Capul Island Adventures!

After our dental team left Capul Island Doug and I stayed an extra 5 days and moved out to the resort where the majority of our team had been staying.

We had been staying at the church in town, this little resort was about a 5 min motorcycle ride out of town.

 

 

 

 

 

We were in a little nipa hut on the beach, with only two beds and a little shelf in it. It was kinda like camping, but with a cement floor and a mattress on legs. The front and the left wall had bamboo windows that opened to the ocean. It kept us cool.

 

It wa a beautiful spot, with a lovely beach. The owners had a couple of dogs that became instant friends.

Our first day as 'tourists', we met a tour guide on the island, Rhea, and she was amazing...a female Dustin. She loves everything outdoors, hiking, caving, camping, running...and she does it all in big doses! This is Rhea and nephew, JM, in the cabana at their house.

We quickly became good friends and agreed to whatever she was up for!

 

 

The next day we were hiking up to Mt Siri, a beautiful hike, only about 1,200 meters high, but it gave us a great view of the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She took us into two caves on the island which were remarkable...the first was so large we spent an hour exploring inside and there was still more to see.

 

 

We hiked out and stopped at a fresh water spring to refresh and stock up on our water supply.

We were so dirty from exploring the caves...but it was so interesting and fun!! We saw thousands of bats and stepped in a lot of bat guano (poop).

 

 

 

On the trail out we met up with a friend of Rhea's who climbed a coconut tree and dropped a few coconuts for us, the milk was so refreshing and delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were on the other side of the Island after our hiking and cave adventure, so Rhea rented a boat and had them take us around the island to a remote beach...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where we enjoyed the white sand beaches and did some swimming, visiting, and relaxing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And snorkelling...it was soooo amazing, the coral that we saw here, so much variety, brain coral, staghorn coral, fire coral, and all untouched by the world!

 

Not a lot of fish in the water, but it was crystal clear.

 

 

 

 

As we took a boat back to our side of the island, it was starting to rain, but we had enjoyed a great day in good weather.

Our adventures for the day ended with a feast at Rhea's cousin's house. It was 'Festival' on the Island and each home prepares food for the entire community and they take turns eating at each others' homes...roast pig was on the menu! So good, they roast it on a spit all day!

 

 

It was fair weather our first and second day as tourists, but by the third day it was raining. It was Sunday, so we went to the Catholic Church Services in the 400 year old church, on a motorcycle, visited with a few locals and went home and enjoyed a quiet, wet evening in our little hut.

 

 

 

 

 

The rain came and came and the waters rose and so did the litter...they don't have proper disposal facilities on the Island so everything goes on the ground or in the river. So sad, the municipal government is trying hard to change this with the people, but until they get funding for a piece of land for a dump, they can't do much!

 

 

By the and fourth day we were in a typhoon! Not so much fun in a nipa hut! We were getting pretty wet, but we still explored the island, visiting with people. On one 'walk about', we found these kids playing bingo inside their home, too wet to be outside! They are such happy people!

 

 

We stopped by to get buns at the bakery. We waited for them to come out of the oven and got them still warm! We had a good time visiting with the kids working at the bakery. It seemed that everywhere we went we were quite a novelty, and the kids would just giggle and giggle. It was so good to see these kids working hard, many of them are earning money to go to college.

So much water was coming down, I loved this picture of the rooster with his own umbrella. Roosters are very important on the island because they have cock-fighting events every Saturday and Sunday...gambling on their birds! It's even on TV (not here), but in the Philippines. It's not a great sport to watch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little girl was just looking out watching us go by...she is beautiful!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had to borrow and buy umbrellas for the typhoon...Doug's holding my umbrella while I'm trying to buy some fruit from a little store.

 

 

 

 

 

After three days the rain was still coming and causing major water puddles. It was WET even for the locals!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And big challenges for us to go through on a motorcycle!! The only backhoe on the island is in a puddle all it's own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After being on the island and in a typhoon for 5 days, we decided to leave and get to the mainland. We packed up and took the 'ferry' out at 7:00 AM Tuesday morning, just hoping the winds weren't too strong to let ithe ferry go. We did manage to make it over to the mainland, where we are currently staying in The city of Legazpi.

We had a wonderful time on Capul Island, typhoon and all!

More on Legazpi blog tomorrow...

 

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