Turtle City

 (Table #7 on the beach, in front of our cottage)

I had a blast last weekend when I flew into Dumaguete City with Ryan and his friend Luna. After a short delay in Manila which I passed by reading and drinking cold cantaloupe juice, we landed and were thrown into a super super busted old van which said "Monarch Sands" on the side (the resort we were staying at). The owner of the resort is a war-vet named Ron. What a character. Ron seemed like he had teleported from Miami beach to meet some young Filipino women and gamble (I was dead on), he was from Florida, married a young Filipino and holds Texas hold em tournaments. He never stops talking, or drinking rum and cokes. On the way to the resort we picked up our dive master for the weekend, Gary and proceeded on. Gary turned out to be an ex-marine from Texas...married a Filipino woman and likes to drink beer. These 2 were quite the pair; old, odd and inappropriate but harmless. Just happy to have a new set of travelers there to hear their stories.

(boats and Nipa huts along the beach at Monarch)

The resort kind of resembles the website :) there are beach cottages and a beach and palm trees and shells but you could tell there was a reason we were the only guests staying there all weekend (it was either the geckos that would show up the shower every night or Ron's stories about the titty bar he used to run). After getting settled into our cottages and having lunch (with the odd couple) Gary took Luna and Ryan on an afternoon dive while I escaped into my book and the hammock tied up in between two coconut trees. This was exactly what I had been waiting for...The beach was filled with shells, nipa huts, fallen coconuts and all you could hear was the    distant sound of roosters crowing. Barefoot heaven.

That night, somewhere in between dinner and a couple San Miguel lights Gary had convinced me that I would come diving with them tomorrow off of Apo Island. He said he'd give me the run down the next morning and yadda yadda yadda. I asked about sharks but he shrugged it off as if there was no such species. So I agreed. We would go diving. Remember my rule; say no to nothing.

Saturday morning after a breakfast sandwich that made me miss Cup and Saucer real bad, we got a bootleg boat from some locals (passenger max was 4, we brought 6 and hella diving gear) and putted across the sea very very loudly to Apo island. The engine was right underneath my seat, which was a piece of wood about 1/2 inch thick. When we arrived on the beautiful island I seriously thought I had lost my hearing. We were all yelling at each other as we jumped into the water and got suited up for dive #1. Gary gave me my crash course of diving 101 next to the beach telling me things like what to do if I ran out of air and how to signal that my ears were about to explode. Among our sign language lesson was: sea turtle and water snake. I retained most of the information and before I knew it I was in my wet suit carrying a gigantic tank of air on my back to provide life under water.

(Apo Island, Diving)

We did 3 dives that day; what an amazing experience. It is difficult to describe the quiet beauty of underwater life. I swam with huge sea turtles, electric blue star fish and a million other fish that were kind enough to let us visit their home that day. Once I got past the pressure equalizing and BCD tanks and my face mask filling up with water every 3 minutes I was able to just become a spectator and float along the ocean floor. After my first dive Gary and Ryan told me how surprised they were that I was so good at diving on my first try. Duh, I thought. In between dives we ate lunch (the most basic ham and cheese sandwich you can imagine, courtesy of Chef Ron and some much needed Gatorade) Luna and I jumped off the boat over and over swimming around the boat as many times as we could before Gary would tell us it was time to slide back into our wet suits for another dive. Gary would yell "Hey Divers!" at any boat we passed channeling his Filipino accent; "many turt-tuls here my friends, TURT-TUL CIT-TEE" he would yell to their boats passengers as if he were captain of the open sea. It was a really special day ended with my tote bag full of Apo shells and one more loud but silent bumpy boat ride back to land where we caught the beginning of the sun setting over the most beautiful blue water I have ever swam in.

Saturday night we drank more San Miguel lights after our fish feast and listened to more Ron and Gary stories while trying to stream the world cup on Ryan's laptop. That night there was a lightening storm across the water we watched for about an hour while we looked up at the most stars I have seen in years. All new constellations I had never seen before.

Sunday Luna and I decided to stay back at Monarch and just relax while Ryan went on a couple more dives with Gary solo mission (later regretted). We slept in, ate a slow breakfast with coffee and mango shakes, laid by the beach all day reading until it was time for a beer and some kayaking. The staff working at monarch was a small young group of local Filipinos who didn't speak much english. 3 of the boys were around more than others which we became closer with; Bert, James and Marlin the chef. They gave me basketball scores when I needed, helped us carry the kayak in/out of the water and on the last night threw us on the backs of their motorcycles and took us to "Fiesta" which was a huge local dance party at an outdoor basketball court in the small town of Siaton. Can you say, my dream? Dance party, basketball court, local Filipino boys, motorcycles, beer? This night is the most epic I've had yet. Luna and I were quite a hit right off the bat. Attracting way too much attention and starting way too many dance circles. So much fun. The night was coming to an end when the rain started, Jai Ho was playing and most of the locals ran under cover....me? Yeah right. The after party was the best part.

Now I am back, my hearing has finally returned and I managed to pump put another 12 classes this week as well as attending my 1st baby shower for fellow instructor Bam and 7 hour workshop yesterday that almost got canceled due to an infestation of horse flies. Ew.

Tomorrow I am running in a Father's Day 10k race with Joie and some of the other instructors (Marie, Dess, Pen). I am excited to do another run but am not quite prepared for the 3:30am wake up call, yeeeeesh!