Camiguin is truly blessed with rich natural resources, and it has a lot of water-themed tourist spots that entice locals and guests alike to dip into pools and spend the leisurely time away from the hustle-bustle of city life.

The Katibawasan Falls is located at the foot of Mt. Timpoong at Mambajao. There is a wide, parking area near the entrance where souvenir stalls vie for your attention to purchase shirts and trinkets.

Upon paying a minimal entrance fee, a short walk to the falls increases your anticipation as you hear the roaring waters and catch glimpses of the falls between foliage and trees.

The path eventually takes you to a ridge and beyond, a breathtaking view of Katibawasan Falls!



It's a majestic sight! Measured at a drop of 250 feet, I have never seen a waterfall with such height! Cameras clicked feverishly as people scrambled for the best location.

Actually, we did not intend to swim but the water was so inviting! And so take a dip we did.

It was c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold-d-d-d-d-d-d-d.

Eventually you get used to it somewhat, but then when you leave the pool, it's even c-c-c-c-c-colder-r-r-r-r-r-r.

It made me wonder how the top of the waterfalls look like. It's amazing how the water topples off the mountain wall like it's coming from nowhere. It was beautiful, enchanting, and relaxing all at the same time.


Related Links:
Wonderful photos at Lino Photography
Camiguin Island information by the Hawaiian WebMaster

[cross-posted in watson.online/

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My parents planted these onions and to protect them from the chickens, they surrounded these with some bits of wood. Lo and behold, the sticks have started sprouting leaves as well! In the words of Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park), life finds a way.

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The task for this month for DotheGreenThing members is quite easy to do: when you're done using an electrical appliance, uplug it! Putting it on standby doesn't help either, so make sure you turn it off, or better yet, unplug it.

So what things do we usually take for granted that's just plugged in there on standby while we think it's not guzzling any electricity?

1. The computer. Yep, we love using the computer in the office and at home. And there's quite a considerable amount of time that it spends just sitting there, playing a screensaver no one's watching anyway. Better unplug the thing. You save the life of the laptop's battery in the long run, and you save up on electricity bills at home. Take note of even the peripherals: printers, speakers are the most common.
2. When you are nearly done with ironing clothes, unplug it. There's enough heat left for the hankies.
3. Microwave ovens. When you see the time flashing away, it's feeding on electricity.

About the only thing I can think of which cannot be unplugged is the ref. What an awful waste it will be for spoiled food.

So go on ahead and register at Do The Green Thing. It's a fun way of being green, and you can count your C02 savings!

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A snail on a rainy day near my parent's home in Crystal Cave in Baguio City, Philippines. Something so simple, and yet something increasingly not so commonplace anymore.

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Cans are one of the more useful things that can have a second life after it has served its primary purpose. A little creativity can go a long way.

Did you know... that it takes a can of soda 20 years to recycle itself (which basically means rusting away and turning to dust). A lot of these end up in the landfills. Let us do our share in recycling cans.

I learned the above trivia from the TV Show Planet Green on National Geographic.

Here are some things you can do:
1. Sell it. Soda cans are bought by the kilo.
2. Bigger cans may be converted into pots for your plants.
3. Decorate medium-sized cans with art paper and use as pen containers. Just make sure that it's the kind without sharp edges.
4. Cover the milk can and slit a hole through its lid. Voila! A coin bank.
5. Punch a hole through the bottom of two cans, tie a cord through these to interconnect these cans, and you get a phone system!
6. Buy your powdered milk in foil packs and re-use the cans (although the foil packs become unwanted trash too. Hmmm).

With a bit of creativity, let's reduce the amount of trash we produce, starting with cans. And it's even fun doing projects with your kids!

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When I saw the news some time ago about Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto initiating actions for the removal of the unused fish pens in Taal Lake. She makes complete sense in this action, because she was not only thinking of the rehabilitation of the lake itself, but of the livelihood of the people as well. This is in contrast with DENR Head Atienza who wants to dismantle all the fishpens in one sweep. Where will that leave the people who are dependent on the lake? It's just making one problem while trying to solve another.

She revealed in the TV interview that the movement in the local and national environmental agencies were slow to take action and so she initiated the movement. But she will only have the unused fishpens dismantled at this initial stage, and is likewise in active participation with local groups to find alternative sources of livelihood for the people.

And although the Tawilis, a freshwater sardine found only in Taal Lake and is one of only 2 species of its kind worldwide, was not mentioned, they might not know it but this will help the fish thrive in the lake. The Tawilis is currently a threatened species due to overfishing and setting up of fish farms in the lake, competing with the finite food supply of the Tawilis.

I salute you, Gov. Vilma Santos-Recto, for your environmental actions!

Related link: "Vilma Santos seeks other livelihood for fish cage operators" at inquirer.net

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We visited Manila Ocean Park last April. It took me some time sto blog about this because this was also the time I sorely missed my Canon camera, which went kaput only a few weeks prior to this adventure. My brother just arrived from Jeddah on this day and we decided to visit some noteworthy places before we head out to Baguio, where he will surely be staying put for the rest of his vacation.

Each adult costs 400 pesos. Whew! That's a lot of money. But if you think about it, it does not cost as much as the ones in HongKong and Singapore. Well, perhaps it's because those abroad have carnival rides and other attractions in them whereas ours is an oceanarium with some human conveniences built in such a hotel, mall, and restaurant.

Still, even at 400 pesos per head, the place was jampacked! We had to wait two hours to finally have our tour. Here are some photos to tell the rest of our story.




The first stage is the outdoor aquariums.
Here, the guests can touch the starfish.
Nemo (a clownfish) and Dory (hmm... forgot what species she is) are very popular with the kids and adults alike. Upon entering, everybody would wonder aloud, "where's Nemo?" and shrieks of delight would come from people who sees the clownfish.


Very beautiful collection. This one below, was amazing. It was huge! Its tank was kept cold.
The nautilus! One of my favorites. Did you know that this was the inspiration for the submarine?
The deadly lionfish.

There was this section of the park where huge aquariums are located and schools of fish swim effortlessly in groups. It was mesmerizing.
This photo is dark because flash photography is not allowed. And I think I just used my iPhone for this one. When you enter this tunnel, you can no longer go back.

This place goes through the largest aquarium in the park, with sharks and large fish and stingrays swimming above and beside you. Beautiful.
Now I know why the parks in HongKong and Singapore had a moving pathway in their tunnels. So that people wouldn't linger. As it happened here, the people stayed for the longest time in the tunnel watching the fish swim everywhere, making this the most congested area.

We were lucky! A couple of divers went in to feed the stingrays and a shark of sorts. The stingrays would glide by the diver and they would insert the fish into the mouth. I think it's the poor galunggong that's the meal of the day.

The Manila Ocean Park is quite a spectacle. I am glad that we have one now.

But of course, some minor quirks:
1. As with the other bloggers, I am not too happy about the starfish-handling section. For one thing, nature appreciation and conservation is all about letting them be. I think that letting the people just touch and get those starfish out of the water is sending the wrong message: that we can simply catch these starfish when we see one in the wild.
2. The aquariums at the open air area were quite blurry with green algae growth. I think it's because they're under the sun, and it's making the algae grow more rapidly than anticipated. Isn't this bad for the fish?
3. I was supposed to say, fake or dead corals as added decor (whoops! there, I said it) but understandably, it will truly be very difficult to maintain live corals in aquariums in such a huge environment.
4. I did not manage to look at the restaurant's menu but if there are fish in it, then wouldn't that be ironic?
5. The place was not yet finished at the time of our visit.

It will be great to see the place completed and surely more attention will be focused on nature conservation. But overall, we enjoyed the trip.

[cross-posted in watson.online/]

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