11th March 2012
Having cooled our heels at the swanky little jetty on very comfortable chairs, we set off into the gorgeous view that we'd been looking at waiting for our boat to turn up and take us to the island. It took a few minutes and then we were mooring at the shifting sand bar and jumping into impossibly fluffy white sand and making our way to the resort on the other side of the island.
As first impressions go, it was pretty damn amazing, the water was crystal clear, the fine sand was bleached white and the sea shifted colours from turquoise to marine blue with plenty of other shades in between. It took a few minutes to cover the interior, Sumilon wasn't all that big, we paid our money – I think it was 3000 pesos each (you pay more on a weekend) and set about exploring this little slice of tropical gorgeousness.
While Kate and Djalma faffed around I wandered off and took some photos of the scenery, the infinity pool, one of several jacuzzi's a cute little jetty that wasn't used any more and the swathes of brightly coloured bougainvillea that lined the walls separating the island from the sea. It was all just gorgeous.
We left our bags near reception and went down to one side of the island where there was snorkelling and kayaking. After a few wave photos I left my camera bag with two guys working a quiet counter and hustled into my mask, snorkel and fins. Getting into the sea was a bit of an issue, the weather was windy and drumming up a good amount of chop on the surface, we made it in with minimal salt water intake and not too much dignity lost, my bikini bottoms don't put up much of a fight when it comes to staying up. We stayed in the water for less than half an hour, the waves kept us rocking to and fro not really allowing for any good photos. The coral was sporadic and there were some fish but nothing jaw dropping – I have been spoiled I admit.
We got out when the rain started coming down and decided to have a kayak race to warm up. We each jumped in our own kayak and raced off down the small mangrove lake, well I say raced, I headed straight into the trees while Kate sailed on past with ease. Even with a good head start I didn't do that well but we did warm up and had plenty of fun tying each others kayaks to trees, juvenile but funny.
We trekked back to the moving sand bar where I waited with the sarongs, flip-flops and my beloved camera while Djalma and Kate went for a snorkel along the drop off. A group of three Filipinos including a very charming halfway there lady boy were having a grand old time with a bottle of rum, I started to feel a bit silly standing there by myself and so wandered round the tiny little sand spit and took several photos.
I love beaches but as a photographic subject I find them kind of limited, mountains and lakes are much more interesting. The sun came out and I decided to head back up to the buffet to wait for the others while stuffing my face, they saw me leaving and left the water, Kate managed to leave her mask and snorkel in the water and we stood in the shade while Djalma went back down to retrieve them. We left the turquoise waters behind and went for lunch. It was pretty good and but I was more interested in the cakes. I had loads, it was a good thing they were all bite sized pieces.
We decided to chill out, literally, in one of the jacuzzis. We mucked about, creating whirlpools and stuff and then decided on some cocktails. The jacuzzi looked out over the sea and we had a great view of the black clouds rolling, time for a tropical storm. We rinsed off the chlorine and had our cocktails back in the pavilion where Kate and I played pool and then darts, neither of us were terribly good but Kate still managed to beat me at everything. We got the last boat back to Cebu and waited for a few minutes on the roadside for a bus going North to Lilo-An and then got the next ferry to Dumaguete on Negros. We were lucky with times, we hardly waited at all for the next boat or bus and arrived in Dumaguete just after dark.
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