Kuya said.

After feasting our eyes on the graceful tricks of the dolphins, we are now ready for our first snorkeling stop at Pescador Island which is famous for its sardine run. We got a little bit jirits when a party boat docked beside ours but kebs, we're here to snorkel, not have a picnic. So after applying toothpaste on our masks (to keep them from fogging up) and putting on our vests, we're ready to go! Well, except for some who ended up with lifeless jackets so to speak.

As we passed the life jackets around, we found ourselves laughing after finding out how malnourished some of them were. I wasn't really expecting quality life jackets since Moalboal is a fairly new tourist spot but still, it was shocking and hilarious (once you get over the shock). Sure, some had missing styro pieces but Ruel's was totally flat, he looked more like a media personnel than someone going snorkeling. :))

Just keep snorkeling.

Anyway, that didn't stop us from jumping into the water. We haven't even gotten far from our boat when we saw it - the famous sardine run! Crazy how sardines swim so fast and so close together. You can actually hear their scales (or whatever it is) make a kind of sparkling sound underwater. Amazing. At first, I was scared to go near them thinking they'll cut me with their scales (OA imagination alert!) but when you swim in between them, they actually swim away from you as if making room for you in their little gathering.

However, we weren't satisfied with what we saw because they were smaller than we expected. Kuya explained that we have to go further out to see the bigger ones. I'm not confident with my swimming skills but since Kuya will be accompanying us, go lang! We had to swim pretty far and I wished I brought fins too. I was so jelly of Szet who was gliding gracefully and effortlessly while we had to kick with our bare feet. :( Di bale, next time!

Funny story: on our way to the bigger sardines, I panicked a little upon seeing a grayish triangular thingamajig swimming towards Mabel so I screamed "MANTA RAY!!! MABEL, MAY MANTA RAY SA TABI MOOOOOO!" to which Mabel calmly replied, "Ha? Nasaan?" and I kept pointing to the "manta ray." Kuya took a quick glance at it and busted my bubble saying, "Ma'am, plastic bag lang po yan." WAHAHA Okay, fine. Andami ko atang nainom na sea water, nag-hallucinate na ko. :)) In my defense, I have seen (and touched) a manta ray before (at Sentosa's Underwater World) and they looked pretty similar underwater. Haha I guess that serves as a reminder to us all to keep our waters clean. I live on land but even I got fooled by a floating plastic bag. What more for sea creatures who know nothing about life outside the water?

Sardine run!

Once we reached the deeper part of the ocean, we saw the sardines that were definitely bigger! Pwede na i-lata! The first time I heard about sardine run, I thought they just swim towards one direction (not the band, though if I were a sardine, I'd probably swim towards 1D too lol) but they don't. Well, generally it looks like they're swimming in one direction but if you look closer, they also swim around forming a whirlpool of some sort. Really cool.

While swimming with the sardines, Kuya kept telling us about sea turtle encounters in Moalboal so we got all excited and asked him to take us there. He was kind enough to oblige so we got out of the water and headed to his fishing spot. Once we got there, we started our long search for sea turtles and kept swimming farther and farther away from our boat. Kuya kept telling us to swim faster every time he sees a sea turtle but human legs were obviously made for jumping, dancing (strolling along down a - what's that word again? STREEEEET!) and not swimming. I NEED FINS! Or at least the temporary ones so I can keep up with its pace.

Divers flock Moalboal for its rich and diverse marine life.

The more we swam into deeper seas, the more I got scared because the water was getting darker (and itchy!) and our boat was getting smaller and smaller as we swam farther from it. But all that waiting and swimming didn't go to waste. As I was staring into the darkness below, I saw a speck of light getting bigger and bigger as it drew nearer. It took me a while to realize that it was heading towards me! And as it got closer, I finally saw what it was - a sea turtle swimming to the surface. Of course, I panicked! HAHAHA I didn't want to endanger him or anything, I just wanted to see him from a distance! Naturally, I made weird sounds as I panicked and got excited from the sight of a sea turtle which obviously, scared him away. But boy was that experience unforgettable! The sea turtle looked exactly like Crush (from Finding Nemo) and all I can say is duuuuuuuude, that was awesome!!!

First, dolphins then sardines and now, sea turtles!!! QUOTANG-QUOTA NA, THANK YOU LORD!!! :(( Hay, moments like these remind me how blessed I am to be living in the Philippines. Sure, life in the city can sometimes be crappy but our beautiful natural resources definitely make up for it. I just wish more people would realize that so they can help save our seas (or any natural resources for that matter).

Holding Hands While Snorkeling. How sweet!

After that sea turtle encounter, I was ready to get out of the water because I was starting to feel itchy all over. Especially when Ate Light pointed out she saw something squishy, it triggered my OA imagination and the itch just worsened so Mabel and I swam towards our boat (which Kuya was nice enough to bring close to where we were so we don't have to swim all the way back). We got out for a few minutes just to let the itchiness subside. But after a while, they started screaming "PAWIKAAAAAN!" so we jumped into the water again and swam like crazy. When we got there, we couldn't see a thing so Kuya dived in to help us. We thought he would only show us the sea turtle's location by pointing at it but NO! We saw him trying to wrestle with the pawikan as he tried to bring it closer to us. CRAZY!!! It was an amusing sight to see but we all scolded him for that. Poor pawikan! :( Yes, protective kami. But we all laughed about it in the end. Imagine how heavy that pawikan could be! Haha Napa-yosi si Kuya after e. :))

After seeing sea turtles, we were finally satisfied. But the tour didn't end there. We still have to check out Tuble Marine Sanctuary which was what's originally on our itinerary. Kuya explained that he seldom brings his tour groups to Tuble ever since an earthquake damaged most of the corals. But still, we were curious so Kuya took us there.

True to what Kuya said, the marine life weren't as abundant as expected of a marine sanctuary. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing and saddening. But natural calamities couldn't be helped so I just hope in time, the marine life in Tuble Marine Sanctuary will flourish once again.

What's left of Tuble Marine Sanctuary. Still pretty but not as abundant as before.

After Tuble, we were ready to get back on dry land. Unfortunately, our boat wasn't. Hence, Misadventure #3! It turns out the timon (whatever that is) broke. We had no idea what a timon (I'm pretty sure there's no meerkat on board) is but still, kaloka!! No help was available so Kuya had to make do with what he has - his muscles chos! :)) Given the situation, we realized what a timon was - it's the stick connected to whatever (the boat's motor?) is responsible for steering the boat. Well, at least the motor's still running, right? Without the timon, Kuya had to steer our boat manually by paddling with all his might. Even if we wanted to help, there was only one paddle so yeah, we just cheered him on. In fairness, we made it to shore after much effort. Aaand that concludes our Moalboal adventure. Of course, we gave Kuya Michael a fat tip for everything he did to make our trip enjoyable and exciting.

Goodbye, Moalboal!

After quickly washing up and packing our bags, we were ready to leave Moalboal and head back to the city. It was nearly lunch time when we got to the van terminal so our patience was running low. After haggling for a bit, we decided to just have lunch first. While checking out several carinderias along the street, we recognized a familiar sign. Yes, it was the same halo-halo stand we passed by on our way to Kawasan Falls! Of course, we were immediately sold. If you ever find yourself in Moalboal, Cebu, make sure to drop by South Bees Halo-Halo & Cool Delights. Super sulit! And don't worry, they serve other things aside from halo-halo. It was a sweltering day but most of us still ordered sizzling plate meals. :)) We ordered halo-halo to balance it out anyway. For only Php 45, it was one of the best tasting halo-halo I've ever tried. Highly recommended!

One of the best (not to mention cheapest) halo-halo I've ever tasted.

After lunch, we went back to the terminal to try our luck once again. After finally finding a van, we were off to Cebu city! I was asleep most of the trip (duh), I had no idea my friends at the back were being roasted to perfection like a lechon. :(

Upon arriving at the city terminal, we transferred to another rented van to take us around the city for pasalubong shopping - Shamrock otap and other goodies, dried mangoes/soursop/mangorind/pineapples, rosquillos, mango chocolate (YUM), danggit, frozen Zubuchon, etc. Name it, we probably bought it - including a pair of Ipanemas that were always out of stock in Manila! Haha Oh and when my friends were buying frozen lechon, an agitated customer/tourist caused a scene in Zubuchon but I won't blog about it because 1) I didn't see it and 2) I don't want her to find me nor my friends. HAHA

After quickly stopping by SM for more pabili, it was finally time for sutukil - our favorite Visayan delicacy! I'm not sure if it was on our itinerary or if it was Kuya Driver's idea to take us to Manna STK. Yes, manna, as in the food from heaven. Our mommy (Ate Light) for the trip handled all the ordering while the rest of us went for quick bathroom breaks. We're obviously pressed for time and we don't want to miss our flight back to Manila so we were all anxious as we waited for our food. We didn't even have time to take pictures. Heck, we didn't even even have time to wait for all our orders to arrive before we started digging in. We ate what was in front of us and before we know it, we were out the door while the organizers settled the bill. Amazing Race lang ang peg! The food was delish by the way.

Flower girls

By the time we arrived at the airport, we found ourselves running all the way to the check-in counters. But surprise, surprise! Our flight was delayed and there's no definite schedule yet for the next flight out to Manila. What a bummer, right? But then they informed us that a previous flight's just finished boarding and they can squeeze us in if we act fast. Of course, we said yes and in minutes, we were running towards the boarding gate. The flight was full so we were seated wherever there's a vacant seat which means some of us (me) were seated in between strangers. Oh and I was seated on the emergency exit row. How lucky. :|

Flight Stewardess: Ma'am, are you willing to help us in case of an emergency?
Me: Huh?? *looks at emergency exit door*
FS: Ma'am?
Me: Uhh... ooookay? *whispers* Like I have a choice. *shrug*

Not like I can ask for another seat on a full flight so yeah, I read the first page of the instructions and then gave up when I saw the rest of the lengthy manual. I just prayed hard for us to arrive safely in Manila. And thank God, we did. I don't think I'd know what to do in case of an emergency. Even trained flight attendants freeze in the midst of an emergency. Paano pa kaming simpleng mamamayan??

So yeah, we arrived in Manila in one piece. Tired, sure. But so worth it. This batch anniversary outing is definitely one for the books. Until next adventure, guys!


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Traveling party: Bry, Erin (organizer), Joan, Light (organizer), Mabel, Ruel, Sera, Szet, Tanj, Ty, and Vanie
Travel date: May 3, 2013 [Day 1]
Photo credits: Erin, Light, Szet, Tanj, Vanie

*"Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo" is Cebu's current tourism slogan which means "Going Around in Cebu."