day 4--going under

in about five decades, the locals will be able to eat the mature and ripened fruit of this now-innocent and infant coconut tree
~
the morning of day 4 dawned cloudy, but not rainy, and with major hints of blue sky on display. this was a good sign because our late morning to mid-afternoon was scheduled to include swimming, snorkeling, lunching, and planting a honeymoon tree. after a late breakfast, we boarded a dinghy and made a short ten-minute boat ride to another side of the island. by this time, the sun was out in full force, with brilliant blues in contrast to the ruffled whites and moist greens. the sky was a swirl of sherbet ice cream that merged with mixture of the ocean's plasma colours. the beach and sea floor were less sand than coral, starfish, and shells; it was like walking on dried eczema and wiggling fruit rinds. it was fascinating.

where sherbet meets plasma and fruit rind eczema
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about thirty meters out into the floor of writhing life, the water is still only about a meter and a half deep. i was a tiny sight so far out in the surf that my wife worried i would be carried away. fortuanately, this wasn't korea, this was the philippines, where insecure, xenophobic, self-important beach police goofs don't keep berating you with their whistles because you're so far out, even though a) they can't swim in a tidepool and, thus, think you can't, either, and b) they're not much taller than a meter and a half anyway, so being able to comprehend that other people may not even be swimming, but merely just standing, is beyond their limited scope.

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another aspect of swimming was that i was the only person out there, save for a local in his hand-made paddle boat out fishing for his family's sustenance. the peacefulness of the water was immense, as was the power of the waves and the realisation at the relative dormancy of the sea at that moment. i tried to conceive of its paradoxical powers: at that time, it was withholding its awesome power and appetite for frequently violating the sturdiness of dry land, yet was still capable of quietly and most assuredly sustaining the so many countless millions of organisms, big and small, that so depended on it for life.

~

after a lunch of beer for me and ramyeon and fruit for seung-hee, we climbed up a small hill and planted the above heart-shaped placard recognising our honeymooning and the accompanying coconut tree that will bear fruit that perhaps won't be able to be enjoyed by any of our progeny until they're our grandchildren. there was a field literally filled with scores of these honeymoon trees.

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after planting our trees, we went snorkeling. i was the only tourist on the boat who'd ever been, but everyone caught on quickly and attacked the activity with gusto. well, there was a reason for it: what lay below the surface of the water was amazing. plunging into the underwater world gave us views of amazing clarity and hues and activity. fish of all varieties and colours passes us by: zebra-striped fish, day-glo blue fish, rock-coloured fish, orange fish, lime green fish, dead black fish, indigo fish of all shapes, lengths, girths, and skittishness. they swam amongst spiked starfish, undulating condom columns of forest green coral, flat pancake-like coral (i wondered the butter and maple syrup were), day-glo blue-tipped strip-dancing coral, nude-coloured swaying in seductive unison coral, and rock-like lumps of coral. we just glided along, admiring the white sea floor below, enjoying the visibility of at least ten meters, all the while casting auspicious and perhaps timorous glances at the darker blue waters that got ever-darker as the sea plunged off the edge of the reef where the boat was moored, the unseen depths beckoning salaciously but also representing and cloaking the unseen, invoking the fires of imagination to brimming with images of lurking sea creatures with eyes the size of doors, bodies the girth of a mansion, and flailing phalanges like the chaos of rotor blades on a helicopter as it crashes into a seaside cliff. amazing colours, sensuous sights, and rampant visions--the snorkeling adventure was top-shelf.

the beer is shit, but the photo is postcard-beautiful

the view from the beach bar: sand, sea, and clouds on the island across the water

queen of all she surveys

yes, the sun really did exist and acquitted itself nicely with this sunset

somehow, my wife manages to take a photo that shows the first snow ever recorded to have fallen on badian island

~

we retired from our snorkeling back to the beach and the beachside bar for some happy hour and sunset-watching. we had dinner again, buffet-style, out on the beach next to the surf and with entertainment by the band of the first night on badian and more "traditional" dancing.