Saturday morning we woke up early after having only a few hours of sleep. We road in a van that belonged to Geejay’s brother Tonex. It took us to a dock where we met up with some of Geejay’s friends and family members and got on a boat. That boat took us on a 45-minute cruise and anchored over a tropical coral reef. On the boat I met Geejay’s daughter and son. I also met her sister Wena and her brother Arnel. Shortly after leaving the dock, Geejay handed me Maan’s infant son Kunta. I love babies and was quite happy to hold him. That diaper-clad kid was fascinated with my beard. He kept feeling it, and also he kept touching my nose. I must say, this little baby had the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen on a human being. His dark brown oriental eyes mesmerized me with their wondrous beauty. Such a beautiful baby he is!

Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would actually be snorkeling in a tropical coral reef. I have snorkeled in spring-fed streams in Florida, and once snorkeled in the waters at the beach at Nassau in the Bahamas, but those experiences, fun as they were, were nothing compared to this! I was immersed in a world of beauty and wonder, an alien world of exquisite splendor!

Maan was the first one in the water and I jumped in right after she did. She dropped her snorkel as soon as she jumped in and I was asked to retrieve it. The first view I ever had of a tropical coral reef was when I went under water to find her snorkel. There it was, lying on the bottom. I would estimate that it was about 15 feet deep where it lay. I took a deep breath, dove down, grabbed it and came up, snorkel in hand.

I swam around to the other side of the boat and began exploring. Oh my God, there are so many different kinds of coral and I can’t identify any of them! I don’t know much about coral and saw only one species that I could identify, brain coral. It has a very distinctive look. Its surface resembles the convolutions on the cerebrum of a human brain, hence the name. I saw colorful fish of many species and could not identify any of them, except I think one beautiful yellow fish was an angel fish.

One certainly does not need to be able to identity the flora and fauna to appreciate their beauty. I certainly don’t need to put a label on things to perceive the glorious magnificence of nature. There I was, surrounded by beauty, immersed in an almost surreal environment and I am groping to find words to describe it.  But I cannot adequately describe the way it made me feel. I cannot adequately describe the experience, ultimately it is ineffable. But you know me, I can’t help but attempt to describe the indescribable.

Out of respect for the ecosystem, I touched nothing. I repeatedly dove down deep (often deep enough for the pressure to hurt my ears and eyes) to scrutinize the biota. I saw sea urchins, sea anemones, and star fish of various colors and sizes. While swimming with Geejay near the boat we spotted three ribbon eels slithering on the bottom. They scared her because they look like snakes, but I just had to dive down to the bottom for a closer look. Those slithering snake-like creatures had an almost ethereal beauty.

Everyone else was staying close to the boat, but I just couldn’t help but to explore a bit further. I kept swimming farther and farther away, enthralled by the ever-changing scenery before my eyes. I discovered that in the water behind the stern of the boat it was too dark to see much for some reason. I mostly swam in the waters off the starboard side of the boat and would swim far out, come back, swim far out again, and come back again.

After a while I came back to the boat to rest a while. I pulled myself up on one of the outriggers and rested. After resting I played around with Geejay in the water near the boat for a while before I ventured out again. I was having the time of my life!

After a while it suddenly occurred to me that I could relieve the pain of water-pressure down deep by doing what is called equalizing. I remembered from the scuba lessons I took years ago, when the pressure begins to hurt, hold your nose, keep your mouth closed, and force air from the lungs into the head. It works. I wish I would have remembered it sooner.

While exploring down below, I came upon the ship’s anchor and suddenly realized that the coral will be damaged by the anchor as it is pulled up, and is in fact already somewhat damaged by it. Sigh! I suppose it is inevitable that humans cause some amount of damage to the environment anywhere they go.

After a time, we pulled anchor and cruised toward the island. The boat anchored close to the shore at a lovely beach. The water near the shore was shallow and calm. As the children played in the water, Geejay and I took a nice stroll along the beach and then went up into the grassy area above. The beach on the Davao mainland, that we had gone to on the previous day, was beautiful, but that beach paled in comparison to this one.

One thing that struck me was all of the dogs on this beach. They seemed to congregate in places where people were picnicking, begging for food. When Geejay walked back to the boat and I walked around by myself for a while I came upon a rather old looking dog lying on its side. I carefully approached it. Its breathing seemed labored and shallow. I spoke to it in the hushed, subdued tone of voice that any dog lover knows. It halfway opened its eyes for a brief moment and looked at me. Oh my god, this dog is dying! People just walked past as if it’s not even there yet it is dying. I softly stroked its matted fur on its right shoulder. It did not respond. The happy carefree mindset that I had enjoyed all day was now tinged by sorrow. I felt so bad for this dog, yet I knew there was nothing I could do for it. Sigh! All that lives must die. This dog is one of countless animals that die every day. I thought that perhaps this dog is not actually suffering, but somehow accepts its fate. I don’t know. Soon Geejay approached me. We talked for a minute about the dog and then I went to the water and washed my hand, worried about any disease I may get from touching that poor animal.

Soon we pulled anchor again and headed for Angel Cove, a deserted part of the island. The landscape that lay before my eyes was that of a true tropical paradise. Beyond the narrow sandy beach appeared to be a steep slope with layer upon layer of trees and various plants. After swimming around the boat for a while I asked Geejay if she or someone would swim ashore with me. I didn’t want to go there alone. I swam ashore with a nice young man named Bolo. We walked onto the shore and I could not resist climbing onto a large rock that lay nearby. I could see the camera clicking in the distance as I stood on that rock. Geejay loves to take pictures. I constantly heard the sound of birds, some of the sounded quite exotic to my ear, I but never saw a single bird there. After a short time on the shore we swam back to the boat.

What a day it was! What a wonderful, glorious day!