Sunday, April 12, 2009

Eye and soul candy

Chaos, turbulence...uncertainty at the very least.

These are only some of the things we feel at one point or another in our lives. Sometimes it can even feel like we're drowning in despair, or maybe feel like our lungs are bursting just trying to stay in place.

So what if the world seems off-balance every now and then? So what if we feel like [insert the appropriate derogatory adjective here] once in a while?

Then you go do something you love, or go do something different.

What I love about being a Filipina and living in the Philippines is that there's no shortage of new things I can do. Heck, with more than 7,000 islands in my country, there's always something novel for me to see and do.

My recent trip to Bicol is awesome proof of that.

I got my toes -- and the rest of my body -- immersed in fine, white, powdery beach sand, plus warm ocean waters in Bicol's Caramoan Peninsula.

Playful water

Feasted my eyes on yummy-licious eye candy at the 2009 WWA Wakepark World Championships. *slurp*

Men's professional cable wakeboarding champs

But, by far, the best part of the holiday had to do with the non-legged creatures.

I'm referring to the whale sharks ("butanding") in Donsol. They were so big, they boggled my mind. Around 40 feet?? I read somewhere that the great explorer Jacques Cousteau saw just two whale sharks in his lifetime.

Lucky bastard that I am, I swam with SIX in one hour.

I could've swum with even more whale sharks, but my legs were shaking from exhaustion after just one hour. I am neither an endurance swimmer nor a strong swimmer by any stretch of the imagination. Still, I'd love to do it all over again. But next time, I'll try not to make my crooning to them sound so orgasmic-like.



If I can help it. They are such magnificent creatures.
(The rest of my Bicol photos here: My Flickr page)

15 comments:

Bud Weiser, WTIT said...

Love the video. Life is a roller coaster, isn't it? Enjoy the weekend, my lady...

Mike said...

Hey Lizza!

I was just using your blog as an example yesterday, about how to keep one interesting, and here you've done another amazing post - just like I was talking about...

Amazing experience with the sharks! And your sound effects really made quite a splash! heehee. Always a pleasure to read you.....

I'll begin posting regularly again by the end of the month - hope you'll come back!

*Thanks for always checking to see if I was back online - you're very sweet :-)

Mimi Lenox said...

The video was incredible.
I think I would have been afraid of them even though they look so docile and sweet.And beautiful!!
I loved your crooning....I'll bet they did too!

Travis Cody said...

Wow. What a fantastic experience!

Daddy Papersurfer said...

What do whale sharks eat!!!!?! - I'd feel as though I was trailing some bait - tee hee

*Kissy kissy huggy huggy*

Terra Shield said...

So now I rough;y know what you sound like... cool video, by the way :)

Lizza said...

Bud: Life would be so boring without the ups and downs. Hope you had a good weekend, Bud.

Mike: You used my blog as an example? You're so sweet.

Thanks for coming back. I know, this blog doesn't get updated as often as I'd like.

Looking forward to reading yours again too.

Mimi: No, no, no, you wouldn't be afraid of them, once you get into the water with them. In fact, I have a vision of you riding one, and having a great time. :-)

Travis: You are so right!

DaddyP: Krill, plankton, small fishies -- what's important is that humans aren't part of their diet. :-)

Kissy kissy hugggggggs!

Terra: Yep, now you know what I sound like underwater. :-P

Lizza said...

Oh, Terra, in the video in the post before this one, you can hear a little bit of what I sound like above water. :-)

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

way cool time....

Lizza said...

Vin, it was a fine, fine time.

Photo Cache said...

I've seen you post the photos of this trip a few days ago and after my self imposed blogging ban, I was ready to come here with this for comment: WHERE THE HECK IS THE BICOL POST? and you beat me to it by posting it here already.

I love your photos. You're doing a lot of traveling Liza. Swimming with sharks, now that's an adventure.

Lizza said...

Photo: Self-imposed blogging ban? Hmmm... naintriga ako ah.

Yes, I posted the pics sa Flickr a few days before I wrote this post.

Pag uwi mo, punta ka sa Donsol! I want to go again. There are soooo many places here I've yet to visit, but I WILL go swim with the whale sharks in Donsol again.

Sidney said...

Wow... your video... I first thought that you were pregnant and that it was an ultrasound video of your belly ! ;-)

Sure...quite an experience... I mean... the butanding... they are quite fast swimmers for such creatures...

Glad you liked my adopted province! It is one of the poorest provinces of this country but the people are kind, hospitable, generous and they have wonderful spicy food cooked in coconut milk...! I hope you did not only feast with your eyes!

Looks like one of those two legged creatures is going to loose his briefs... not so interesting for me... no babes around?

Mike said...

Was checking in to see what was new and since you haven't posted anything new I watched your vid again: I hate to say this, but I think that whale is gay....maybe not, but he sure seemed awfully flambouyant! :-)

Lizza said...

Sidney: I'm just glad nobody mistook me for a whale shark. ;-)

I didn't have any of the spicy stuff, but I mostly enjoyed what I did eat there.

Me likey many of the male two-legged creatures I saw, yes indeed.

Hey, the whale sharks were babes...I think. :-)

Mike: That's right, nothing new here. So stagnant these days. ;-)