Place: Brgy. Ilog Malino (Bolinao, Pangasinan)
Date: 10 July 2008

Even though most of my personal shots are self portraits, I have quite a lot of photos I wanted to share, so let me flood you with pictures for this day. =)

As soon as everybody has arrived in the beach house, my cousins and I ran to the beach. It was a great beach really, because it wasn’t deep, and it was like part of the sea near the shore had less waves, and parts of the sea had some seaweeds that acted as carpets. However, we were still advised to wear footwear because parts with no seaweeds had little rocks and corals, and our feet might get injured as we walk around the sea.

Because I didn’t know how to swim, I just contented myself walking around, checking the corals and enjoyed the view. Once in a while, I would walk to the shore to get the camera and take some pictures. I wore my halter swim wear that was basically backless - it only had a strap in the middle to hold the side parts. Normally, I would only wear it in the house (hahahaha, at times I wore it as house clothes), but since I already wore this in the public pool last April and I already braved myself to wearing swimsuit despite my appearance, I saw no reason why I shouldn’t wear it. I didn’t hear any violent reactions from my relatives, so I assume that it was okay. After all, it was a swim wear, it was just that I was fat. =)

*** Cousins Leya and Bige ***

*** A different kind of starfish.
BTW, that’s not a wedding ring I was wearing. I am 100% single - no bf, no husband. =) ***

*** Cousin Bige with a sea urchin he caught. ***

*** A very poor macro shot of the hermit crab. It was hard to take a picture of it because its claw kept on “pinching” me! ***

Anyway, my cousins brought some snorkels with them, and even though the water was a bit shallow, they still enjoyed viewing marine life. They’ve seen countless starfishes, some sea urchins (in black and in brown), and numerous fishes living under the corals. During times when we wanted something to munch on, we would all go back to the cottage and munch on some crackers and other junk foods. It was also those times when my cousins Bige and Bernard would get some hermit crabs and try to race them! =) I may be in the company of my cousins who were very much younger than me (Bernard the youngest has just entered elementary, while the second eldest was just 17), I still enjoyed their company.

*** My mom grilling ***

*** Left to right — Uncle Arthur, Mike (Uncle Pete’s friend), Radie (the driver), Uncle Carlito, and Uncle Pete. ***

Mom didn’t want to get dark, so she was just in the cottage along with the “elders” preparing our lunch. There weren’t much food to eat for lunch however, because cousin Gerry delivered the goat late. They just cooked the octopus, grilled mussels, and prepared kilawin using the goat’s internals. I wasn’t in the mood to eat any of the dishes they prepared, so I just ate some fish crackers and cashew nuts as my dinner. Nice!

I so loved being in the beach! My Crocs slippers actually helped me float, so I was able to conquer my fear. As soon as I laid flat on the beach, there was no stopping me. I will be in this beach until I get so tired! Being under the sun was tough, but learning how to snorkel and seeing marine life right before my eyes was worth it. Too bad I cannot swim (I cannot jive my hands with my legs and feet), because if I can, I would certainly stayed a little longer! But, I was happy that I was able to do the first steps. Hopefully the next time I am in the water, I would conquer my overall fear of drowning and enjoy swimming with the fishes. =)

*** Jenn ***

ps - My blog has just past its 10,000th hit! Hooray for that!