We took a boat out to Apo Reef the other day. We went out with a group of friends we have been traveling with for a few weeks, and had a boat all to ourselves. As a matter of fact, we were the only boat to go out to the reef that day so it was uncrowded, peaceful, and very, very blue.
A weird, different blue.
Really, really blue.
Apo Reef is the largest coral reef system in the Philippines, and has been a protected natural park since 1996, so it is in pretty good condition: we saw a ton of live corals, a huge variety of fish, turtles, hammerhead sharks, white tip reef sharks, guitarfish, eels, coral snakes, and a bunch of critters you would expect to find on a healthy coral reef. It was good free diving with great visibility, but sadly we have no pictures of the underwater world (we gave up carrying all that extra camera gear a long time ago).
This is Apo Island, where you can stop and take a walk in the mangroves and visit the lighthouse that protects the reef from ships (technically I guess it protects ships from the reef, but I suppose it all just depends on your point of view).
The view of the reef looking East from the lighthouse.
And the view from the same spot looking North. I love these crazy limestone formations.
They served us really tasty lunch on the boat!
That adorable girl of mine looking all cute on the front of the boat with our friend Inger.
They were even nice enough to provide me with my own special reserved seating on the boat.
I am ever grateful for this beautiful, amazing human being I get to share time with, and equally grateful that, somehow, I get to be with this amazing person in these places that are such a feast for the senses.
Every day I just have to pinch myself: most of the time it hardly seems real to me.
Wind, Water, Waves, Wander 