Random Thoughts...: Surely This Must Be Heaven

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Surely This Must Be Heaven

We rose early this morning and spent time on the balcony before joining the fray of vacationers. The Stephenses went scuba diving and we were hanging out with Zoe on the beach in front of Miniloc Island Resort (MIR), when Zoe shouts “lizard!” We turn to see a water monitor lizard about 3’ long head-to-tail (they can get as big as 8’). I quickly grabbed my camera and ran down the beach to get a couple of shots of him.

Water Monitor Lizard

Mr. Man took Zoe kayaking in front of the resort and then we just lazed about the beach. Later, we will head over to Entalula for a picnic lunch and some alone time.

Zoe and David kayaking

Later…

A warm breeze dances over my skin as I sleepily sway back and forth in a straw hammock. We have finished our lunch of smoked tuna, salad, and grilled pork, squid, and shrimp (apparently, Filipinos do not believe in vegetables), as well as fruit for desert, and are now napping in the shade—to be honest, Mr. Man is lying on a lounger in the sun, but I am more concerned with the long-term effects of the sun on my skin.

Picnic lunch at Entalula

The water here is achingly beautiful; clean, crystal clear, turquoise in the shallows meeting the sapphire blue of deeper waters... surely this must be heaven.

At 2:00pm we are back on the boat and headed for “small lagoon” for kayaking and snorkeling. Once we are in the water Mr. Man informs me that this is his first time kayaking—this is soon apparent and I think to myself “he is going to capsize us.” We don’t take our camera, so no pictures; we enter the small lagoon through a narrow opening in the cliff wall; it is quiet and we take a moment to just soak it in. The water is turquoise green and clear, and we are surrounded by shear limestone cliffs where vegetation grows from crevices in the limestone.

On our way back to the boat to retrieve our snorkeling gear, I ask Mr. Man to try and keep his body centered in the boat as I can feel him leaning… can you see where I’m going with this? We almost make it back to the boat when I feel us begin to tip, I try to correct us by leaning in the opposite direction, but to no avail, we are over—thank God I left the camera in the boat!

The snorkeling is good; MIR even had a magnification mask for Mr. Man. We saw several species of fish—parrot fish and clown fish nestled in the waving anemone—and coral, large blue starfish and long-spine sea urchins.

From here we went on a quick tour of “big lagoon” and spotted a White-Breasted Sea Eagle on our way back to the resort.