Tag: Scuba diving

The Little Mermaid in 2010

cbartazo

the Depths - my second home!

Prologue: An excerpt  from my journal The Year that Was…

It was amazing that even with chaotic work schedule, I had lot of personal trips labeled as my de-stressing strategy.  I had almost 30 dives, of which 25 sites entirely new; explored 8 new places including the famous El Nido; and have finally experienced coral transplantation at NRM site in Linamon.

Though our ultimate dive trip for 2010 was indefinitely postponed, I was thrilled with new discoveries not only with underwater world but also in the highlands.  I was able to scale two mountain peaks in two successive months – Mt. Pulag in the Cordilleras and Mt. Kitanglad in our very own Bukidnon – third and fourth highest peak in the country.  And finally, I set foot In Sagada after 8 long years of waiting.

Arranging trips and itineraries have become an art.  One time, I changed return flight last minute and become absent on a Monday, I have to call and delegate for an opening message on a morning convocation! It was a feat to arrange for leaves carefully considering work trip, meetings and deadlines.  I have exhausted my special leaves, force leave and took vacation leave which I don’t normally do in previous years.

Year 2010 has been a blissful year for my diving pursuit and indeed I was immensely enriched as I go through my journey. Looking back I can always recount the events with much delight and gratefulness for all the blessings poured down for me to grasp.  So here’s my ten for 2010:

  • My greatest lesson – ascending alone after I was lost from my DM in the murky waters.  The principle I use was stop, relax, think & act which I think very basic for every diver.
  • My 29 dives of which 25 are totally new sites having an accumulated underwater time of 56:53 as of 30 December  were more than decent enough considering schedules and monetary issues.
  • My greatest disaster – my cam which was barely 10 months old went flooded!  My heart sank…
  • My greatest disappointment – Missing the Coron monsters, I want to visit this fave site once a year.
  • Now sporting my dive computer – an important gear I can’t imagine diving now without it!
  • My advocacy for marine protection & preservation being reinforced by joining the coral transplantation in a marine protected area in one of the coastal town in the region.
  • My personal goal to dive at least once a month was almost prefect except in May and October when I was in mourning and on a retreat respectively.  I had seven in September.
  • My new learning – diving with enriched air and I love it.  Now, I wanted my EANx certification soon!
  • After more than three years I was able to revisit the spot where I had my first rigors in open water diving, coming back to the resort felt nostalgic…
  • My passion for marine quests is now on the next level, working for the underwater world has been an enriching experience for me.  A call to make a difference in the marine world!

And I am blessed I have friends to support me,  they have great influence as I went through in my journey:

  • Mario – I was diving with him when I was lost in the murky waters, being my OWC and AOWC professor, it   was the perfect workshop! He was deathly worried and when I surfaced, he was still on the waters obviously waiting for me to show up. I can not forget the look in his eyes.  He invited me and I was part again of his International Cleanup Dive activities in a marine sanctuary in one coastal town in the region.
  • Lemuel & Mar Brandy – marine biologists, their work in marine preservation & coral transplantation has inspired and enriched me.  They facilitated and work out things so I could join them for the underwater work.
  • Angel – my good friend and favorite dive buddy, an important person in my dive trips.  Without him, probably I wont be able to visit all those sites.  Seventy percent of my last year’s dives were with him – perhaps our diver’s itch is on the same degree and our passion for marine life has gotten to the same level.  We shared many lessons, memories and graces in our travels, and what a joy! He was so encouraging and resourceful in planning our trips.  Our visits to El Nido, Malapascua, Kalanggaman, Apo Island were few of the trips tinted with extravagance and I was feeling spoiled again!

Indeed, it was a plethora of wonderful and inspiring experience, the mermaid in me has always been on its fins wanting to immerse deeply in the wonderful water world.  This is my journey, this is my life….

Related Articles

Blowing Bubbles in December!

cbartazo
picturesque horizon from the diveshop... 🙂
I went for my last dive of the year as I promised myself,  to brace for the upcoming year ending & year beginning tasks, it was also my way of capping this year’s  adventure trips.  Mantangale would be kinda perfect – not so far, warm staff, amazing marine life and idyllic place.  Sometimes when you want something you always find ways to accommodate your whims,  and that’s what really happened last Sunday.  I squeezed my weekend – skipping laundry & community party and had my Sunday free.  I was up early to catch the 6am aircon bus but when I got to the terminal, it was brimming with passengers.  Squeezing with other travellers to get unto the bus for a seat is not my fare, but have to do it – I am expected at the dive shop at 830am!  The weather was downcast and it was drizzling when I arrived at the resort earlier than appointed time, I was able to have breakfast while observing OWC students having exercises at the pool.
Just as I thought there wasn’t much divers for the day, and I was up for some surprise when Sir Dodong announced after a call from SSB radio  that Fr. Young is joining us.  I’ve been hearing about him  as a  diver, and being the current president of my alma mater I was looking forward to finally meet him.  He arrived just as I getting dressed while talking with Sir Dodong on my latest dive trips.  So, some kind of exclusive dive for the day.
mantangale alibuag dive resort

After some preliminaries, we speed off for our first descent  at the house reef, one of my favourites.  Banaug Shoal always excite me, it’s abundant  marine biodiversity is probably one of the richest of my many encounters.  The sergeants, damsels and  snappers, which always come in throngs as you touched down on shoal’s top.  They come near you as if wanting to be feed 🙂 , so near as you stretch your hands and sometimes so near your face! But I got a lot of whistles from Sir Dodong warning me not to go far away!  The black corals, gorgonians, crinoids, colorful sponges decorated the shoal – being there felt like I was carousing in a colorlful garden.  I tried to search the walls for some critters, spotted tiny nudis and hunt for unusual specie. I went around a little bit to search for critters – groupers, variety of anemonefish, trumpet, surgeons, anthias & more.  Two big snappers keeps darting on us.  I was surrounded with colourful reefs and then found a small alibuag.  Indeed, it’s a paradise!

We got back to the bouy line, I waited and searched for the moray eel and there it was!  🙂 Hidden under a reef, a white moray showing its head and gawking at me. 🙂  As if challenging me to come nearer… While watching in awe, Sir Dodong signalled for ascent – I still wanted to stay but pointing to my SPG, my air was down to 500psi.  So slowly I ascend still watching the view below, our deepest was 32.9m for 43 minutes underwater.

all in nitrox!

We went back to the diveshop for our surface interval, MSU-IIT students who were having their OWC was preparing for their exercises.  We left with them for our second dive to Sipaka Point on a speed boat and transferred to Seareyna for the cruise.  Our second descent was a shallow one, as it was purposely for the students for their exercises.  We explored sandy, wide coral gardens decorated with colourful crinoids, sponges and gorgonians.  Spotted variety of nemos, sandperch, wrasses, fusiliers, small puffer, goatfish,  triggers and long thin sea cucumber that looks like a snake!  We found too crown of sea thorns, which I learned Fr. Young has personal hatred as he was been stung once.  I was left with him while Sir Dodong were taking documentaries for the students.

We covered a large area just going around, somewhere on a slope we stumbled a fishing line entangled among the reef, so we carefully untangled it and gather almost a 10 meter nylon line.  I took delight in touching those critters on reefs that immediately hid and disappear from view.  I remembered my diving lessons then. I picked up some trash and finally ascend after 64 mins with 17.5m as our deepest, far from the boat.

Our lunch served as our surface interval for the last dive, we joined the students again on the dive boat.  After a brief rest after lunch, we boarded the speed boat and separated from them heading for lowly Lapinig Island.  It was almost 2pm and the surface was bit choppy, we descend on a sandy slope getting deeper.  In awhile, Fr Young pointed out something which we barely got a glance from the elusive manta ray.   I spotted a big puffer which I tried to follow but keep on wiggling away from me.  🙂  There were batfish, damsels, anthias, sweetlips and a variety of anemone fish. There were colourful crinoids – black and green feather star.  There were sea fans too, I was most attracted to a lavender gorgonian!  We searched for critters on sea fans, crevices and on corals.

beautiful camiguin!

Lapining is a paradise beyond the surface, I remembered I had wonderful sightings when I had my lessons more than three years ago.  This lowly island which is hardly ever noticed by people cruising to Camiguin, has treasures beneath not everyone got the opportunity to view.  We ascend after 56 minutes with 32.5m as our deepest.  When I surfaced, the sight of the glorious Island Born of Fire right in front of me!

It has been a wonderful sojourn, three deep dives all in nitrox, a perfect way to end my diving pursuits for the year.  The mermaid in me is rejoicing, really it’s all about passion…  I’m looking forward for next year’s dive escapades with my favourite dive buddy.  No doubt 2011 is a promising year for more adventures!  🙂

Related Articles

CY 2011: Quo vadis, Mermaid?

cbartazo
There's life beyond the depths!

Our Tubbataha 2010 is indefinitely postponed so my soul will wait silently for the right time, I know it will be worth the wait. Despite shelving my coveted dive trip for this year, I’m on again for more adventures for 2011 planning equally amazing and off beaten dive sites… I promised myself before venturing sites outside my dear country, I need to explore more and exhaust all the rich marine biodiversity in our waters.

Together with my favorite dive buddy Angel, we are more than bullish to explore these exciting sites:

  • Apo Reef – one of the most diverse marine life comparable to the Great Barrier Reef.  My tickets for San Jose – Manila – San Jose is ready. Angel encouraged me to buy this as early as May , it was on sale!
  • Coron (again!) – for the mysterious wreck diving. I’ll never get enough of all the challenging WWII wrecks in its waters.  Admittedly, I am smitten by the rich marine life and laid back environment in Calamianes.
  • Batanes – I never knew that there is diving in this northern most islands, so when Angel told me, I was thrilled! I slapped my forehead why I haven’t thought to search diving in the islands.  I have been wanting to visit this town, but keep postponing. Now, it’s like hitting two birds with one stone – stunning landscape and mysterious unspoiled depths!  Got our tickets already, it was on seat sale!
  • Manta Bowl – A new discovery, incidentally a dive master mentioned this site to us. Our diver’s itch is pestering us again!
  • Tawi-Tawi waters – one of the red flag areas in Mindanao, this is challenging!  We planned to conquer the place this year, but failed.  So, we will finally explore it next year as my birthday trip.  We got tickets already!
  • Malapascua (again!) – we missed the treshers last summer, so we need to go there again!  Hopefully, the sharks would cooperate this time. I love the laid back life of this northernmost Cebu island. 🙂
  • Others – there are other sites to explore more, those that are less expensive and accessible to get away with leaves at work.  Like Panglao Island, Camiguin Island, Moalboal, Siquijor or even Mis Or waters.

There will be more discoveries  next year aside from our surface adventures.  And always, yes always, I’m grateful with my favorite dive buddy who’s ever resourceful and very encouraging in planning our trips.  I’m  looking  forward for all these, but  shhhhhhh – these are still secret.  Ahhh, the mermaid in me is rejoicing!

Paradise Island Dive

cbartazo
crystal waters at Paradise Island Resort beach

I was missing the waters, my fins were itching wanting to flip once again, so thinking of revisiting Samal waters after more than a year revived my spirits. Angel and I had this dive trip for the month, after missing our Coron trip last month. So one Friday evening after a long day at work, I gathered up my gears and boarded an ordinary bus for Davao.  It was unfortunate that the tourist bus was already full when I got to the station.  It turned out that the ride wasn’t too cold compared to aircon ones, although there were lot of stops along the 6-hour trip, I arrived safe in Davao much earlier than Angel.  It gave me enough time to check in at DMSF, freshen up and got some rest from the long trip.

Angel and I proceed to Davao Scuba Dive thinking arrangements were made already but our contact called up to go ahead to Paradise Island Resort as we need to be back early for another appointment.  We rushed back to  Sasa wharf and cruised for the resort as it started to drizzle.  Our contact Alan was very helpful suggesting to prepare ourselves and gear up as we will do beach entry.  It was good since there were no other divers.  He briefed us shortly about the sites which is just beyond the beach area.  We were warned of the currents, but we informed him that we wanted shallow dive as Angel and I  were both having colds!

There’s one thing I don’t like much with beach entries –  carrying the gears on my back – but I was grateful, an assistant was helpful enough to carry it for me. I scampered the cemented landing as I was much behind from angel and the dive guide and descend the steps. My gears waiting for me floating on the waters, getting into my gears with the cool crystal waters felt so good. Gosh! I belong to the waters, indeed…

Our first ascend was at the coral gardens, where we found  a concrete lying angel on a steel crib.  It was submerged sometime ago as an artificial reef but sadly, we didn’t find any coral, crinoids or fishes. It was lying there more of an intrusion on the sea bed.  Farther, there were lot of branching green corals, soft corals, damsels, clown fish on anemones, puffers.  Angel spotted a moray which I missed.  Some trumpet fish, wrasses,  sergeants and sponges.  There was current indeed, and it was bit ardous catching up.  I signalled for a stop, when the guide finally waited for me with the Ok sign.  I need to slow down…   We ascend after we covered the two slopes in the area, our deepest at  14.8m after 46 minutes with 500 psi of my air.  Angel and I was sad there was much trash underwater, we gathered handfuls when we end the dive.

Angel and I spent an hour for our surface interval at the guest area – short chat with the guide, listening to the serenade, sipping our fruit shakes, people watching and still deciding how much to give for our gift to Io 🙂  We decided to postpone lunch and just went for our last dive immediately so we could leave the place early for the afternoon function. 

For our next descent, we brought our net bag for the trash and went further on the same spot top cover the last slope.  Again, there was the green hard corals scattered, corals of other specie, basket sponges, soft corals.  There were damsels, wrasses, clown fishes, sand perch and more. I spotted a sea cucumber, lot of black sea urchins and found just one crown of thorns!  then we got into a field of colorful coral garden with lot of juvenile fishes. I spend more time there exploring , hopping on the corals and picking up trash we passed by.  There was current again swimming against it, for some time we lost the guide as he went fast.  Angel and I was left alone, and just explored the scenery.  The guide appeared again and signaled for us to go back, drifting with the current was fun.  Until we got to the sandy area,  had our safety stop and finally ascend after  51 minutes with 12.2 meters as deepest, my air down to 800 psi.  Our net bag was filled with trash! 😦

We hastily had bathroom routines, pack up gears, settle our bills, some pleasantries with the shop staff and bid byes.  It started to rain again but it didn’t stop us to board the boat for our cruise back.  The two dives was more than enough to have a good relaxing weekend with Angel. We finally cruised thinking for our next afternoon activity and later for the reception party at Waterfront  Insular. 

 Angel and I was actually thinking about food!  🙂  The dinner at the Waterfront Tent, Margie’s Bakeshop or Blugrey Cafe in downtown Davao! Well, the good food and dining enthusiast in us was itching again…. 😛

Related Articles

Revisiting Coron…

cbartazo

against blue sky

Heading for Calamian

My fascination in Coron has never been put to rest, after two trips last year I still wanted to get back for one lofty reason – to dive and exhaust the remaining wrecks in Calamian. The excitement and challenge in exploring the monsters is nagging my subconscious. So catching our schedules and considering the weather, Angel and I planned for a return to Coron. And as usual there was much to attend to at work, but time management and organizing things have become an art to accommodate more important pursuits much less my dive trips. And I did forego other schedules – exit conference, AGAP convention in Bacolod, meeting in CO, World Food Day celeb at the office and our community Sunday assembly. Arriving midnight from work travel and packing up for over an hour, I slept late but have to wake up early the next morning. I have to be at office for important instructions, then rush at the nearest ATM for my cash needs!

Sitting at the pre-departure area, I was thankful all passengers were strangers. I still wanted my out of town trips to be quiet and discreet possible. The Lord have heard our prayers for a good weather, it was a bright sunny morning! There were few air pockets as we approached the metro, as we hover I was imagining body of waters after the flood & typhoon, of course there was none! Well, that’s the magic of the media, those watching the tv innocently thought there’s a big flood in the metro. This time, there wasn’t much smog I saw, it was clearer I think – maybe the typhoons and monsoon rains have washed away the pollution a bit! J Surely, there’s always a purpose even in misfortunes, for the better.

I have much time to spare, our flight was still at 3pm, so I went to the airport café (Terminal 2) and took my brunch leisurely. After my people watching at the terminal I took a cab for Terminal 3 and waited for the counter to open. By chance, I struck up conversation with waiting passengers for Cagayan de Oro – just like me, proud Mindanaoans! J I waited for Angel until he called up, catching up from work. I boarded the bus last, obviously all are looking at me. L I climbed up with Angel on the aircraft – a Bombardier Q300 – a small plane but I guess better than the Dornier. We were seated apart and having one near the EXIT – I learned being one I have responsibilities in case of emergencies, I was given the assignment to read the instruction card – I thought I would just lean on my seat relaxed while watching the magnificent sights below. Getting on a small plane is lot better because you get a better and clearer aerial view of the islands – at 12000ft elevation. It was bit drizzling and there were air pockets again when we approached the Calamianes – now I found the air pockets entertaining, the feeling of the craft going up and down is exciting! J The view is splendid – the scattered islands, the calm sea, green mountains, white beaches – so serene, so laid back. I caught sight of Banana Island, the herd of cattle at the ranch, the new airport building. We touched down smoothly at the airstrip – bit washed by the drizzle. Indeed, the Bombardier is lot better….

Great Escape

We took the aircon PAL Express shuttle van for the town – not jeepney anymore! Going through the roads, I was impressed that the network is almost 75% cemented, last year it was just a dirt road and it was so dusty and following another vehicle seemed like a curse! The view was breathtaking, the country scenery felt like Bukidnon, I was pointing out to Angel the cattles grazing on the meadows with the herons picking by the side – simply beautiful! The van dropped us at Seadive Resort past 4pm – the travel was much shorter compared last time. There’s nothing much improvement in the town proper, things are quite the same. As soon as we got our room, it felt like we wanted to start off our adventure! J But have to make calls first back at work to put things in order. WE went to the diveshop to arrange for the dive trip – the European owner attended to us: sites, equipments, time, filling up “Dr. No” form and requested for DM Nonoy as our dive master. We brought our own gears (except mask) so everything would be intact in the crates. I found myself smiling with Akitsushima, Okikawa & Lusong Gunboat as dive site for the morrow. J I was telling Angel we’re so blessed with good weather!

It felt good to be back in Coron, last year I was left alone for my dive after all DIY friends (Batch 9) left. I bought the fish id at the front desk I was eyeing last time, it was just too expensive but now I found it necessary – after more than a year. As planned we went to Coron Bistro for our dinner, I was telling Angel I felt intrigued to try dining with them – the pizza daw is yummy! We’re both famished already… The staff was just friendly and had our Hawaiian Pizza quick, we didn’t wait long – I commended it’s too quick. Other diners were foreigners indeed, but the food was just great – pizza, garden salad & fruit shakes – Angel and I enjoyed it a lot. The small pizza was large – I burped with the three slices I got! J My headache (for lack of sleep) mysteriously gone even before we had our dinner…

Akitsushima, Okikawa & Lusong Gunboat Plus Maquinit Hot Springs

As usual I was up earlier the next morning for the preliminaries – my contacts, setting up the uw cam and packing. We got ready for the day about 7am, and went out side the resort and had our breakfast at a carenderia – cheaper and quicker we thought. We found out DM Nonoy can’t make it with us so we had DM Jaime instead, we had one joiner – Jan, a Danish national. The cheery weather was just too perfect for our dive! J We were transported by a speed boat to the dive boat and cruised for over an hour until near Manglet island – we assembled our gears on our way…

We had a briefing from DM Jaime before our first descend at Akitsushima, it’s a deep dive and we need to hold on to the bouy line for the descent, and must stay close to the buddy. Again, it was hazy at first and as we go deeper we sighted fishes until we saw it – like a monster lying there! We followed DM Jaime, going inside chambers, crevice, and square-like opening. It was dark but our torches served us well. It was devoid of any equipment, just the structure now. It was one of the few true warships among the wrecks. We went around, went outside and sighted the broken crane, hole left by canon, part when guns had been, etc. We ascend after 35 minutes at 114 feet as deepest! Angel and I smiled to ourselves – it’s our deepest so far. J

On our surface interval, we cruise to next site south of Concepcion Village near the Pearl Farm. We had our lunch too which I found too early, we need to wait for another hour for our next descent. In between I called up Gay whom I had three missed calls, as usual the first question was my location – arrrghh! Why is it that there’s always someone who’s tracing me?

DM Jaime take out 1 kilo weight from me – so now I only have 2 kilos weights – an improvement I guess!

leaf like nudi
We had our briefing again and geared up for Taiei Maru – an auxiliary oil tanker of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It sits almost level and had maximum depth of 85 feet. This time, Rommel was tasked to lead and DM Jaime at the back watching and following us. But there was much to see in Taiei – going through chambers, the deck, and inner part of the ship. Penetrating the wreck is exciting – going down a hole, square-like opening and dark passageway. It felt so free floating, flapping fins must be with care not to touch anything and without disturbing the silts. The fish life is more abundant here and fortunately, we spotted the lone sea turtle but swam away so quickly. Oversized grouper, giant humphead parrotfish, lionfish, puffers, lot of nudis, giant clams, super big nudi swimming, fusiliers, sweet lips and lot more – it was simply beautiful! We ascend after 45 minutes with big smiles…
patterned nudi

We cruised for our last dive – now I always go for three dives, lesser than that is somewhat bitin. Actually the third site is a wish granted – I snorkeled twice on this site and once found divers enjoying photography while I was just on the surface. I was hoping to dive here as relaxation being too shallow – the maximum depth is only 12 meters. We descend again after an hour interval, but instead of going through the wreck we swam to the surrounding marine life. I guess we need to follow the DM – a basic rule for safety. We spotted trash and stumbled upon a fishing line, but don’t have the equipment for cutting, Angel picked up some but wasn’t able to take all – our DM is getting far already. The environmentalist in us is hurting… There was hard corals, basket sponge but didn’t find any sea fan or star feather. After the safety stop, Angel and I chose to stay longer and explored around while Rommel and Jan ascend ahead. It felt so liberating just swimming and floating amongst underwater life – the little mermaid in me is rejoicing!

We cruised back to town feeling so pleased of our escape from the upland J. As we got back at the resort, we arranged for the morrow’s hopping but after we canvassed outside. J It was so tiring and as planned we headed for Maquinit Hot Springs after haggling for the round trip fare. It was so relaxing but had to leave sooner as we were famished already.

To reward ourselves for a full day, we had dinner at the resort with their special menu for the day – mackerel in tartar sauce and crème caramel for dessert – yum! But I guess I was too exhausted because after I laid my back on the bed I drift off to sleep… Zzzzzzzzzzzz….

Hopping Around

We attended mass the next morning at the St. Augustine Church and waited almost 9am for our boat, Rommel happened to be our host for the day – the weather is so perfect! We had our first stop at Twin Lagoon to catch up with low tide, we remembered Sohoton as we got to the area – rock islets covered with vegetations. When I first came here, I was so fascinated with the inner lagoon. The water level was just on the opening so we need to skin dive to go the other side but my snorkel was kaput. We swam up in the inner lagoon but didn’t stay much long.

We went next to Banol Beach – a beautiful white sand beach, we stayed longer here. The immaculate white sands look so peaceful and idyllic and there were no people when we got there. We leisurely took our lunch at the beach hut, Rommel entertained us with his stories. J It felt so luxurious I felt so spoiled! I keep looking up the limestone cliffs as we dipped in the turquoise waters…

skin diving!
Another highlight was our next stop at Skeleton Wreck, I felt that familiar rush to skin dive the wreck. Angel and I geared up for our exploratory skin diving, the visibility was just too good. We splashed unto the water, swimming and diving like kids. We took turns as we need to handle the cam steady enough for the photos. J

We chose Siete Pecados as our last site, we wanted to see again the rich marine life in the sanctuary. But our spot was not good enough, instead of the colorful corals I saw rubbles and dead corals. But large banded angelfish came near our boat with other juveniles. They were so friendly it came near my hand perhaps looking fro food. We played with the angelfish for awhile and swam coyly near the boat, Angel practicing to swim properly. J Finally, we cruised back to the resort to wind up our leisure for the day.

We bought wreck stickers, have our logbooks stamped at the diveshop and updated our logbooks. We had our dinner again at the resort, every end of the day we’re so famished but sorry the food wasn’t yummy enough for our taste – Angel and I agreed on that, we remembered our faves at Margie’s and Bigby’s! After packing up, Angel bid bye and left to catch with his boat back home….

Towards Home Again

Wake up earlier the next morning for final packing up, had my breakfast about 7am. I need to be ready as the van will leave for the airport at 8am. I turned over my key and was thankful that the driver helped me with my gear bag to the van – truly there are angels around me. I checked in and got the chance to buy something for pasalubong at the shop, I even got the chance to have some photos at the airport.

The plane was on time and the trip was smooth except for some turbulence when we got near the metro but I enjoyed airpockets now. We arrived on time, got a yellow taxi for Terminal 2 and rushed to check in for my flight back home. Thankfully I didn’t see anybody I knew at the airport, at least I don’t need to talk much. J Waiting for our boarding I took something for lunch – expensive but I don’t have the time to get down into the café.

Sitting on the plane on my way home, I can’t help praising God for his goodness – again He arranged all things perfectly, always. Smiling how I am enriched with the pleasure of experiencing again nature’s wonders and sharing with my buddy Angel. I’m looking forward for our next trip 🙂 . We touched down smoothly at CdO airport, arrived home perfectly sane and bracing myself for full days at work ahead. The little mermaid in me lurking back in my innermost self….

Related Articles