Day 11 - Camayan Beach in Subic Bay

On Sunday Chris and I plus Chris2 and his date Isabel (from TI-Philippines) headed to Subic Bay a little less than hour West of Clark so we could hit up the beach!  We took the new highway and had to pay some tolls, but they said it was worth it since motorcycles and trikes aren't allowed so the travel is much easier and quicker.

Seen above are houses/village, Mt. Pinatubo, and what looked like a dried up river bed, but was one of many trenches that the lava carved out in 1991 when Mt. Pinatubo erupted.  Isabel said her family was okay but they had to evacuate for a month when she was one year old.

We stopped at a seafood buffet place in Subic Bay right on the water.  The food was good, and they even had a separate area with fresh fish and live crabs that you could buy by the kilo and they would cook it right there for you, either with butter sauce, garlic soup, grilled, and more.  I was unsure so I stuck with the buffet, and we sat outside in the gorgeous weather.

We found tiny crabs in one of the mussels Chris2 ate!  He ordered fresh ones in a garlic soup, that was okay.

The view when I looked down, and the view when I looked up.  Both were awesome.  =D

We then headed for Camayan Resort where 300 pesos got you access to the beach for the day.  We swam around a little while in perfect temp water (after bathing ourselves in suncreen-including Isabel because the Filipinos want to be pale as much as Americans want to be tan).  A super awesome guy told us what areas had some cool fish and gave us some bread to feed a school of fish right near the shore.  He later also offered us goggles to wear to see the fish better.  By that point were were interested in snorkeling so we got some gear for P250 each (which included mask, snorkel and either fins or a life vest which Isabel opted for, but the water was so salty I had no problems floating so me and the boys got fins).  This was my first time snorkeling and it was a blast!!  I didn't have my phone on me in the water, but below are video and photos that other people have taken and I found online.  These are pretty much the exact same fish we saw that day.  We were swimming right in the middle of this school of fish seen in the video!!

After we had our fill, I got out and Isabel said they were releasing baby sea turtles just down the beach so we ran over and got to see three of them right after they had hatched, and the rehabilitation people picked them up, smoothed the sand out in front of them, and we got to watch them struggle to get to the water and everyone cheered when the first little guy made it! SO AWESOME!

We were starving at this point so we walked just feet over to the restaurant and ate there.  We had even more seafood and some coconut lychee drinks, and enjoyed the sunset.  Funny story: Isabel told me "camayan" means to eat with your hands. When the plate of rice domes came to the table I couldn't decide how to pick up my portioned ball of rice so I just used my hands and plopped it on my plate. Then I realized what I had done and said "camayan!" and Isabel and all the waiters laughed "camayan!". lol

This three month stay has just gotten underway and it already feels like the trip of a lifetime...