8 days in Siargao Island

[Guy F.]

10 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

Wouldn't that sort of comment better be done by PM?

It is rather 'Negative wave' after all...

A PM to the mods? Maybe I should report my own post.

[GeoffH]

2 minutes ago, Guy F. said:

A PM to the mods? Maybe I should report my own post.

I meant a Personal Message (PM) to AK... thus keeping the angst off the forum... but you're a big boy do what you want *shrug*

[Old55]

I think Guy was reasonable and fair in his comment. Geoff you also make a good point nothing wrong with a PM again if done respectfully. AZ was expressing his negative opinion in a respectful manner.

To be honest there are times I get negative about things including Philippines especially if I'm tired (often) or having lower back pain (often) or maybe I've become that old grouchy guy.  

Hey AZ can we be friends?

 

[Mike J]

Speaking of dance.  I was at a youth event where an individual would dance for 30 seconds, they point out someone else who had to dance for 30 seconds.  Naturally one of the youth pointed to me.  I decided to go "All In" and did the sprinkler dance.    The kids absolutely loved it and started doing it themselves.  What a laugh riot.  I just love working with and mentoring these kids, life has never been so sweet and rewarding. 

[Freebie]

16 hours ago, Arizona Kid said:

My pessimism may have taken over my optimism. Find a beach in the Philippines with zero garbage on it. If you can, that only means that the beach resort owners hired some locals to go collect it at 4 in the morning so the tourists won't see it when they wake up and decide to go for a swim. Reality sucks. But it's here.

Got to agree with you there... rare to find one without any trash. Most of it, from what ive seen isnt the Malaysia Indonesia excuse but from locals throwing snack packets , fisherman leaving plastic stuff on the beach, and of course weekenders bringing crates of beer etc in glass bottles that arel eft to break..... tired of throwing glass of of beaches.

Was in Isle of Harris Scotland on a beach 2kms long beach  and not one single piece of trash to be seen, same in North Western Australia on a 5 km beach. So it can be kept clean if theres a public will.....

[scott h]

4 minutes ago, Freebie said:

beach resort owners hired some locals to go collect it at 4 in the morning so the tourists won't see it when they wake up and decide to go for a swim.

Here in the Philippines the term "you get what you pay for!" really, really applies! 

You want clean beaches you have to go to a resort. 

6 minutes ago, Freebie said:

So it can be kept clean if theres a public will.

There isn't. It isn't the culture here. I looked and looked for the before and after pictures of the popes visit.

In Korea when the crowds left there was zero trash. Here in Manila, if I remember correctly there were 14 garbage trucks full.  Just the way it is 

[Queenie O.]

My husband and I live near the sea, and sometimes we have local neighbor children on a saturday picking up trash (with gloves) and we collect many sacks over the course of a morning, that we have picked up on trash day.  With a small payment, a snack and a simple mini lecture about them having helped in a small way to save the ocean, we have a fun morning.  Win win

[-A-]

I actually met a young woman while I was there and she was involved in organizing this weekly beach cleaning somehow. As I said it was noticeably cleaner than other islands I've been to.

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Jollygoodfellow
Removed link

[Queenie O.]

13 minutes ago, -A- said:

I actually met a young woman while I was there and she was involved in organizing this weekly beach cleaning somehow. As I said it was noticeably cleaner than other islands I've been to.

 

Well--the little that we do in our little area might make only a small impact, but you never know what one child might take away fro the experience.  In the past we've had neighbor children planting a few mangrove seedlings too. Some have washed away, but others have held. Sometimes when you encounter something discouraging, it's an option to try to change it in even a small way..

[Tommy T.]

4 hours ago, scott h said:

There isn't. It isn't the culture here.

Sadly, Scott... That culture extends across the entire Pacific. I cannot tell you how many times I saw - mostly kids, but adults too - finish their bag of Bongo Chips and then either toss it over the shoulder or simply drop it from their hand - forgotten within milliseconds. I saw this in Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji (but not so much there as other places), American and Western Samoa, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Vanuatu (again, not so much as other places).

I believe at least some of it is due to the relatively new wealth in some of these still poor countries. Wealth in poor countries??? Yes. So many have workers off island and in foreign countries or relatives who have moved to more well-off nations and money is sent back. So suddenly the islanders can afford junk food, whether from NZ, Oz, USA, Europe, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia? Before, they munched on coconuts, cooked taro or kasava, sugar cane or other locally grown and cooked crops. Depending on the location, the boys drank tuba (fermented coconut sap) or kava (from the root of a type of pepper plant) to socialize and get their buzz on. There was no Tanduay or Bounty rum and no beer.

We live in a nice neighbourhood. However, people just don't seem to know how to handle their trash responsibly. We are both astonished on a daily basis when we see bags of trash that someone has dumped on the side of the road... Either too lazy to dispose of it properly or too cheap to pay p10 (per large cello bag) to have it taken away.

So, sorry Guy F... but I guess I will be, respectfully, a bit negative with the above comments too. Whether a beach is clean or filthy with trash depends on the locals who frequent it but also what is upwind from this beach - and that could be a thousand miles away. So the blame - in my opinion rests with the developed nations who started the creation of disposable packaging and also with the locals - maybe parents or even government? - for not caring for their own environments.

I will say this... L is a MAPEH teacher and regularly lectures her students about recycling and proper trash disposal. Her school also conducts trash pick-ups in the area from time to time. Maybe it's a start to something good?

Sorry again... I think that ended up being an unintended rant...

Edited March 2, 2020 by Tommy T.