21 April 2009
N8 51.086 E119 55.042
Luli Arroyo infected with our COTS quest The guests onboard Oceana Maria joined in gathering COTS. Among them was Luli Arroyo, the Philippine President’s daughter and Southeast Asia Policy Officer for WWF Coral Triangle Programme. The fervor did not abate and as the stabbing sticks were not enough, rangers watched as we all gathered. Alya and Angelique were casualties of the COTS war. Their fingers and hands were swollen from these blasted animals but they still continued with the cause.
By noon, Alya, Yogi & I said our hurried goodbyes to everyone before hitching a ride back to Puerto Princesa onboard Oceanic Explorer. The wind and waves had picked up and it looked like a tropical depression – which it was!
The wind, the wind! We still made it to do a last minute photo op with Luli with our not so subtle WWF flag. The wind was so strong our flag turned into a sail and almost blew Luli and I away!