Mindanao Challenge Day 6- Green: Planted 16 Magrove Seedlings at the Vanishing Island, Samal Island

I woke up from my quiet rest with these huge mangroves saying “good morning, welcome to Samal island” to me. I just smiled and thank God for keeping me safe and warm the whole night. What a nice day to wake up in Samal Island in the loving care of my new found friends. As I said on the previous post, I was treated like a family member here. (I will talk about that on a special post after this Mindanao Challenge).

After breakfast, I was introduced to Deejay Bulay. He is a young teacher at Samal Institute and will accompany me to the Vanishing Island.

He was the one who suggested that I plant some mangroves as we visit the island, “para may kabuluhan naman ang pagpunta natin,” he politely said (Let’s bring some mangrove seedlings so that our visit to the island would be purposeful).

I bought 16 seedlings to represent my 16-day journey in this beautiful island called Mindanao. But before that, I joined the kids in the compound in cleaning the mangroves, taking some plastic bags… Today, the theme is GREEN!

So much for crying on Twitter to Save Our Seas! I’m doing something tangible and I hope that many people on Twitter would do the same. No problems with tweeting about #reefwatch 1000times just be sure to make a difference in your own simple ways.

 

So we asked permission to the Datu to visit the island and we borrowed a paddle boat. There we go, paddling our way to that sand bar…After about 20 minutes, we reached the vanishing white sands. Obviously called as such, because the sand bar disappears during high-tide.

 

Deejay started to prepare “kinilaw na salpo” (will make a special post on how to prepare one) while I roam around the sand bar. They said that during low tide this is more than 50 hectares. Wow!

We brought nilagang saging and gabi plus the salpo and these will be our lunch. Add tuba (coconut wine) and its a sure bonding experience.

 

I’m in good company as Deejay shared to me his desire of doing the same thing I’m doing- traveling. I say props to this young guy as he knows already what he wants to do even in his young age of 21. I know you will travel the country too and who knows the whole world? Glad that you believe that money (or lack of) is not an alibi not to explore the Philippines.

 

I was already tipsy because I drank too many so I took a nap while Deejay experiment on the camera.I told him to practice so that when he has his own, he would take nice shots.

 

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz…. for 2 longhours! Love it!

Now its time to plant the mangroves we brought.

We planted the 16 seedlings underwater. Its a different experience as this was my first time to plant mangroves. Now I have something to return to in Samal Island.

 

 

Would go with me next time? Let’s plant some more!

 

Expenses for Today: Php400

Php 160 – 16 Mangrove Seedling (Php10 each)
Php 70 – Salpo (for lunch)
Php 120 – 1KiloMolmol Fish (Terminal – Banga, South Cotabato)
Php 25 – Tuba (half gallon)
______

Php 375.00

Accommodation– Free of charge, CouchSurfing c/o Kuya Lek and Ate Frances.

 

Word for Today:

None.

 

Reflection for Today:

“The challenge is not only to learn to pace ourselves, to set limits and learn to say ‘No.’ It is not simply a matter of learning to do less so that we have more time for ourselves. It is also a matter of using time for ourselves creatively.” (Dare to Journey by Charles Ringma, Reflection 54)