Experienced Life in the Island

Experienced Life in the Island
September 10, 2018

Beautiful ambiance. Peaceful surroundings. Trees and plants that are pleasing in the eyes. Clear blue waters that could warm anyone's heart.

Those are one of the things that could describe the ''Isla Melsol."

This September 08, 2018, we decided to visit our family's island. My uncle invited us to visit their island for extesion for their school's (Southway College of Technology) 23rd anniversary.

My uncle is the owner of this island that is continuing to grow over the years. The last time we went in this island was way back 2012 and now that we came back in this island after 6 years, I must say that it improved a lot. The island's interior became more beautiful than before.

The name of this island was taken from my uncle and auntie's name which is "Melecerio" and "Soldy" that when you add the two names it could come up with, "MelSol."

I didn't got the chance to ask my auntie or uncle about their island's details because aside from I'm embarassed because I'm not that very close with them, they're also busy accompanying the other family members who visited their island.

As soon as we got off the boat, at 8:30 in the morning, the sea is already in a low tide makes us walk freely in the water with our feet touching the rocks under water. The sea level was just below our knee so even if we walked in the water towards the entrance, we won't get wet.

A beautiful ambiance welcomed me as we entered the entrance of Isla MelSol.

The island looks like it is located in the mountain in the middle of the sea. When we stayed here, there is no signal which is a good thing because you could really enjoy your stay by taking pictures of the surroundings and just relax.

We stayed in this island for a day and went home the next morning. We stayed in this house which has two rooms, one room is for my uncle and auntie and the other room was for the visitors only. There is one extra room but it has no bed, but we slept there and put a mattress in the floor.

The room where my uncle and auntie are sleeping, has a queen size bed with a mini refrigerator and they have their own bathroom. I got a quick peek at their room when it slightly opened because they're always locking it for safety purposes.

The second room which is just beside my uncle and auntie's room was for visitor's room. It has a cabinet with lots of pillows, comforters and a mattress inside. Beside a cabinet is a king size bed and infront of the king size bed is where the double deck is located. Inside this room, there's a door beside it which is the other room which has no bed and I slept there with my sisters and cousins.

The picture shown above was the former statue of "Isla MelSol."

When this island is still starting, that is the view you could see when you're in the sea still sailing.

But now, they improved the island's interior because at the second picture shown in this blog, that is the new statue of "Isla MelSol."

There's a long hallway infront of the former statue and it will lead you to a staircase that when you go up, you could see that hut in the second picture above.

This is usually the place where you'll drink beers with anyone.

(From left to right: My cousin which is the 6th son of my uncle and auntie, my uncle which is my uncle's 3rd sibling and my dad in the right)

Infront of this hut is a big cottage where we always eat and stay. 

There are many delicious foods served by their cooks. Different seafoods I never tasted before. When we arrived in this island, there are already foods served in the table but I never got the chance to took a picture of the foods because the table is already crowded because they started eating the foods.

These are the only photos I took in the table.

Yes, we are in the island but we can still cook different kind of foods. In this island, we also have a place where we cook and wash dishes.

Infront of the huge cottage, is another house which is where our foods are made by the cooks. It is a big house which have a kitchen inside and a long table and of course the sink where we wash our dishes.

We used woods to make a fire and big pots to cook our foods.

Beside the house where we are staying, is a long staircase. It is a high staircase that could lead you up to the tree house.

Peaceful surroundings welcomed me as I steppend into the stairs and walking through up the tree house. It has many lots of tress and plants there that is pleasing in the eyes.

This place was also renovated because back in 2012, we used to walked in the surface and climbed in the ladder just to get in the tree house. And the tree house before was plain and just a simple tree house. 

We had a picture with  old tree house before when we were still kids but I can't find the photo now. I can just show you the new tree house which is renovated just this year.

It's very beautiful and peaceful here. You could take a lot of photos and use this as your background. In this island, my favorite place is in this tree house because I can feel that I am in the top of the world because of its high view.

This is the view from above. And the second photo was a picture of myself while leaning in the railing.          

 At 10AM, we checked the sea if we could  swim already but what surprised us is that the sea is in low tide and it looks like it has an El Niño because it looks like the sea is drought.

You can see the plants under water, it will be very visible because of the low tide.

(This is the island looks like when it is in a low tide.)

When afternoon came, I thought we'll not do anything but to wait for the sea to go high tide but we sang a karaoke and have our snacks and the boys played billiards in the huge cottage. 

The billiards can turn into a table which where we eat and the table can turn into biliards where they played. But we don't use the billiards as the table if that's what you're thinking. There's a large wood covering the billiards when it is not in use and it is what we use as our table. 

When the boys played billiards, they removed the large wood covering it and they played.

By 4:30 in the afternoon, we decided to take a bath in the sea because the sea level already reached our body. It looks like a swimming pool in the island when it is in high tide and it is very relaxing to watch. 

The clear blue waters that could warm anyone's heart. I wasn't really going to take a bath in the sea but the water is just so tempting, I can't stop myself from swimming.

It looks like a pool, right? 

We swam in the sea until 6:00PM in the evening. Because the sea level is going low again and besides, it's getting dark. 

When evening came, the waves are crashing against the rock. It's also very cold at night until dawn and the sea is being blown by the wind makes the wave goes wild.

This is the island looks like at night. Excuse my cousin and my sister for being extra in the picture. And also, I didn't took a proper picture because I'm afraid I might fell on the water plus the waves are crashing wildly against the rock.

The next morning was they woke up so early like 3AM or 4AM in the morning to swim in the sea again. They didn't regret waking up so early because the sea is very beautiful to watch at that kind of time. 

I woke up by 6AM because it's so cold, I still like to cuddle with my bed. But when I go outside and checked the sea, it's very refreshing to look at. It's in a very high tide, the sea level already reach the rocks.

We can't already see the floor because the water alredy reached the rocks.

After swimming in the sea, we ate our breakfast and after eating our breakfast it's time to say goodbye and 'till next time to Isla MelSol. 

I don't know where Isla MelSol is located but all I know was it is in Surigao del Sur because we rode a boat in the port of Barobo, Surigao del Sur.

I asked my cousin if tourists can visit Isla MelSol but, no. I have mentioned that my uncle and auntie is also an owner of a school and they used Isla MelSol for their BS Tourism students or for some retreat. 

When we finished eating our breakfast, we decided to go in the Vanishing Island. 

Vanishing island is just meters away from Isla MelSol. While sailing through the port, we visited Vanishing Island first.

I used the panorama to took a picture of the Vanishing Island.

I really love this place! It has a white sand and a clear blue waters as you can see in the picture. 

This is an island which is in the middle of the sea. It is called Vanishing Island because when the sea is in high tide, the island is vanishing. When the sea is in low tide, the island is showing its beauty. 

You should go here when the sea is in low tide so you can see the full look of the Vanishing Island and how wide it is.

The picture doesn't justify the beauty of the Vanishing Island because once you go here, the view is just so breathtaking.

It feels so good when the water touched my feet while I'm walking around this island.

Life in the island is not really easy. I have experienced it for a day. Though, we have a kitchen and we have foods to eat but the real thing is, when our foods got out of stock, the cooks will sail on the boat just to go in the market to buy foods and will go back in the island sailing in the boat.

I have seen it. Even in night, they always do it just for the sake of our foods. But they must really used in living in the island that sailing in the boat back and forth are not really a big matter to them.

In this island, there is also no signal so you have no contacts to anyone who is in the land. 

But, therefore, living in the island is really enjoyable, if you're going to live here for days, weeks, or months, you'll learn how to survive and to search for your foods. 

It is very relaxing here, far from the city, land, traffic, social media, internet, air pollution... just totally relax and enjoy the peaceful wind.

Once in a lifetime, I hope you'll also try to stay in an island.

Yours truly,

Clar ♡