Back as promised ... with info on Romblon Island, special Nudi's, and their friends.
I met Vanesa from Switzerland, who is working for a family on the Island, and she came to dive a couple days while i was there. It was so nice to have another female there to visit with. We decided to take a day off from diving, and tour the island. Of course we asked Oscar, who picked me up from the Ferry. It was a great day. We started at 9am, and circled the entire island, which has a coast line of 35miles, all from Oscar's Tricycle.
This
is the mode of transportation: a motor bike outfitted to carry passengers and luggage. i never saw a single car while i was
there... even in 'town'. The roads can be quite primitive with sand
and lots of holes... so i don't know if a car would make it. This is actually the 'main road' around the island.
Oscar was
in his 60s and very knowledgeable about the island. This is one stop
where he explained is where the Spanish first landed on the island.
Vanesa and me
He asked if we wanted to hike up to the 'Falls' and of course we said yes,.... but he wanted to know if i thought i could make the trip... he mostly looked at my 'knee' :) I assured him I could. :) There was a 'path' through the jungle, steep, rugged and primitive. i was very happy to accept his hand to steady me on areas where there was a drop off just inches away.
We got about half way up and he said that we were there, and here was the water-fall ... haha
It
was hot and humid, and we finally made it there. It was refreshing
and we wished we would have brought bathing suits. Going down wasn't
as bad as i thought it would be. All good, and safely returned.
The highest point on the island is 1,520 feet. He took us to a cliff, that was totally UNDERWATER at one time... evidenced by these many giant clam shells.
We were up pretty high, so it's hard to imagine all this under water ..
Along side of the road they are drying coconut shells, that will eventually be turned into fuel (charcoal) for their cooking.
Romblon is the second biggest producer of Marble in the Philippines !
This is what it looks like before it comes out of the mountain
It was a Sunday, so mostly no one was working, and we were able to walk right down to where the action happens. This is the 'factory'
There were piles of HUGE pieces of marble.
Down where they worked cutting the marble .... look at the size of that blade !
And slices marble like a loaf of bread
It was Sunday, but a few guys were working. You can see the dust that comes from the saws. And we did NOT see one person with a mask, respirator, ear plugs, gloves .... nothing ...
We stopped and saw this young man, using what looked to me like a large 'dremel' and was making a SeaHorse, he had a whole pile of them. Again, no protection ...
Along the side of the roads there were the piles of marble
And then we saw this Mermaid
In town: The Festival of Senor Santo Nino de Romblon begins on 10 January and runs for 9 days. Today was the last day, but they were still going strong.
People attribute miracles to the 432-year-old statue of the child Jesus,
the Sto. Nino of Romblon, which occupies a central role in the lives of
Roman Catholic residents in this central Philippine island. The statue was brought to the Philippines by Spanish conquistador Miguel de Loarca in 1582. It's arrival was the
first miracle that people re-enact every year with elaborate
preparations, sending the whole island into a festive mood of street
dancing, praying, street parade and a sea procession that takes several
hours to finish. There were also marble sculpture contests, and boat races.
We looked in the door of St Joseph Cathedral, and i was bewildered to see all these 'dolls' ... Child Jesus doll/figures EVERYWHERE. We learned that the people bring their Child Jesus statues to the Church at the beginning of the Festival, ...on the last day they are blessed, and then they take them home until next year.
It was a beautiful Cathedral....This seems to be a good reference if you are interested: https://romblonph.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-story-of-senor-santo-nino-de-romblon.html
He also showed us the building that is made entirely from Marble, including the windows.
More history ... Fort San Andres was constructed in 1644 in the Spanish colonization, Fort San Andres is a part of the Twin Forts in Romblon built to protect the town from Dutch and Muslim piracy during the Dutch Revolt.
Our last stop was SunBird Ridge Coffee Shop, which sits way up the mountain and looks over the sea.
We met the couple that owns it. She was quite the talker and has had an interesting life. They lived on a boat for 8yrs, then bought this. She loves birds and has multiple bird feeding stations around the property. She said she gives them brown sugar water ??? So so many beautiful yellow birds! Photo credit goes to Vanesa.
Oscar returned us home around 5pm. It was a GREAT way to spend the day !
Back to diving the next day. This is our boat. They served us Hot Ginger Tea after the dive. OMG ... it was wonderful. We were usually quite cold by the time we got into the boat, so it was perfect.
Where did i leave off with the critters? I think we are back to Nudibranchs... my personal favorites !
Let's start off with a very favorite of mine ... do i say that too often ? It is a Pikachu, or Thecacera picta. I have never gotten a 'good' photo of it ... but i am very happy with this one.
They are almost clear, you can see its internal organs through the translucent body. A characteristic feature of this genus are the long horns on its back, which can be extended and retracted. Most of the nudibranchs with feathery gills have them near the back of the body, but here they’re closer to the front.
This beauty has laid lots of white eggs, to the right of it, ...Phestilla melanobrachia. I love the contrasting colors.
Another frilly Nudi, Glossodoris rufmarginata
Phyllodesmium crypticum. These remarkable sea slugs are only found in the Indo-Pacific region. They camouflage themselves to look like the soft coral, Xenia, they live on. Many species are very cryptic and live on or between the corals they are preying on.
Phyllodesmium koehleri. The cerata of Phyllodesmium koehleri look like spiky clubs and give the nudibranch its interesting appearance. They feed on xeniid soft corals in the shallow reefs around Romblon Island.
There are 2 Phestilla viei w/ Eggs, the yellow oval at the top. It is listed as Tenellia sp. 83 in the latest edition of Nudibranchs & Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific (NSSI). This means that it was just recently recognized and offically named. It was darn difficult to see this one too, since it looks exactly like the coral.
i was able to experience an amazing event. Everyone was looking at this 'bubble coral', at least that's what i thought it was.
Then i saw something 'inside' of one of the bubbles. I know that some fish encase themselves in a mucus sac to protect themselves from predators. But it looked kind of like an 'eye' ...
We kept watching, and all of a sudden whatever was inside the bubble shot out. What is that? it sat for a bit, unrecognizable to me
It wasn't until it swam a short distance away that i could see it
was a Broadleaf CuttleFish !!!!!! A tiny tiny one. I just watched a CuttleFish being
born or hatching! WoW
This is a Goniobranchus reticulatus, it was large enough for me to see :)
A Flat Worm Phrikoceros sp
This is called a Hexabranchus lacer ...i think :)
I don't know which Nudi this is ... a nubby little guy
And Sacoproteus smaragdinus mimics it's host coral's little 'balls' where it lives
The next set of photos are of a group of Nudi's called Cyerce. And definitely a favorite! They are lovingly called The ButterFly Sea Slug (not so sure 'slug' is very loving, however). I saw a couple of these in Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia; but different locations have different critters. Here i saw a couple new ones.
All Butterfly Sea Slugs flap their wings when moving, which has a strong resemblance to flying butterflies. For this reason they are difficult to photograph because they are always moving.
They have cute little faces ... like Shaun the Sheep.
This one has it's 'wings' forward
There is one that everyone wants to see and photograph. It's called a Cyerce nigra, because of the color. I have always seen photos of it looking like this, with stripes on it's 'wings'
But as i watched i noticed that the back-side of the 'wing' is not striped, ...but is spotted, I was shocked !
Here is a short video that shows it walking ... very quickly ... you can imagine trying to photograph that ! But they are very cool !
The next group are called Cowry's ... they are a Marine Snail ... usually brightly colored and shiny. However ... they protect their glossy finish by wrapping their brightly colored
mantle lobes nearly completely around their shells when they move. So a lot of the times you don't even realize they are/have a shell.
A bit of trivia: In the very early days of the Philippines, the 'barter' system was used as a system for trading with China, Bornea, Thailand and other settlements. The inconvenience of the barter system led to the adoption of a specific medium of exchange – the cowry shell. Cowries became the most common and acceptable form of money through many centuries ... WoW So i guess they deserve some recognition in my blog.
This is called a Sieve Cowry - Cribrarula cribraria
Cowry - Prosimnia semperi | Semper’s Ovulid
another one with it's mantal showing
and without ...
And i'll finish up with a pretty colorful Coral
I was sorry to leave Romblon ... there is so much more to see here. They have critters that i've never even knew existed. Everyone was so nice. I said this would be a one-time visit ... but now, i'm not so sure :)
Oscar picked me up at 8pm for my 10pm overnight Ferry back to the Mainland. It was a different ship than the one i came over on.
Originally i was booked to sleep in the 'bunk quarters' on the return trip. When i arrived at Romblon i asked if they could get me in a 'nice' room like i had before. They did get it changed. However, i had no idea that i was going to be in a VIP Room !!!!!!!! I had my own bathroom and shower and room service !
Since we didn't board until 10pm, it was like a 'normal' time to sleep... it was a good night. We arrived back at Batangas Port at 8am, and i was back at my room in Manila by 10a, and my room was ready. This time i ventured out on the streets a bit more, since i was well-rested. I asked directions to the local 7/11, which was very easy to find. However, i forgot to 'notice' what street my room rental was on !!!!!!! It took me awhile, but i finally found my way back home :) Note to self .......
I'll be meeting 4 other friends at the airport in Manila. I met Sylvia last year on my Costa Rica trip. We got along well and have kept in touch. She had a long adventure planned with 2 other couples, and invited me to join. They started their adventure in early December ! I still wanted to do my Muck Diving and visit the places i love, so i'll be joining them off and on for a couple weeks. Then join back up for visits to Viet Nam and Cambodia. I've never been to either and didn't want to go alone, nor do the hours and hours of 'homework' on Google to plan the trip. This decision was a no-brainer for me.
So, follow along on our next adventure.
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