I forgot to add a few pictures from Monday evening. I finally got to try durian; I only did it for Brooke! She challenged me to try it, and yes, it's as horrible as my face makes it look. It's disgustingly sweet, with a chemically-Pepto-Bismol smell. Even without the bad smell, I don't think I would have liked it. Not when there are yummy fruits like mangoes and bananas to eat.
There was a beautiful sunset that night, too. This was taken standing out on the back balcony of the library.
Tuesday morning we woke up early to catch a ferry in Cagayan at 8:00. It's about an hour ride down the mountain, so we left the library at 6:30. One of the most heartbreaking things I saw on our trip was at the ferry terminal in Cagayan. Two little boys, about 4 and 5 years old, were in a small out-rigger canoe begging for coins. They wanted us to throw the coins into the water so they could dive for them. This is how they help earn money for their family. It made me so grateful that my sweet babies have never had to do anything like this. We threw our most valuable coins to them and cheered them on; they would hold up the coin when they surfaced to show us they had reached it. It broke my heart when they came up empty handed.
Tuesday morning we woke up early to catch a ferry in Cagayan at 8:00. It's about an hour ride down the mountain, so we left the library at 6:30. One of the most heartbreaking things I saw on our trip was at the ferry terminal in Cagayan. Two little boys, about 4 and 5 years old, were in a small out-rigger canoe begging for coins. They wanted us to throw the coins into the water so they could dive for them. This is how they help earn money for their family. It made me so grateful that my sweet babies have never had to do anything like this. We threw our most valuable coins to them and cheered them on; they would hold up the coin when they surfaced to show us they had reached it. It broke my heart when they came up empty handed. 
When we finally ran out of coins, I wished there had been a change machine so I could get more. Here they are counting their earnings: I hope it was a profitable day for them.
After a two hour, rough and rocky due to a storm, ferry ride, and a 45 minute van ride, we made it to Paras Beach Resort. I finally got to take a hot shower. The Dumotan's have a shower, but no hot water. I hadn't yet worked up the courage to take a cold shower, so I waited two days until I knew we'd have hot water. 
We spent the afternoon touring the Island. Our van tour took us to five tourist sights. The first stop was the "Old Volcano" and Stations of the Cross. It felt good to get out and walk a bit. The Stations of the Cross are life-size statues depicting Christ's journey to the Cross. 
At about the 4th station, we started noticing damage from a rock slide, and by the 8th, the trail was impassable, so we had to turn around and go back. I hope they are able to repair the stautes soon. I really enjoyed the "hike" up the volcano, looking for the next station, surrounded by the lush greenery. We even heard monkeys calling in the distance. 
Our next stop was the Sunken Cemetary, an old cemetary by the shore that collapsed and sunk under water during the 1871 volcano eruption of Mount Hibok-Hibok. Apparently it's a really cool place to snorkle, but we weren't equipped. The sand on the beach is black because it's crushed volcanic rock.
Right down the road from the cemetary is the Gui-ob Church ruins, also destroyed during the 1871 eruption. The stone walls had coral mixed into them.
The next stop was Katibawasan Falls, a "beautiful, clear stream of water cascading 70 meters into a rock pool surrounded by ground orchids, wild ferns, trees and boulders." (quoting from our tour map) Being from somewhere so green, I loved being surrounded by the lush plant life. It made me a little less homesick, I think. It was still raining, too, so it felt even more like home! Except for the high humidity.
Our final stop on the Camiguin Island tour was Hibok-Hibok Hot Springs. This was my favorite stop. I could have stayed here for several more hours, but it was getting late and we were getting hungry. The water was so warm and relaxing, and it didn't even smell like sulfur. 
Stephanie and I sat and soaked, and reminisced about her time as a missionary on Bainbridge Island. I was pregnant with Ben and on bed-rest when she and Sister Hoi served in our ward. They would come a visit me to keep me company. I never thought then that seven years later I'd be sitting in a hot-spring in the Philippines with her!
When we got back to the resort, we headed out to J & A Fishpen for dinner. A storm was coming on, and we were warned that there was a typhoon alert. But we were HUNGRY, so we risked riding in a multi-cab for almost an hour and arrived at the restaurant right before they closed. The owner was very gracious and let us order. We ate so much yummy seafood! 
I didn't get pictures of it all, but my favorite was the chili crab. During our feast, the power went out and it was pitch black. The tables are on floating docks out over the water, so we were surrounded by blackness, rain pounding on the tin roof, and water lapping underneath us. Fortunately the power went back on after about 5 minutes. We quickly finished our meal and headed back to the resort, where the power went off and on all night long. Day 6: Wednesday, June 24
The typhoon had passed in the night and we woke up to a beautiful, clear day. I love how the storms clear the air. We spent the morning at White Island, a sand bar right off the coast of Camiguin. It was easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Picture glistening white sand, clear turquoise water, cloudless blue sky, with lush green mountains in the background.
Kylie, Stephanie and Barb snorkeled; I tried it, but it was a little to wavy for me and I kept getting salt water into my snorkel and mask. Carlyn told me to wait until the next day at Duka Bay where the water was calmer. I beach combed instead and found lots of tiny, beautiful shells and coral. We were there for about two hours when the tide started coming in and eating away at the sand, so we headed back. That afternoon, we left beautiful Camiguin Island and headed back to Mindanao. We took a different ferry this time, an open air ferry, which was wonderful. It helped that the storm had passed and the ferry was slower so it wasn't as rocky. While we were waiting for the ferry to disembark, boys started jumping into the water and climing aboard the ferry. Carlyn told us it was a water festival day, so everyone was out enjoying the water. The boys would climb up the rope and onto the outer railings of the ferry.
It started out with little boys, but once they saw Kylie, the teenagers and men started flocking over.
They reached through the railings, trying to get her to shake hands with them, and when she finally did, they cheered. She introduced herself, and from then on all we heard was"Kylie! Watch me, Kylie!" as they jumped off the boat doing flips, trying to impress her. Carlyn had a big bag of coins, and she offered it to them if they would all jump off together in a salute to Kylie. They were only too happy to oblige, and when the ferry pulled out, they all climbed onto the top. 
We got farther and farther away from shore, and I started to get worried that we were too far for them to swim back safely. What do I know?
They jumped off one by one, yelling "Kylie!" as they jumped. Kylie was beet red, but I think she enjoyed the attention! The picture above shows how far they had to swim. When we made it back to Mindanoa, we rode on these mini-taxis. I've lost track of how many different types of transportation we used on this trip! We were warned that because there was a water festival, we might get sprayed with water. All along our way, we were so excited to possibly have a way to cool down and were so disappointed when no one even tried to spray us!
These friendly kids wanted to talk to us, though, when we were stopped in traffic for another road construction project. 
We arrived at Duka Bay (below) that afternoon, took a nice walk along the beach, and went to bed early so we could wake up early and go snorkeling and SCUBA diving.
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