Surot Surot Sa Sugbu: Dalaguete

It was a bit unexpected, but it was a welcome event when i got invited to join the summer outing of Nits and Fred together with the kids and some other family barkada to Dalaguete (pronounced with the last "e" as silent compared to Dumaguete). At the back of my head, i was wondering what's interesting about Dalaguete as it looks like any small roadside town south of Cebu.

7:30AM
we all met up in Ramos St. Cebu City. As usual, Ron's running a bit late and Joy went ahead. From there we went on a "caravan" to head off to Ocean Bay Resort.

8:30AM
had to make a MANDATORY stop in Carcar, kids wanted some Jollibee by the rotonda and i grabbed some Chicharon from Tito's.

10:00AM
arrived in Ocean Bay Resort, Dalaguete. I think i drove too fast but i've always LOVED the southern coastal road. the views are just fantastic specially when you get to hilly roads along the coastline with amazing views of the bay. the strips of white hint at the white sand the area is known for. why is it that central cebu beaches are black? just a thought.

11:00AM
happily munching on lechon ears. too hot to take a dip, the kids now look deliciously LIKE lechon. red, shiny and plump! too bad the waters started to go down by noon.

2:00PM
a bit bored. got my camera and dragged ron to go to town. invited the girls and the husbands to take a short 1km drive. men bored, hot, and sleepy after the heavy lunch. we never got far from the evolution of the cavemen. sigh.

2:10PM
went straight to San Guillermo (parish church) - very typical of the structure built during the 1700s. at first glance it looked like Argao with a pseudo-baroque facade. the altar is not that impressive and the murals are not well maintained. interesting glass chandeliers though. as with most churches built that time. supposedly this one got built 1771, same time Dalaguete was declared as a town (based on research, it used to be a barrio of Carcar).

at the back of the church i saw the tombs enshrined along the walls of the church complex (usually, this is reserved for very wealthy patrons or prominent members of the town). cool!

went out to the bay front and got some pictures of the ladies and ron against the church. at least they get some postcards memories. darn. the curse of the photographer. note to self: get a picture of my foot as proof i visited the place.

2:30PM
got some food stuff from the wet market. while the ladies went shopping (i can't believe we are shopping in a remote provincial town - it's a woman thing he he he) i snuck out and went to the main road where i took some pictures of old house structures lining the main street. some locals gamely posed for the pics. the 5 minute claim to fame.

3:00PM
back in the resort. water still far far far far... you get the point. decided to change into my swimming gear and waded through the seaweed and corals to reach where the water started to get deep. i pretended to be Aquano, ala Dingdong Dantes and went snorkeling. Amazing really! except that about ten meters from where i started flopping around, the water turned blue. felt blue and cold inside, theme song of jaws playing at the back of my mind. turned off my ipod. too scary. (and if you think your ipods are WATERPROOF you probably shouldn't be reading this stuff)

3:20PM
trudged back to the shore, the only souvenir i have is the huge squirming sea cucumber i scooped using my diving mask. yey! i can always make kilaw with ginger, garlic vinegar, salt, pepper a bit of chili, tomatoes and chopped up sea cucumber. yum yum...

3:25PM
jumped in the covered pool and created a mini tsunami. the kids found themselves beached on the edge of the pool. i pretended i was orca and tried to grab a bite of the little morsels.

5:00PM
bumming with the group, non-stop eating. this is bad, am supposed to be on a seafood diet. as it turned out, more like SEEFOOD. i see food, i eat. fred came back from the shoreline with a huge barracuda he bought from a fisherman. hmmm... this time, we'll do the biting.

5:30PM
albert set up the grill and fred took the honor of gutting the barracuda. loped off the head and tail for tinola soup and filleted the body for grilling. I took care of marinating it a bit in soy sauce and vinegar. rubbed it down with salt, minced garlic and crushed peppercorn. added a bit of chopped onion and tomatoes and generously basted with tuno (cream of coconut) and drizzled with the only certified virgin of us all - olive oil before wrapping it up in foil and throwing it over the grill. 14 minutes and we are ready to rumble!

6:00PM
the adults jumped in the pool. pinoy big brother mean adult edition, the little tots had no chance at all. after a while we all got out and took a shower - poolside, there was no water in the rooms. Albert lugged the JW whisky while i had a bit (okay, a little bit more than "a bit") of some sweet chilled red wine. time to get the green jokes out. leo and joy were busy covering the ears of the kids as we talked about every possible part of the human anatomy. melanie marquez and alma moreno are definite hits. hmmmm.

8:00PM
i am dizzy, tired and pleasantly buzzing from the red wine, sun and long drive. i can't remember what i said for my grand exit but the call of the bed was just too much to ignore.

5:00AM - THE NEXT DAY!
people asleep. me awake. grabbed the camera to get some sunrise pics. amazing shots. the blazing early morning sky burning with reds oranges and yellows pushing back the cold greys of twilight is always an amazing sight. i feel blessed. the rest are still snoring in bed except for nits and fred.

6:30AM
went back to bed. slept slept and dreamt of a good day ahead.

9:00AM
the group went swimming - i decided to skip this one and took pictures of everyone. the curse of the photographer. at least they get to keep their memories whereas i get to record it. hah! who is the daddy now?!

it's not really an effort to go on a weekend to dalaguete to experience some of this for anyone. most of my friends in Cebu don't even know that this little piece of sunny heaven is just two hours from the city. have some fun this summer!

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