Place: Fish Cages (Bolinao, Pangasinan)
Date: 10 July 2008

Because there was no electricity where we spent the day, we ate dinner early and thought of what to do to wind up time. Cousin Gabby played with his PSP, his siblings Catleya and Melissa played with their digital and video cameras, while the “elders” chit chat about different things. Me? I was just there, lounging in the hammock, enjoying the fact that it can carry me.

The cool wind and the silence of the sea lulls most of us to sleep and as early as 8:30PM, all of us wanted to sleep already. Since we are all going to sleep in the floor made of bamboo, and Aunt Mary didn’t have enough foam mattresses to accommodate all of us, Uncle Arthur lined up all the sacks of feeds (the full ones) to act as our mattresses. It was a bumpy bed, but it will do for now. I personally wanted to sleep in the hammock, but they said it would be better if I sleep in the floor. Mom asked me to lie next to her, but I didn’t want to. She said it’s very rare that she wanted me to sleep next to her, so might as well go. Turns out, mom was cold and she wanted a “big fat” daughter to be her life-sized pillow. Hmmmm…

At 10PM, Uncle Pete and the driver arrived with our other companions. With them are Aunt Mely’s father and niece, Uncle Carlito and wife Aunt Linda, and Uncle Pete’s friends from Maryland - couple Mike and Mona with their baby and Mona’s mom. Of course all of us woke up, but I already got my sleep, so I didn’t get up and tried getting back my sleep. It was actually hard to sleep there because of the mosquitoes and cold air, but this was the first time I ever slept in the middle of the sea. There’s still something to be happy about that.

Because I got a clear view of the sunset the night before, I decided to wake up very early to check the sunset on the other side of the cages. I always wake up at 4AM, and of course, I woke up early again. Seeing some of our companions awake and chit-chatting, I decided to get up and wait for the sunrise.

It was still dark, and waiting was really tiring me. If not for this big tub of cashews, I probably went back to sleep in no time. Weird, eh? I was munching on cashews as my breakfast! =) Anyway, the driver started diving on water to get some mussels from the plastic drums, so seeing him being a child in a big playground was entertaining for all of us. He said that he missed the waters so much, so that early, he wanted to seize the moment. He was able to get lots and lots of big mussels, which the other men gladly cleaned to take with us later.

There was this big island blocking off the view, so seeing the sun rise wasn’t that good for me. The skies have already lighted up but I still haven’t seen the sun, but I managed to see these:

I may not be able to see a very good view of the sun rising, but these pictures were enough to make me happy. After these shots, Aunt Mary called on us to eat breakfast - a decent breakfast this time. After which we readied ourselves and packed our things. We are scheduled to spend a day at a resort in Brgy. Patar, something we are all excited about. More on that next post!

*** Jenn ***