Bliss (a.k.a. Cebu)

I hope to not neglect this blog for so long again!  The past couple of weeks have really passed in a blur, punctuated only by brief periods of sleep and food (barely) - which is why I'm so grateful that Michael and I were able to abscond for our short weekend trip.  It looked like touch and go until that very morning...

We left early afternoon on Friday for the Alegre Beach Resort & Spa in Sogod, an hour and a half north of Cebu in the Philippines.  It was a surprise for Michael's birthday that I had managed to keep secret for nearly a month and a half - only to ruin it the morning before the trip because I was so sleep deprived I accidentally blurted out, "I've already packed the small suitcase for the Philip" before I realized to smack my mouth over my hand.  Oops.

The resort was perched on three intimate coves of warm blue water and white sand.  We had half of a large cabana overlooking the water.  The air was scented with frangipani and honeysuckle.  The grounds were beautifully manicured.    Bliss... it was exactly what we needed.  (I'll let the pictures wash over you.)

We went snorkeling on both days, but the reefs did not really meet my (admittedly colosally high) expectations.  We did see lots of blue starfish, brain coral and mushroom coral, and electric-colored fish.  We were also swarmed by small fish every time we entered the water.

I tried out a traditional Filipino Hilot massage, which was so delightful I fell asleep and refused to be roused for a good fifteen (or fifty?) seconds.  The resort was impressive in that it had its own greenhouse and garden and used a lot of those ingredients for their food and drink.  Try as he might, Michael could not get a mojito because the resort had been having trouble growing mint in the hot, humid weather.

Most of the rest of the vacation consists of the best kind of uneventful: our sitting on lounge chairs listening to the ocean waves, taking dips in the warm pool, swaying in hammocks, marveling at the dippers in the night sky and the moonbeams playing on the warm water, and otherwise just enjoying a lot of fresh coconut juice and frothy pina coladas.

Going from cove to cove during high tide

Irresistible

View from our cabana (#11)