Place: Santiago Islands (Bolinao, Pangasinan)
Date: 09 July 2008

Even though we’ve busied ourselves feeding the fishes and chit-chatting, somehow being confined in a small space with water surrounding us made us a little bored towards late afternoon. Aunt Mely suggested we take a dip in the water, and since Uncle Arthur is going to the main island to fetch his son from school, he dropped us all in the nearby island shore to enjoy the water.

I suddenly missed my siblings because none of my companions were as shutter happy as I am. All of them were in the water in no time, and taking pictures were a bit tough because I had to go back to the shore to dry my hands so I could take pictures. I cannot ask anyone of them to take my pictures because their hands were wet and frankly, none of us brought towels for the fish cages were just nearby.

So how was I able to take some pictures? I dry my hands in the leaves of the plants growing on the island after I shook my hands vigorously! I looked really weird, but I cannot resist not to immortalize the scenes from this day! I have been scolded by mom numerous times for taking the camera in the water with me, and it was indeed a risky move, for if I get tripped or I stepped on a sea urchin, I might dropped the camera in the water, and it would be the end of it. Our digital camera is not water proof, and if I accidentally dropped it, no more memories!

Some pictures:

*** cousin melissa and i ***

*** cousin leya, aunt mely, and i. this should be just leya and i, but aunt mely was able to position herself well in the back! this is a “self portrait,” and i didn’t know aunt was there until i checked the preview! ***

*** mom and i. because of our poor vision, we still wear eyeglasses even in water! ***

Aunt Mely and the kids brought some life vests, which Uncle Pete bought in the US specifically for this vacation. Because mom and I didn’t have a floating device, mom used this long bamboo trunk to float! I found it all weird because she was trying at most times to control it, yet the super long (and heavy) bamboo trunk controlled her lots of times! Another funny thing about it is that, most of us walk and walk yet we didn’t step on a sea urchin, yet mom stepped on a sea urchin three times! We were so wondering why she’s always victimized by it, but of course, I do share the sentiments with mom. It’s so painful being punctured by a sea urchin!

Watching the sunset right in front of us was the most spectacular thing to happen that day. I so happen to take quite a lot of sunset pictures from this day, but this has got to be my favorite:

I took this one from the fish cage when we returned. The sun has already set, but the fiery sky just looked marvelous!

Here’s to a great week ahead!

*** Jenn ***