#Fishbump: Days 1 and 2

I'm back! Yes I am! Let us all rejoice for I have missed Spaceship to Infinity as much as you guys did!

Like I said in my previous post, I really miss blogging, and I disappoint myself every time laziness hits me. But anyway, here I am typing away as I write about the ultimate highlight of my summer: Marine Camp at Danjugan Island, Negros Occidental!

Originally, I was planning to go to CISV Mini Camp as usual. But after hearing about this, I was torn between the two. I then decided to go to Danjugan considering that it would be a new experience and I'd learn something different. (Plus, you'll be on an island for 5 days. How could you say no to that?!)

So on April 22-26, I was whisked off to an island with my sister, and my good friends Nicole and Enzo. But hold on, let's take each day into some detail. For now, I'll be telling you about our arrival at Bacolod and our first day at Marine Camp! (I'll be dividing these into different posts since there was so much to tell, especially about Marine Camp!)

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It was an early start for us as my family met up with my friends, Nicole and Enzo at the airport. (We like saying that we have temporarily adopted them into the Guevara family.) You can imagine the giddyness and the complete excitement at the airport. We felt like a CISV delegation off to a new place! This was the first time going to Bacolod for each of us and we really couldn't wait!

Arriving there, we were picked up by my Ninong Rey (ninong is the term we use to call our godfathers here in the Philippines) and Kuya Carlo. Our families have been friends for as long as I can remember! Hooray for family friends! Anyway, we got our taste of real Bacolod chicken inasal and other grilled chicken dishes that really satisfied our hunger.

We settled in at the Sian's house, played Halli Galli for a little while, and then heard mass together. After, we had dinner at a restaurant called Bob's. I had a bowl of Mongolian food all to myself. Spell happy? A R I E L L E. We then went home to get a good night's rest, for we were going to need all our energy for the first day of camp the next day!

Monday was the day of excitement as we all woke up very early to prepare for Marine camp! We were going to be on an island called Danjugan for five days, and we really couldn't wait! It was a whole new different adventure waiting for us.

Our bus ride lasted three hours, and I'm telling you, my legs got numb because of just sitting there as we awaited our arrival at Barangay Bulata. We also had a twenty minute boat ride, which was not so bad, except the boat propellor hit some rocks. We kind of got stuck in one spot for a while...

Moving on! What can I say about arriving at Danjugan? Such beauty. You really felt "at one" with nature on that island. Clear blue waters, birds chirping, a beautiful lagoon. It was really beautiful. Once we arrived, we were introduced to our camp staffers. We call our staffers Manong/Manang, which apparently in Ilonggo (the dialect of Negros) is their version of Kuya/Ate. (Kuya/Ate is what we call our older brother/sister here in the Philippines, but even the term extends to friends)

Our sleeping arrangements and bathrooms were far different from those we had back in our CISV mini camps. Back in CISV, we had airconditioning and showers. Here at Danjugan, we were to sleep on mattresses with mosquito nets, and we had to shower with one pail of water each person.

For our camp, there were 22 campers: 18 girls and 4 boys. We were then divided into groups, and I was grouped with Enzo! (Yay!) Our team had the longest name ever: Awesome Sauce Blue Potato Balls and the Cool Fearless Rainbow Berries. In short, we called ourselves Berry Awesome. (Although the staffers liked to call us Potato Corner because our team name seemed like we were selling some food product.)

That afternoon, we were also given a short lecture on the dangerous creatures we were to avoid in the sea since we were about to go snorkeling. This served as a reminder for me since I learned about these dangers recently in my diving class.

Man, it was great to be swimming again in the sea. Although, it was pretty difficult snorkeling since the current was really strong. I almost lost my mask! Still, it was really fun.

Later that evening, we had a lecture on birds, which was very interesting. It was amazing to know that there was so much wildlife here on Danjugan. I was really blessed to get the opportunity to see these creatures fly freely. We were to go bird watching the next morning, which got me really excited since I really wanted to find the birds we discussed!

Before I went to bed, I was going over the things we had done during the day. One day down, and I still learned so much! I had a really good feeling about this camp. A really good one.

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So that is all for today! I'll be posting about Marine Camp Day 2 real soon! Marine camp was a blast, and I'm having so much fun writing about it. I met so many great people, and learned so much.

P.S. Spaceship to Infinity is on Facebook! Like away! I'll be posting my quick updates and other things that tickle my fancy over here. Also, it's another way for us to connect!