Little Things Matter A story about observation and conservation
At first glance, I thought the Portulano Resort didn't look that special. I'm pleased to tell you, I was very wrong.
We arrived at Portulano by boat following a frenzied 2 1/2 hour taxi ride from the Manila airport. We saw it, built into the steep rock on the edge of the South China Sea, and from a distance this little dive resort looked a little like a dive. It was totally isolated from the world: no road, no TV, no phones, no internet, no neighbours. We shuddered. How will we do this? Work and school are still a part of our reality. We'd have to find a way to connect or we couldn't stay.
Thanks to Daisy, the resort manager, we did. A little hotspot with a local SIM would give us just enough bandwidth to check emails, post a blog, upload an assignment, and maintain a snapchat streak. Life was good, and we were saved from our own stupidity. Had we left, we would have missed out on one of the most magical places on the planet.
It was not until we settled-in and settled-down that I started to notice them. The details. The little treasures that, at first, delighted my design-loving eye and then heightened my awareness.
As the days of diving and yoga, family meals and napping started to take on a comfortable rhythm it occurred to me that this was much more than a tourist respite. It became an exercise in observation, a quest for the little things that can make a big difference.
It started in the sea. Our guide, Choy, told us right off the bat that the special things in this marine sanctuary were little. His trained eye and exceptional skill in the art of observation amazed us.
The reefs here are a treasure trove of tiny elements essential to a balanced, healthy ecosystem. It is fragile. Most divers observe the creed "take only photos; leave only bubbles." So our group was saddened that not all underwater intruders, like us, treated the homes of the resident creatures with care and respect. We observed a group of divers bash into corals, lie flat out on the reef, and toss around stones and shells to take pictures of the precious nudibranch. Seems so counterintuitive to destroy what you literally go to great depths to admire. The team at Portulano are different. If you look, you can see their commitment to conservation and protection everywhere. It's in the little things.
To conserve precious fresh water, please catch cold water while you are waiting for it to warm. It can be used for cleaning.
Saving our seas one bag at a time
Plastic has no place here. One of the biggest pollutants we've seen in oceans and on islands are beverage containers and plastic bags. This break from plastic was welcome and beautiful.
The dining room was graced with this hand washing sink. This quick dry towel roll was a colourful , elegant conservation of paper products.
Little things make a big difference
We enjoyed our brief sojourn, made all the better by the company of happy staff, thoughtful owners--Arnel and Carmela Sevilla--and a likeminded family from New Jersey. Shawn and Victoria met their youngest daughter, Selene, here in the Philippines. Shes been traveling and gathering cool life stories on her gap year. The six of us had the place to ourselves, and we made the most of it with several daily dives and 2 outstanding, freaky night dives.
It's hard to say goodbye to this idyllic setting, but it becomes a little easier once you realize that you'll leave better for having been.
Check out more photos on The Project gallery at www.dashacademy.ca
