Monday, September 26, 2011

One Glanorous Trip

Honestly, we weren’t that excited after our Animal Ecology professor announced our scheduled field work at Glan, Sarangani. Yeah, we were aware that Sarangani offers one of the most pristine white sand beaches in Mindanao and all the yakiti-yakiti-yaks from my GenSan friends. But, the fact that we were going to be bombarded with four laboratory works seemed to be a stressful trip instead of a fun one.

 


Gumasa Beach, Glan, Sarangani Province, Philippines


And for the first time in history, we all got fed up with field works. I mean, we already had difficulties with time management and every decisions we partake is a matter of life of death.

Despite the four laboratory reports which were scheduled to be reported a week after the trip, we still found ways to make our trip fun and a memorable one.

Besides, this particular trip in Glan was the second to the last field trip that I’ve had in college.

A day before the trip, we were briefed by our professor on what to do for the weekend field work. He discussed a bit about the topographical characteristics of the Sarangani coastline and the laboratory procedures.

 


Briefing. Okay we did a LOT for this trip.


We left Davao at around 7:30 AM and arrived at Glan, Saranggani at half past twelve noon. After eating our namnamlicious lunch, we immediately went to the coastline and performed the first two laboratory exercises. The waves were big at that time and as what my professor had explained to us <*insert Kuya Kim’s voice*> “Talagang malakas ang hampas ng alon ngayon dahil sa Hangin Habagat. At timing pa, may bagyo sa Luzon, kaya malakas talaga ang buwelo rito.”

 




Told you that we were still on geek mode during this trip.


We collected a few samples of sea grasses and determined its species based from its phenotypic characteristics. It’s a fun activity if you’re good with details. But for us, who were already sleep deprived for several weeks already, it was a torture.

After finishing the activity, we hit the beach and had some fun. AT LAST.

 



Smile though your brain is aching.


At night, we sang our hearts out, thanks to the unlimited karaoke provided by the semi-developed resort that we stayed at. But the fun temporarily stopped as we went back to the beach to gather some dinoflagellates… which became an instant wacky photoshoot, all thanks to our professor’s special underwater camera.

 

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Fun fun fun at the beach! (Photo courtesy of Prof. Ting Nañola)


We barely had a decent sleep because 1) the power went out at around one in the morning and 2) we were busy talking to each other (LOL chismisan ‘til daybreak).

We woke up at around 6:30 AM, ate breakfast and continued with our lab exercises. The last two were a bit tiresome. In one particular exercise we were asked to lay a 20m transect line of an intertidal zone, measured the rugosity of the area and counted the number of barnacles and limpets (a gastropod, a soft-bodied invertebrate that is protected by a cone-shaped shell). In layman’s term, we measured something, counted something and learned something. Lol, let’s skip to the pictures, shall we?

 

My group
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Men and women at work. DND. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Ting Nañola)


It was already low tide when we finished the second to the last actvity. We moved on to the final lab exercise and don’t ask what we did. We just went to the reef flat area to investigate the conditions of the coral reefs and took some underwater photos!

 

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The Banded Sea Snake (Laticauda colubrina) caught by my professor. It’s a poisonous marine organism. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Ting Nañola)

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Hey, we already found Nemo (Amphiprion percula)! (Photo courtesy of Prof. Ting Nañola)


The Saragani coastline was indeed rich with coral reefs (both hard and soft corals) which resulted to a high diversity of marine species within the area.

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Under the sea! (Photo courtesy of Prof. Ting Nañola)


The diversity was so high that I even took a photo of a baby whale shark!

 

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Jazzz keeding! Peace Yurs!

But there was one big mistake that I’ve committed on this particular trip: I DIDN’T FACKEEN WEAR A SUNSCREEN. The result? Three days after the trip, the uppermost layer of my back and nape’s skin started to peel off and it resembled to a topographical map of Asia. My spinal column was the Himalayas.

My classmate’s back was worse though. He had the whole Philippine Lakbayan map on his back, complete with different shades of red, brown and tan. I bet he had a grade of A+ for the effort (and pain).

Still, it was an amazing and memorable trip.

I suddenly miss my batch mates. :(

9 comments:

  1. ansya.. merong mga Halophila sa na seagrass jan. hehe

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  2. meron din Acanthaster planci.. naexcite naman ako bigla mag field work :)

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  3. Ivan! I know you're going to be the first person to comment sa post na 'to coz makakarelate ka talaga.

    Yeaaahhhh! Crown of thorns! Ang daming acanthaster sa Glan! Amazing! :D

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  4. i love this post dear. the photos tell it all - how happy you guys are! :)

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  5. Adik. Namalikmata ako, akala ko half-buried head yung coconut! I have been to Sarangani and yes, ang gondo ng mga beach nila dun, sayang lang di ako nakapag snorkeling taas pa naman ng level ng marine biodiversity dun! I could have met nemo rin sana. :D

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  6. Maasim at Maitum pa lang napupuntahan ko sa Sarangani, pero interesting itong Glan :D Now i wonder how it feels like to go on a beach trip again with my former batchmates. yay.

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  7. That banded sea snake is one of the most poisonous snakes around. It was recently featured in TV5's USI show, actually in top 10 venomous snake.

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  8. @Mark: Hahaha! Did you know that I hurt myself while snorkeling. Tanga much. Low tide na nga, nag snorkel pa. I scraped my chest sa hard coral. Ouch.

    @Micamyx: WAAA MAITUM! Water tubing!!! Haven't tried that pa!

    @Ian: Yep! it's one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Although it won't bite unless you provoke/scare them. Sea snakes are actually afraid of people and they use their venom for defense mechanism.

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  9. A wonderful trip indeed. I like the trip in all where you got to go on diving, spend time at the beach and do some photography.

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