Camaguin Island, (part II)

Since I was bragging about the pool at the Golden Sunset Hotel, I figured I'd throw a pic in here. See the roof? Under there is the bar. We had a few beverages there lemme tell ya. They have a special drink called the Golden Sunset. It's Gin, Blue Curacao and I think orange juice, but they were probly out of O.J. the first night cuz Al and I had a couple and they were pretty blue and pretty harsh! Not much o.j. in them if any. Salt around the rim of the glass too. Not a fan of that. But anyway, you can see the lanterns in the trees. Those trees are old and gorgeous. They are right over the pool. It keeps the staff busy skimming leaves all day but it's so worth it! What you can't see is the hammock between the two trees. It was really comfy. Actually I acquired a bit of an injury from the hammock. We were trying to give the tree branches a stress test so Shella and I jumped in the hammock together and made a bow in the branches but they held. Strong old trees. Then Mally decided to push us so the hammock was hitting the tree. I decided to bail out so I rolled off and into the sand below the hammock, flattened as it swung over me then rolled out of the way. Just like my navy seal training taught me to do. But I got a little boo boo on my thumb somehow while doing it. Oh well. Nothing a little duck tape won't fix. The fun we had!

Here are the trees. And beyond them is the beach. Good snorkelling there. Although you have to go at the right time of day. Sometimes it's pretty rough water. I actually body surfed a bit on a windy day. But sometimes it's calm enough to snorkel. And you can see some nice stuff right there. Including the blue starfish and some other assorted fish. Actually if the building wasn't there you could probly see White Island out there. I think I could swim to White Island from this hotel. Though I wouldn't wanna try. Some of the waves are a bit high and who knows what kind of currents there are? It's too bad I couldn't take a night shot. My cam. has settings for night shots but I can't seem to keep still enough to do it properly. I should probly buy myself a tripod. Hey wait a minute! I have one! Dang! Shoulda brought it!



By the way, in the vid. Shella says her name is "Mitch". I think that's Alana's email too. I'm not sure of the inside joke there. Actually, we didn't have much time to go sightseeing after meeting Mal and Shella so we just went to Kitabawasan Falls together. It was great. I'm trying to upload a vid. to my blog. I tried before a few times and failed. I sure hope it works this time. Just in case it doesn't, here are a few pics:

I like this one of Mal and Shella in front of the falls. Doesn't he just look like every truck driver you've ever known? Good guy to talk to too. The water under the falls was really really cold too! The only place I swam in cold water the whole time I was in the Philippines. It was nice. I actually brought my snorkelling gear and got right under the falls where the water was much deeper. I didn't see any fish anywhere out there but there was a slowly decaying SHOE under the falls. I bet there's an entertaining story behind that! There were all kinds of vines beside the falls I don't know if you can see in the video. But I bet if you stayed long enough you could see a monkey or two. We had to walk down to the bottom of the falls, of course, and there was a monkey at the top. A pet monkey tied to a clothes line. He sure didn't like the girls! Tried to jump at them. Luckily his chain wasn't long enough to reach them. Little guy was probly just lonely.

Here's Alana, Shella and someone else walking down to the falls. I recommend a visit. It's really fun. I only wish we'd packed a bit of a picnic. They have tables there for that sort of thing. I think we could have even had a bit of a barbecue if we wanted. Oh well, next time. And I really think there will be a next time. Maybe as soon as June this year. I already miss the place looking at all these pics. There are only a few things I really don't miss about the Philippines. I don't miss hearing the song "Beautiful Girls" about 10 times a day. I don't miss getting ROCK HARD toast with now useless butter on the side. For some reason they don't put butter on the toast before bringing it. Probly for these FREAKS who like dry toast. Screw them! Put the damn butter on! Ha ha ha. THESE were the largest stressors I had while I was in the Philippines. It was SWEET!

Here's me exploring the depths of the falls. I think my mask could make ANYONE look as cool as I look here. The bod looks a bit doughy too. But I guess a month and a half of hair straight back partying it takes its toll. Hah! Hair straight back. You'll have to take my word for that. No worries, I'll whip myself back into shape this month by moving across Korea, negotiating a new contract, and running around trying to get all my paper work in order. Much bigger stressors in Korea! But when I want to find my happy place, I'll just look at this photo. It was cool, clear and very refreshing. Happy.

Okay, next is part III. Some good underwater shots coming up.