Seawater, smoke, and more vendors
Aug. 15th, 2022 02:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcLast weekend, I swam in the Verde Island Passage again. I love swimming around in the sea, it feels so natural. Were I to settle here someday, I would definitely look to do so somewhere I could make a habit of it, this is an island nation. On my first afternoon back in the sea, the view out to the horizon was lovely: the sea was calm, there was some sun and cloud, and the surface shared the palette of the sky, just differently arranged. The coastline is mountainous, in the distance the peaks behind each other faded progressively into mistiness.
On the following morning, while we swam, striped fish joined us, even splashed a bit. The water wasn't as clear as in some places, though I could see my feet fine, so it was nice to see the patterned fish, which seemed inoffensive. Admittedly, a reason that I like to stay afloat, my feet up off the bottom, is so I don't step on a stonefish or similar. I am not a local so I figure that I ought to be doubly cautious.
I swam rather northeast of last time, over on the other side of the strait, nearer Tayabas Bay. The water was distinctly warmer, perhaps also saltier. At times, I could feel a warmer surface layer, my legs being down in colder water, and it reminded me of when I had done work for the US military on sonar propagation where, of course, changes in temperature or salinity could refract and reflect the sound. It had been interesting to learn about water layers and currents. I don't know why the water seems so different maybe fifty kilometres away. I would be interested to study a detailed map of water temperatures around the Philippine coastlines, one must exist.
Of course, vendors were as aggressive as ever, a couple of
On the way to the beach, we stopped to see Taal Lake, which is in a large crater. R. reported that Volcano Island therein looked a rather different shape since her last visit, before the latest large eruption. The island was smoking rather heartily for us: the lake may be pretty but it is nice not to be living there.
On the following morning, while we swam, striped fish joined us, even splashed a bit. The water wasn't as clear as in some places, though I could see my feet fine, so it was nice to see the patterned fish, which seemed inoffensive. Admittedly, a reason that I like to stay afloat, my feet up off the bottom, is so I don't step on a stonefish or similar. I am not a local so I figure that I ought to be doubly cautious.
I swam rather northeast of last time, over on the other side of the strait, nearer Tayabas Bay. The water was distinctly warmer, perhaps also saltier. At times, I could feel a warmer surface layer, my legs being down in colder water, and it reminded me of when I had done work for the US military on sonar propagation where, of course, changes in temperature or salinity could refract and reflect the sound. It had been interesting to learn about water layers and currents. I don't know why the water seems so different maybe fifty kilometres away. I would be interested to study a detailed map of water temperatures around the Philippine coastlines, one must exist.
Of course, vendors were as aggressive as ever, a couple of
no's didn't typically suffice. A couple of times, while standing on the beach, facing the ocean and soon to enter it, we were offered a selection of kitchen knives (well, I noticed the cleavers, etc., maybe they also offered balisongs).
On the way to the beach, we stopped to see Taal Lake, which is in a large crater. R. reported that Volcano Island therein looked a rather different shape since her last visit, before the latest large eruption. The island was smoking rather heartily for us: the lake may be pretty but it is nice not to be living there.
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Date: 2022-08-18 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-18 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-18 03:15 pm (UTC)