If Mangroves Rock Your Boat

I mean, look, it’s an island. White shore. Looked pretty in the sun. Whatever.

But.

I can think of better islands to dock out there in Bohol. Mocaboc, for example. Which was what I expected out of that family island hopping tour.

So as to how and why we ended up in this remotest island ever, I have no idea. It was okay, I suppose, if mangroves rock your boat. Or if you’ve never seen a white sand beach your whole entire life. Otherwise, it was a bit disappointing.

But to put it into perspective, it wasn’t — and shouldn’t be — about the destination. The whole point of that trip was to bond with aunties, uncles, cousins, and in-laws we don’t normally see on a regular basis. This was Day Two of our family reunion back in 2023. And if you do the maths right, you will come to the correct conclusion that I suck at posting real-time. By the time my memories make it to this blog, they’re already ancient history.

We had to hire two boats because one, obviously, wasn’t enough. There were probably like, thirty of us. The younger generations congregated into one boat and the other older ones into the other, as if by osmosis. Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

But joke’s on us because our elders had the food supplies on their boat.

The good thing about an island full of mangroves is that you know there’s gonna be a lot of fishes and sea creatures close by. It might not make for a comfortable barefoot walk but that’s just nature protecting itself against humans and their need for a nice background to take photos with.

While everyone else enjoyed a bit of snorkeling, Raven was learning about sea urchins and I was there collecting sand dollars because even as a kid, I was that weirdo with my head down, scouring the shore where the water meets the sand, looking for pretty little seashells the waves offer to me.

Some things never change, hey?

At least now Raven knows to pee on the wound site in case of a sea urchin sting. Something I personally wouldn’t recommend. Which is why I advised her to wear her thongs — slippers to you — all the time when at the beach. So much so that she even learned how to swim wearing them in the water! Doing it legit Filipino style.