Beach bums

MILLIE: Panglao Island is my sanctuary. It is a place I have visited yearly for the past 25 years. I go there to relax, to unwind, to heal, and to gain strength. It is like my second home. Since 2000, we have spent summers at the beach, bonding with my dad, who is the ultimate beach bum. We always stay at Bohol Beach Club because, for me, it has the most beautiful beachfront in the world and boasts a long stretch of almost two kilometers of fine white sand. With its crystal-clear waters, you can actually see your toes underwater and tiny fishes swimming close to shore. Somehow, we always manage to go at a time when the moon is round and full, making our stay memorable as the low tide produces sandbars. On several occasions, we have taken a speedboat out at dawn and sighted hundreds of dolphins playing in the sea. It is an ideal jump-off point for Balicasag Island, a diver’s haven where one can spend hours diving in the deep or snorkeling, awed by God’s beautiful creation.

What I like most about Panglao is the serenity and peace of the place. I savor quiet moments and am glad the resort is not packed with beachcombers. In recent years, especially, it seems that nature speaks to me when I go there; I find myself praying and talking to God. Somehow, He always seems to lift me up by showing me positive signs when I am sad or depressed.

Four years ago, when I was at my lowest after my mom’s passing, I could not cry. Friends in my Centering Prayer group said I was going through an emotional desert. I was cautioned that it was going to be long and tough and dry and that sometimes, people can’t get out of it. That summer at sundown, when the tide was at its lowest ebb, as I watched the waters recede, I looked up from the book I was reading and saw the most beautiful desert ever. It was awesome! I called it my Spiritual Desert. It was God’s way of manifesting something positive and promising from a situation that was almost empty and had gone dry. Every summer since then, there have been more positive signs and it has some parallels with the recovery I have been experiencing in my own life. It could be in the form of a magnificent rainbow or a mystical orange sunset, but whatever it is, these signs touch and inspire me in a way I cannot describe. All I know is that somewhere, somehow, there is a God planning everything, leading me to where He wants me to be and I have learned to put my trust in Him completely.

KARLA: For some people, beach sports, activities and amenities are a big plus when choosing a resort. But I don’t really care for those things. I go for fine sand plus peace and quiet. The beach for me is equivalent to r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g. Relaxing doesn’t mean no work is involved; Mom and I actually bring our planners, paperwork, laptops and wireless Smart Bro USBs. But the difference is the environment. Imagine getting some work done in a bathing suit, feeling sand between your toes, listening to the waves and having bottomless margaritas until sunset. I wouldn’t mind working at all, under those conditions.

Traveling with my family is more like planning a culinary itinerary. We base our activities and everything else on what we want to eat. For example, for this year’s trip to Bohol, we already planned our breakfasts, snacks and happy-hour cocktails even before leaving. Mom usually assigns a “food bag” to be hand-carried. Our Bohol must-haves are special ensaymada for breakfast, Lapid’s chicharon, green mangoes, and a bottle of no less than Aristocrat bagoong, which is also for the traditional dipping sauce made with bagoong and vinegar my Lolo Joe likes to dip his chicharon in. We always bring a bottle of Aristocrat atchara to go with our barbecues and inihaw dishes, all kinds of chips for snacks and Absolut and Cuervo for happy hour.

MILLIE: This summer, our flight was delayed and we arrived at sunset, just in time for “buy one, take one” margaritas. You can just imagine how boozed up we all were by dinnertime!

One evening, my sister Dorcie taught my dad how to drink tequila. She rubbed some salt on her bare shoulder and asked him to lick it before taking a shot. Dad actually liked the idea. We all laughed uncontrollably!

The favorite beach food of my Dad is sinuglaw, which is raw fish marinated in vinegar, ginger strips, onions, chilis, whole and crushed peppercorns. The kids adore the fried calamares, barbecue and steak. When we go island-hopping, we all enjoy grilled fish with chopped tomatoes, salted red eggs, green mangoes and inihaw na baboy, charbroiled to perfection, best eaten with our bare hands. My favorites are steamed jumbo prawns and yummy braised crabs!

One summer, to our great surprise, Eddie Uyfang, the dad of Karla’s friend Mac, sent us a whole lechon from Cebu! We had a grand time feasting and foreign guests at the resort passing by our picnic hut were so amazed, we just had to invite them for a taste.

KARLA: This year was no different, except for my obsession with sea urchins. I developed this obsession during our first-day morning swim. There I was swimming with Lolo Joe and my cousin Benjo when I suddenly felt something poke my right big toe. I immediately had a feeling what it was and screamed while rushing back to shore. There it was: I saw four black dots, apparently sea urchin spikes, lodged in my right big toe. Ouch! So how did I take it out? Well, sea urchin spikes are really brittle, that’s why they break easily. So it’s more dangerous to use tweezers to pluck them out. The possibility of leaving fragments of the spike inside the wound is greater than pulling it out as a whole. The best solution is to apply a cotton ball with ammonia. As fast as you can, apply it to an area twice the original size of the wound. (In case you don’t have ammonia handy, well, urine contains ammonia, so … go figure.) I was lucky that the lifeguard at the Bohol Beach Club was very attentive, prepared and came running with his ammonia and cotton balls to save my toe.

Sea urchins are a Japanese delicacy called uni — a cold appetizer my lolo enjoys, especially when freshly picked. During low-tide hours in the afternoons, Lolo Joe walks on the beach and handpicks the sea urchins he wants to eat with the help of Bohol Beach Club personnel. That day we saw so many other species of sea urchins aside from the typical black one with long black spikes. The one that stood out was the most beautiful sea urchin with orange and white spikes. It was so big and colorful that Mom and I decided to call it “cupcake.”

MILLIE: I can’t really say what is the best part of the day for me when I’m at the beach. I look forward to sunrise and the long, quiet walks along the shore. The combination of gorgeous skies at sunset and the endless vastness of the dry sea at low tide are breathtaking. The full moon aglow with thousands of twinkling stars leaves a smile on our faces and we end up falling asleep on the chilly sand. Can’t wait to go back!