BEACH DAY= HEAVEN

The title really says it all (as does the video I posted). After all night in the clinic (see post) we embarked in a rickety taxi to Mactan Island. Mactan Island is a small extension off of Cebu that holds the airport, some businesses and a multitude of beach resorts. The water faces out so we don't have to worry about swimming in all the trash/sewage dumped into the water around Cebu.

After a 45 min long taxi ride with a lot of honking, abrupt stops and moments where we thought the car would break down we arrived at the gates of the Blue Water Resort. We immediately felt like we were in a different world. We were able to leave all the pollution and poverty and desperation behind us for a day. (Is that a good thing? Still not sure...). Lindsay and I sauntered through the beach huts and quickly explored the two large pools before racing to the beach to jump in the ocean. The beach is a large lagoon with a sand bar about 100 m out. The water was clear and turquoise. We changed into our suits and went on the hunt for a towel. Apparently day guests aren't entitled to towels so we had to bargain with a man who claimed to be the "boss" on the beach to get us towels. This is how our conversation went:

Beach Boy: Hello mo'm can I help you?
me: yes we are looking for some towels
Beach Boy: I'm sorry mo'm those are only for overnight guests.
Boss: Hey, Where are you girls from?
Us: The US
Boss: What are you doing here?
Us: We are volunteers. At a maternity clinic.
Boss: You hear that they are volunteers! Go get them towels! Volunteers (then some Tagalog). I'm the boss here! They will bring you towels.

We smiled and walked away. Only took thirty more minutes to get the towels. When the beach boy brought the towels he also gave us the business card of the "boss." Turns out he is the CEO of the police in some area. WTF? we still have no idea.

We swam (laid on our backs in the ocean and contemplated life) and then decided to sit on the amazing couches on the dock and eat some lunch and drink mango shakes. We played some board games and basked in the sun (with lots of sunscreen!). After lunch we digested, read, digested some more and decided to venture out to the raft. We saw some fish but mostly seaweed. We were greeted by lots of fishermen who offered to take us snorkeling or island hopping. We declined but are definitely bringing our goggles next time!

After our swim we laid on the beach for another 30 mins and then headed over to the Shark Pond to feed the sharks. There was a fairly large group of 10 people there to watch. Mostly Australians and Germans (not sure why there are so many Germans in the Philippines...). When the fish feeder man let the group feed the fish no one took him up on the offer. Lindsay and I, of course, darted over to him on the rocks and immediately stuck our hand in the bucket of fish heads and had at it. It appeared that the sharks were overfed because none of them seemed to be too hungry.

After our fish feeding we realized one of the pools had a WATERSLIDE. It was pretty crowded with seven year old Japanese children but we hopped on anyway. The dad supervising the group of 5 or 6 kids looked at us like we were nuts but whatever it was totally worth it. So worth it we did it four times....

After our day at the beach Hilary, David and Gina picked us up for dinner at a nearby really swanky restaurant, Acaba. The restaurant is part of a very exclusive resort that reminded me of Kukio in Hawaii. The food was unbelievable. It was owned by a renowned sous chef from Los Angeles and his Filipina wife. We had risotto with prawns and a fresh greens salad with arugula, beets and feta. I still have no idea how they get this food because I can't seem to find anything but white bread and Mountain Dew. We also had hummus (best hummus I have ever had), french green beans, and an amazing plate of desserts featuring ice cream, chocolate mousse, cream brulle, cheese cake and cookies. We were in heaven. We arrived home completely content with a slight sun tan and full bellies.

So happy I even managed to sleep for 9 hours- that is a feat in a bedroom that is about 100 degrees with the sound of roosters beginning at 4 am!

I hope you get a chance to check out the photos- more soon. Off to a two hour Church Service. Can't wait to blog about that!