FRIDAY, MAY 21: We woke up and began w/ a not-so-great-breakfast before we headed off to our island-hopping tour in Matnog. First stop was Tikling Island, where not much was happening. We saw a treehouse, but didn't climb up.
A little swimming and it was off to the marine sanctuary, w/c seemed more like a euphemism for "fish pens." The fishermen/caretakers gave us a fish-feeding demonstration, w/c was fascinating because it looked as if the fish were able to predict where the food would land, and they'd rush to that exact spot before the bait even hit the water and fed in a frenzy.
We jumped in from one enclosed area to another, looking at fishes and a sea cucumber (and on an unrelated matter I found a toy submachine gun in the water), but the highlight was seeing a sea turtle. It reminded me of that tortoise in South Africa, only was wetter, more likely to snap my nose off if I got too close, and it swam away faster than expected when we let it go after some exploitative picture-taking. At another fish pen I saw live and swimming bangus and lapu-lapu, which was new for me since I usually see them frozen, cooked or de-boned. Nothing different when I saw the lobsters, though: caged and in the water.
We later hopped 0ff to Subic Beach (not related to the more popular Subic Bay) for lunch, and swam some more while our guides grilled the pork-chops (everything else-- shrimp, chop suey, sweet & sour fish, beverages-- was ready). Speaking of w/c, the shrimp was a little dry but the pork-chops were awesome. After lunch the others talked about life and love, while Cel and I talked about her workout routine, w/c at present was composed of krav maga and kettle-bell exercises.
Our final stop was Calintaan Island, but we really just went around it instead of coming to shore because we wanted to check out the caves. The ocean floor was filled w/ corals, anemones and fields of sea grapes, a few of w/c were picked and fed to us by our dive-guide Sadam. There was near-scare encounter w/ a sea snake, but it turned to be near-dead, so naturally some of played w/ the carcass for picture purposes.
(This would never happen w/ roadkill.) During one last group shot in the caves Wena shoved me and my left 4th toe ended up being pierced by 5 sea urchin nettles. Hurt like hell, but I wasn't able to pull out the splinters so I immediately swam back to the boat. Even onboard I couldn't get them out, so I had to endure this minor agony on the boat ride back to Bantigui Beach Resort. No luck w/ tweezers, as the nettles were so brittle some of them practically crumbled in my toe by the time I got to them. Hmm, doesn't feel poisonous....
One shower and failed nettle extraction later, we late-checked out and drove back to Legazpi to meet up w/ Fernds and Xeng for dinner at Small Talk Cafe, where I had my first taste of Bicol Express pasta and Laing. Fernd's driver had called it a night (seeing as he was w/ since Matnog it's understandable), so chauffeur duties fell unto me and I drove us in the Imperial Hi-Ace (that handled like an L300) to St. Ellis for our last night in Legazpi. Again sleep was delayed for me owing to an overseas argument between my roommate and beau via celphone, and I desperately looked for my earphones to no avail. Fortunately calmer heads prevailed and the phone-call ended peacefully.
Boy, this mattress is really comfy...
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