Cris / Noa Noa Spirit Animals

3/31/22- 4/1 journaling

It’s the last day of March! I think a Thursday. Most of the time I really have lost track of time, dates and routines. It is so healthy for me of all people- calendars have controlled me for so many years! Especially as the obgyn central schedule master for over 4 years! I really needed this… We ALL do.

So I have not journaled since Day 2 in Noa Noa and here we are in Day 2 of our next stop along the way! Currently we are staying in El Nido- at hotel Seda Lio. Yesterday was a rest day and today we went SCUBA diving! It was beyond an experience for me- nature, skills and TON of vulnerability for me! Brene Brown would be proud! Being a mother AND a scuba diver beginner spells vulnerability with a capital V! Ugh, breathe, in and out, in and out….

So our last day in Noa Noa continued to be more than prized and priceless for us all! Again I could not but weep UNDERWATER! The coral reef surrounding Noa Noa island exudes life. I have never seen so many beautiful fish, corals, sponges, so much life stirring in the warm comfortable ocean water. My heart will always belong to Puget Sound, where I grew up, but damn is that COLD water! I have never been super comfortable temperature wise in water. This Sulu Sea and all of the Philippines waters here have literally been a perfect temperature for me. Hours and hours of snorkeling and I was never cold! We were smart and wore thin long leggings and long arm rash guards too for comfort and sun protection but still- I was never cold. That is a first for me! Good bye Raynaud’s!

Our last day of Noa Noa began in a similar fashion-- snorkeling the reef (thank god NO jellies aka orbies/tapioca at all on day 2/3) , eat gourmet food (more on this below), more snorkel or play pool, swim in pool at main house then REPEAT. Throw in some exercises and a walk around the perimeter- got to see the suspension bridges, epic hand made cement/stone walkways AND even the heli pad one more time and it was time to say good bye to Noa Noa.

Before that goodbye we did one last family snorkel. A family that skis (and now SNORKELS) together stays together right??? We decided to choose a spirit animal for ourselves. We then raced around spotting one another’s spirit animals and sharing them with one another.

I chose the Parrotfish! I loved watching them “fly” around with all their wild, rainbow colors. I didn’t even realize it but Linden pointed it out- they have a little beak too like a parrot! And Asher pointed out that they “poop” out sand.. or maybe just poop!, which really contributes to the coral reef health. Not too sure about the last part but well there you have it! That’s my spirit animal of the Sulu Sea. Linden originally picked the string ray- we didn’t, thankfully, see one but we did see a couple of beautiful blue spotted sand rays and they were so cool and FAST! She decided to pick one that we would see more of and chose the black spotted SWEET LIPS! This fish is so spectacular! Red lips pooch out once in while, hence the name, and the white scales with small black spots throughout the body are spectacular. Asher picked the cutest fish ever called the Pufferfish. They can inflate their bodies with water and also make a crunching sound as they eat. Most pufferfish that I saw were also the white/black spots variation- fitting for my kids that they picked similar color schemed spirits AND that they both sorta resemble Luna and Winter.  and Ari- of course the infamous finding Nemo clown fish! How fitting as he is always keeping us happy and entertained! It is the cutest fish and lives symbiotically with the anemones. Peeking in and out of the anemones and just exemplifies the beauty, color and even optimism of the coral reef. Oh yeah, and clown fish don’t like to leave their home… kinda like Ari and Colorado??? Just sayin’

Okay time for bed!- I have not even gotten to the unforgettable send off from Noa Noa which included precious salutations from Rachel and Boyet AS WELL as a broken fan belt on Catamaran motor boat number ONE, old school tube and gravity gas transfer and our baggage transfer to boat TWO and a BEYOND bumpy ride across the Sulu Sea back to Tay Tay! The ocean water swells were ginormous! I was up with the captain and it was a terrifying view point of all the upcoming swells. In the meantime my people were seated together on the back bench, by the motor… having the time of their lives! Asher was drenched by the end of the 45 min boat ride and grinning from cheek to cheek! I kept just telling myself, like my dad would, “these boats are made for these waters… everything will be just fine…”.