A tropical to do list

After working extremely hard building houses, our team had the last two days in the Philippines to enjoy our tropical surroundings.

And believe me, we did!

Here was our to do list for the end of the trip:

• Explore a cave (check)
• See some monkeys up close (check)
• Go on a beautiful boat ride (check, check -- two days in a row)
• Drink from a coconut (check)
• Eat lots of fresh, tropical fruit (check, check)
• Jump gigantic waves (check)
• Lay out on the beach (check)
• Chase after whale sharks and swim with them -- eeps! (check)

DAY #1: Cave, boat ride, beach

Heading into the cave by raft.

Monkey sighting!

We took a lovely boat ride to an absolutely gorgeous beach...

I couldn't get over how blue the water was!

And here is the absolutely gorgeous beach...

This is where we spent the afternoon. Paradise. :)

So coconut milk isn't all that delicious, but it was fun to drink. :)

I looooove fresh, juicy pineapple!!

What a great day!

DAY #2: Out to the deep sea to swim with whale sharks!!

Here are the nine of us who opted to do this...

We sailed for a couple of hours until we got to an area with whale sharks. Then we'd wait on the edge of the boat until one of the professionals with us told us to jump...

When we saw this...

We jumped at it!!!

Yes, it goes against your nature to jump at a shark fin when you see one. Yes, it was pretty darn scary the first couple of times. YES, it was totally fun, exhilerating, and even addicting!! Whale sharks are big and scary-looking creatures, but obviously harmless. :)

I definitely got caught up in the excitement of the whale sharks. And reapplying sunscreen should definitely have been more of a priority. At the end of the day, I was a crispy critter in much pain. (Burn and learn, right?)
It was totally worth it, though!