Borocay and IKEA
Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006
I'm all done with my bookwork and tests; all I have left is two confined water dives (skill testing), and then more open water diving (the fun part)! Eee! I decided to use my lunch break to go get photos, which apparently are needed for my certification. I wasn't thinking, and having just climbed out of my gear from my morning dive, I look quite scrubby in my pictures. My instructor said I look 15. Oof. It's kind of true though; I've had basically the same face since I was five. It doesn't change, I just get taller.
I went on a 50 minute dive today, and saw a huge lobster, a sea snake, and so so so many fish. I...don't know very many kinds of fish. And I have a huge craving to watch Finding Nemo right now.
Monday, Oct. 2, 2006
I went scuba diving! It's pretty amazing to learn how in Boracay, I felt like I was swimming around inside Finding Nemo or something. I started the day by swapping my French book for an English one and watching a video, corresponding to the first of five section of instruction in the book. According to the video, scuba divers "are happy all the time" and "have more fun than most people." Quite ambitious statements. I feel like I'm pretty happy most of the time anyway.
The weather has gotten a little rougher (windy with choppy water and intervals of rain) on this side of the island, so we took a tricycle over to the other side, hopped into a banca and, ar ar I'm so punny, dove right in. Actually not really, first we practiced some skills in shallow water (oh mans I'm so afraid I'm going to smash everything in my path). Then we went out a bit further, and dove amongst the coral and fishies for about 45 minutes.
I remember as a kid, watching my PBS marine bio documentaries, seeing divers sitting casually on the edge of their boat, then easily leaning backwards and falling on in. That looks so easy, but I didn't think I'd be able to just fall out, like, oh, I'm happily riding my boat, why don't I just fall out backwards where I can't see? Apparently I can. Yay me! The hardest part of scuba diving so far has been pulling on the damn wetsuit. Everything else is not so bad.
Apparently I chose correctly when I signed up my three full days in Boracay to be under the water, diving. It's grayer and stormier still, and the beach is all but abandoned. Also, I can't get mosquito bites if I'm under water.
Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006 - 6:00PM - Borocay Island, the Philippines
Everything about this day makes me want to go "eeeeeee!" Waking up at 5AM to catch my 7AM flight to Borocay wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The ticket was $62, roundtrip, which is cheaper than I thought it could be. The flight only sat about two dozen people, and lasted 35 minutes, faster than I thought it would be. After a bumpy landing amid rain and palm trees, I touched down in Caticlan. From there, I could see across the water to the island of Borocay.
While figuring out how to actually get to the island, I randomly met a guy named Jonas, a Swedish expat living and working in Shanghai, running the Chinese branch of some company that supplies some part of the infrastructure to cellular networks in China. (Clearly I remember all these details.) Sharing a tricycle (a cab with a small bench seat hooked up to a motorbike, it's amazing to me that these things make it up the hills that they do) to the dock, a bench on the banca (long boat with a pair of bamboo outriggers) to the island, and a walk to White Beach (impossibly pretty beach, also the main strip on the island with accomodation), we talked about US environmental policy, the role of government versus private business in driving environmental reform, Walmart, travels, things to do in Boracay, and of course, IKEA. Go go Billy Bookcase! I thought that all of the furnishings were named after their designers; it turns out that some are, but the couches, for example, are all named after cities in Sweden.
I found a place to stay for 300 pisos/night (about $6) which is more than I wanted to pay, but instead of a dorm bed, I get my own little bamboo and pandan hut, complete with a porch and hammock.
After lunch with Jonas, we headed out for a sail on a rented banca. Sunny, clear skies, clean, aqua blue water, and gusty winds combined for an exhilarating ride. We sat on a mesh platform, extending out to the outrigger on one side of the boat, and strong waves kept jumping up and catching Jonas in the face. When it was time to turn around and switch sides, I thought it would be my turn to eat ocean, yet somehow the waves still found Jonas. As we turned around for a final time, I laughed and joked that this was my last chance to get a wave to the face. Jonas asked "would it be mean for me say that I hope for it?" "No," I replied, "it would be honest. And fair." A minute later, Jones was struck by the most powerful wave of the whole sail, completely drenching him. I sat, dry and feeling quite tickled, until the waves gently carried us back to shore.
The sail left me in a cheerful mood, so I signed up for a scuba diving Open Water Diver Certification course. The dive shop didn't have a book in English in the store so I took the French one instead, and retired to my hammock to read.
I'm all done with my bookwork and tests; all I have left is two confined water dives (skill testing), and then more open water diving (the fun part)! Eee! I decided to use my lunch break to go get photos, which apparently are needed for my certification. I wasn't thinking, and having just climbed out of my gear from my morning dive, I look quite scrubby in my pictures. My instructor said I look 15. Oof. It's kind of true though; I've had basically the same face since I was five. It doesn't change, I just get taller.
I went on a 50 minute dive today, and saw a huge lobster, a sea snake, and so so so many fish. I...don't know very many kinds of fish. And I have a huge craving to watch Finding Nemo right now.
Monday, Oct. 2, 2006
I went scuba diving! It's pretty amazing to learn how in Boracay, I felt like I was swimming around inside Finding Nemo or something. I started the day by swapping my French book for an English one and watching a video, corresponding to the first of five section of instruction in the book. According to the video, scuba divers "are happy all the time" and "have more fun than most people." Quite ambitious statements. I feel like I'm pretty happy most of the time anyway.
The weather has gotten a little rougher (windy with choppy water and intervals of rain) on this side of the island, so we took a tricycle over to the other side, hopped into a banca and, ar ar I'm so punny, dove right in. Actually not really, first we practiced some skills in shallow water (oh mans I'm so afraid I'm going to smash everything in my path). Then we went out a bit further, and dove amongst the coral and fishies for about 45 minutes.
I remember as a kid, watching my PBS marine bio documentaries, seeing divers sitting casually on the edge of their boat, then easily leaning backwards and falling on in. That looks so easy, but I didn't think I'd be able to just fall out, like, oh, I'm happily riding my boat, why don't I just fall out backwards where I can't see? Apparently I can. Yay me! The hardest part of scuba diving so far has been pulling on the damn wetsuit. Everything else is not so bad.
Apparently I chose correctly when I signed up my three full days in Boracay to be under the water, diving. It's grayer and stormier still, and the beach is all but abandoned. Also, I can't get mosquito bites if I'm under water.
Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006 - 6:00PM - Borocay Island, the Philippines
Everything about this day makes me want to go "eeeeeee!" Waking up at 5AM to catch my 7AM flight to Borocay wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. The ticket was $62, roundtrip, which is cheaper than I thought it could be. The flight only sat about two dozen people, and lasted 35 minutes, faster than I thought it would be. After a bumpy landing amid rain and palm trees, I touched down in Caticlan. From there, I could see across the water to the island of Borocay.
While figuring out how to actually get to the island, I randomly met a guy named Jonas, a Swedish expat living and working in Shanghai, running the Chinese branch of some company that supplies some part of the infrastructure to cellular networks in China. (Clearly I remember all these details.) Sharing a tricycle (a cab with a small bench seat hooked up to a motorbike, it's amazing to me that these things make it up the hills that they do) to the dock, a bench on the banca (long boat with a pair of bamboo outriggers) to the island, and a walk to White Beach (impossibly pretty beach, also the main strip on the island with accomodation), we talked about US environmental policy, the role of government versus private business in driving environmental reform, Walmart, travels, things to do in Boracay, and of course, IKEA. Go go Billy Bookcase! I thought that all of the furnishings were named after their designers; it turns out that some are, but the couches, for example, are all named after cities in Sweden.
I found a place to stay for 300 pisos/night (about $6) which is more than I wanted to pay, but instead of a dorm bed, I get my own little bamboo and pandan hut, complete with a porch and hammock.
After lunch with Jonas, we headed out for a sail on a rented banca. Sunny, clear skies, clean, aqua blue water, and gusty winds combined for an exhilarating ride. We sat on a mesh platform, extending out to the outrigger on one side of the boat, and strong waves kept jumping up and catching Jonas in the face. When it was time to turn around and switch sides, I thought it would be my turn to eat ocean, yet somehow the waves still found Jonas. As we turned around for a final time, I laughed and joked that this was my last chance to get a wave to the face. Jonas asked "would it be mean for me say that I hope for it?" "No," I replied, "it would be honest. And fair." A minute later, Jones was struck by the most powerful wave of the whole sail, completely drenching him. I sat, dry and feeling quite tickled, until the waves gently carried us back to shore.
The sail left me in a cheerful mood, so I signed up for a scuba diving Open Water Diver Certification course. The dive shop didn't have a book in English in the store so I took the French one instead, and retired to my hammock to read.
posted by Stefanie at 2:39 AM
1 Comments:
wow. im glad you are trying so many things. i havent been to read this much, but when i can it really makes me giggly to think of you doing all those fun things. sounds like much of an adventure. i hope all is well and yeah.
love
-ben
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