最近几周一直在翻Jaycee同学的爱妮岛游记。向来喜欢这种任务，翻起来其乐无穷，翻完后意犹未尽。建议Jaycee说，应该Season 1，Season 2 的继续写下去。Jaycee同学说，来日方长，她 “really plan to go back”。
节选若干段落，另附Photo Gallery美图：
One day, a friend mentioned El Nido and came up with the idea to spend a weekend there. As far as I know by that time, El Nido is a municipality of Palawan, a province famous for its beaches, caves and diverse marine sanctuary, plus the underground river.
。。。
A few minutes later, we were requested to grab our lifejackets and ride the jeepney that just came. The idea of lifejacket on a jeepney was not sound though. And before I could ask where we were going, I was stunned by the breathtaking view of the sea.
Unlike what I was familiar with in Cavite, I saw more groups of nearby islands, and less fishing boats and ships. We were then directed to ride a speedboat. And after a few minutes on the speedboat, we were transferred to motorized outrigger for a scenic boat ride. It was then that my friend explained that we are already in El Nido but we are actually going to El Nido Resorts—Miniloc Island to be exact.
El Nido Resorts are located on two islands—Lagen and Miniloc, both of them within the government-declared Protected Area.
。。。
美景，美食
We were then led to the open dining area facing the shore. The view was mesmerizing, but I had a grumbling tummy to take care of. All meals in the resort were served buffet style, and there were plenty of meals to choose from. With my fast-food overdose in the city, anything served close to home-cooked food is good.
And yes, everything was superb. There were several meals to choose from—grilled, stir-fried, pasta, bread, veggies, etc. Even the fruits and cakes were overflowing. All of them were simply good excuses to forget one's poise for a while and pig out with friends.
。。。
就像鱼儿水里游
Our first activity for the day was snorkeling at the pier of Miniloc where the marine feeding station was. As I am not much of a good swimmer, I had to get myself some masks and fins which were available in the resort.
。。。
And once there, I noticed that a huge school of jack fish—a university rather—was busy eating plankton. They were too many that they looked like carpets of fishes, positioned layer upon layer even moving together in a synchronized manner to give way to other fishes. It was then that we realized that none of us brought an underwater camera for the trip.
By paying attention to the fish "congregation," I was too fascinated that I followed them wherever they went. When they made one swift move to catch more plankton, I suddenly realized I was swimming in an area that was at least 30 feet deep. Everything was just blue and I could barely see anything underneath anymore. After a short panic attack, I took my time to swim back to the shore, while chanting "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" like Dory in the Disney-Pixar movie Finding Nemo. There and then, I suddenly missed being on land.
。。。
Although I have been regularly disturbed by the bubbles that come out in front of my face whenever I exhale, I did not fail to appreciate how it felt like to be underwater, somehow close to being a fish—well, only slower and definitely bigger. It was peaceful underwater and each school of fish had its own business to take care of.
。。。
In the middle of Bacuit Bay,
our motorized outrigger stopped and we all looked at our guide. He
then told us we would be swimming until Entalula Beach which was at
least 5 kilometers away.
In unison, we all exclaimed, “What?”
It turned out he was just pulling our leg—but not completely. It
was true that we will be swimming to the shore but not 5 kilometers
away. Our banca finally stopped at least 1 kilometer away from the
shore of Entalula. Knowing I’m still an amateur in swimming, I
silently prayed as we all prepared to “swim our lungs
out.”
It was rainy and the water was
just too cold. The waves were strong. Wearing the mask made no
difference because there was nothing to see in the water; it was
just plain blue—dark blue. To finish sooner, I just swam and swam
and swam. After a while, I paused to fix my mask. I found a guy on
a kayak who blurted out a few words that were totally
unexpected.
“Wrong direction, ma’am,” he
said.
It changed the direction of my life—literally—because I was heading
towards the rocks.
Frustrated, I changed my route and saw some of my friends swimming
and were almost at the shore. I again swam in the blue water,
occasionally greeted by some jellyfishes.
This too shall pass, I humored myself, which eventually turned to,
When will this end?
After swimming like forever, I reached the shore. I think, instead
of swimming, I even ended up crawling just to feel the shore. On
the sand, my friends and I just lied and caught our
breath.
。。。
再见，爱妮岛
After a sumptuous lunch, our luggages were
collected and we boarded the boat to go to the airport. The staff
bid us goodbye by singing the same Palawan folk song they welcomed
us with.
While on our way to the airport, we realized that 3 days was not enough to explore El Nido. There were just too many activities that we missed to do and more islands we failed to visit.
So we all agreed to go back one more time. With even more friends next time.
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About the author
Jaycee, ...believes that the world was made beautiful to be seen and explored. Her dream destination would be Venice, Italy, where she plans to ride the gondola while eating authentic Italian pizza.
贴上一青窈那首有冲绳海风味道的《陪哭》，特此纪念。
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