No Man is an Island

Snake Island, Bohol, Philippines


We started the day thinking we'd be going to the Underground River, but since the tide was too high, they weren't letting people go there. Change of plans: We were going to go snorkeling and island hopping instead.

We got to the place where the boats were docked, and genius! I forgot the battery for my camera! It's sitting in the charger, and I packed it up in a hurry. Anyways, we resolved my absentminded-ness, and continued our trip. First thing: snorkeling in the reefs. Pretty freakin' awesome. Now, this is more like it. We finished up there, and the boat left for Snake Island, named for the serpentine shape of its shoreline. So we're cruisin', then click-click-click. The motor stopped. We're in the middle of the sea. Another little boat passed us, stared, then turned around and our boatman throws and rope over and we were towed the rest of the way to the island. Well, we got there. Hopefully, this will be fixed or they'll have sent another boat for us by the time we finished our lunch.

We got to Snake Island and were greeted by starfish and delicious food. Some people on our tour sat and let their food digest, taking a break from all the swimming, others hopped back in the water, or strolled along the shore. I dug around for some little sand dollars, figured I could do something with 'em. Our guide tells us that it's time to go to the last island so we should head back to the boat. They tried to start it. Nope. That's a no-go, sir. Remember how we hoped they would've fixed this problem by the time lunch was over? Yeah. That didn't happen. So we sat there. My dad took a nap on the sand. A solid 15-20 minutes later, the guide tells us to walk back, and that we'd have to wait for a new boat? Really? Wtheck? Nice job, guide. Disgruntled, we mosey our way back, and jump over and limbo under the other tethered boats. We weren't so upset about being stuck on this beautiful island. We were on vacation. What else were we going to do, anyway? We were just kind of annoyed with our guide at this point. He probably should've bought us all massages. One hour later, and we're on boat #2. Relaxed on the first ride over, half of our tour didn't bother to zip up our life jackets. This ride, hah! With the waves getting bigger, and the sky getting darker, coupled with the pitter patter of the engine, I looked around then made sure my jacket was zipped and tied. And every time the boat started to make that low hum, our eyes widened, not sure if it'd stop again. We looked up to our guide for reassurance. He was asleep.

So you'd think that's the end of our island troubles, don't you? Nope. We still gotta whole 'nother day to cover.