The Philippines

We spent the Chinese New Year at a resort in the Philippines.

We were on the northern tip of Mactan Island off the coast of Cebu, one of the islands of the Visayas.

It was very, very relaxing!

Sky had wanted a "relaxing vacation" for a long time.

We each had a good book and did a lot of reading.

About the only other thing we did, besides the usual relaxing activities, was go snorkeling.

The water was crystalline.

The weather couldn't have been better.

We had our own boat.

That made it doubly relaxing.

We went out about half an hour to a coral reef off a small island.

Sky was in his element. He has always loved the sea. He is going scuba diving in Thailand with a school group later this year.

One of the residents on the island brought us out coconuts to drink.

The boys liked that.

The coconut juice was very refreshing after breathing salty, rubbery air through a snorkle.

There was also excellent snorkeling just off the beach of the hotel.

There were plenty of parrot fish, in all sorts of color combinations.

I saw a couple of banded sea snakes (no, I didn't take any of these underwater photos. They are from the Internet).

This is what it looked like to me.

I also followed a lionfish for a long time, until it found a hiding place under some coral. I learned later that lionfish spines are quite poisoness.

The buffet breakfasts were huge.

The coffee was good.

We didn't pay much attention to the fact that it was Chinese New Year, until it could be ignored no longer.

The dragon passed through the hotel, chasing all of the evil spirits away.

Anna had a nice time.

As did I.