dumaguete trip

8/2/2019 Dumaguete Trip

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My 3 day adventure with the BSbio 2_A in Dumaguete City

By: Armin Kalalang

In partial fulfillment in Marine biology and Ecology

It was around 12:30 PM in the afternoon, that we had

arrived in the gates of Siliman university. We had our

lunch in there cafeteria, the usual Filipino entree, next was

to settle our things in our respective rooms on Carson

Hall. The room was, if I could say a bit too odd for my

liking, I couldn’t expect more for a girls dormitory

however I would never have it in anyway, the school was

welcoming and their hospitality is more uplifting. All of

our bags were at place and we were set for our first

activity which was the campus tour.

It was around 2:00 PM, Ms. Nicole Villanueva, a

student of Silliman university taking a bachelor of

science in business management was there as our tour

guide. we started off in the amphitheater, in front of us

was a church with its grand ambience and colorful

stained glass. we have our salutations and by then we

started our tour, on the way she would talk about the

place and its history, one for example was a typical

tree of some sort, they call it the “death tree” theorigin of the name was fitting, it was in the second

world war that the Japanese would hang people,

people who are convicted of patriotic and otherwise disobedient actions, others would call it the

“fertility tree” lovers would do something “erotic” or if i maybe to vague something

“miraculous” should i say more? one of the most amazing things i found very interesting was the

university performing arts theater, its beautiful old custom design and glorious ambience of the

place was enough to get me uplifted, it was an amazing feeling for a musician. of course it was

not the only place we visited, we went to the university library, and Animal museum a collection

of marine organism ranging from corals and sea turtles to crocodiles and Visayan leopard cats.

We went inside the A.Y. Zoological and Botanical garden, it has its own bird walk, under it weremore that twenty Visayan spotted dear and there were a variety of endangered animals found but

all seem to be quite familiar.

Finally we have our tour in the Siliman marine lab. Greeted us, a pelvic bone of a sperm whale,

inside was a museum of marine fishes, and a complete set of dugong bones were on display. We

went to a room filled with whale bones, at that moment I was amazed on how big it really is. We

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tour around and some of them were keeping a live

Pawikan, I extended my arm as if I were about to shake

mine with his.

We had an orientation by then around 4:45 PM it was

already late but we had to push through, Mrs. Edna wasorienting us about marine mammals, looking back at our

present condition, we were trying so hard to listen, we

were a bit tired of our travels but still we made it

through. After that we went back to our rooms and we

prepared ourselves for dinner.

We had our dinner at Ayayhay near boulevard. The food was great and inexpensive. We invited

our friend Ian Cadiente a former BSbio student, we had a couple of things to talk about that night

and by then the day ended.

It was an early Thursday morning, we have to get up

early for our fish market activity, everyone seem to

have the energy but I couldn’t say the same to our

lectures anyway we were ready. The Dumaguete

market was a couple of blocks away from the

university and the teacher made us walk, it was of

course in good will to keep our body ready for the day

ahead. We arrived and the smell of a typical wet

market had greeted us. The market that we surveyed

was at it busiest. Some of the vendors there were veryhelpful and cooperative and others were not so kind, i guess they were just too busy and they

have the right not to entertain us. it was really an experience dealing with different kinds of

people, i feel more like a researcher, it was cool and down-to-earth, not only it was fun but we

learned a lot on how this people value the sea, and How they make a living out of it. After the

survey we continued with our morning breakfast at a stall on the corner of the market. I had my

first breakfast on a market and it was okay, the Bod-Bod and tsukolate were delicious, top it off

with a sweet puto cheese and a hot coffee makes it even more gratifying.

We return to our dormitory, we had to change by then, our clothes were a bit “ langsa” after all

we spent the early morning in a wet market. After that we went to our morning lectures on

Coastal Resource Management with Professor Roy Olsen de Leon. He was quite the guy, and he

wanted answers to be very specific even Kristian Reyes had a trouble. He continued with his

lectures and by then he had taught us great insights on development by proper management and

applying the idea of ethics in a society that is becoming obsessed with their personal greed. He

showed us some of his work, about climate change assessment on various location in the

Philippines which later made me more aware about our changing environment.

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Armin Kalalang



After our lecture with Prof. de Leon, we went straight ahead with our next lecture with Mrs.

Kathryn Jand-loe on Coral reef ecology. I was a bit tired and my classmate shared the same but

we have to go anyway. She went on with her lectures and some of my classmates were taking

pictures, which made me a bit irritated. She was teaching us the importance of corals and some

basic coral identification, Threats and problems were also given and how society paved its way

in setting marine protected areas. Somehow conservation of corals can lead to sustainabledevelopment e.g. high tourism value, increase biodiversity, and increase fish yield/size. After her

lecture, I remember Robert Desusa was asking her about Corals and ice cream which made my

day.

We took a short break after that, Two more lectures followed. We had our Elasmobranchs lecture

with Ms. Jean Utzurrum at this point our attention span was not that strong but me and some of

my classmates were eager enough to listen. Much of her lectures on Sharks were much discuss

but the manta ray was different we had to listen, she needed help in finding a new species of

manta ray called Adon’s maskray after that her lectures on Elasmobranchs ended with an

applause. We had our final lecturer and I was practically tired, my energy was drained, and myeyes were like sand bags, I had the trouble keeping them wide awake. It was the same, much of it

were already discuss by the group of Michael Braun during our reporting. So in all honesty I was

sitting there thinking that this will never end, i kept myself from spontaneously bursting in

laughter my epitome of sanity was about to lose itself but to a breath of relief, he was finish with

his lectures and by that i was comforted with whale songs which some of us were interested in

listing to. we had our lunch in a typical restaurant near the marine Laboratory, if I could

remember it was called duck and bear restaurant.

We had our seagrass sampling near the marine lab after

lunch, everyone seems to be refilled and ready. We hadour snorkeling gear on and rush guards, we were ready

to jump into the sea. my group went the farthest,

around 50 m away from the shore. it was deep but

having my snorkeling mask to navigate underwater,

made me enjoy the activity even more, to me it was not

just an activity but it was like a day on the beach with

friends, of course we have to finish our work by then to

enjoy much of the time left. I could say it was a fun

activity and everyone enjoyed it more that i do. It was

around 5:30 PM and Mrs. Pacalioga decided that we just have to process our sample next week,

so we went back to our dormitory on Carson Hall. I decide to go alone and have dinner

elsewhere, seeing that it was my last day in Dumaguete. I went to take a short stroll in the

famous boulevard shortly after dinner. Unexpectedly my friends were there as well and I decided

to join them back to our dormitory.

It was the last day of our trip in Dumaguete, we have to leave early for Dauin. we arrived around

11:30 AM. we took out our snorkeling gears and went ahead to our stations. we had our briefing

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and we were set to go, at first i was a bit worried i know

that my calves are easily strained in long sessions while

swimming but it never stopped me having to go and have

fun. it was my first time going to a much deeper water

around 80 m below sea level, it was scary but damn; the

beautiful corals, the colorful fishes, the cold water, mademe stop caring. i could see everyone and they were

having there time, i see it in their smiles and laughter. we

had our lunch, had my first grilled parrot fish, its meat

was sof t and

delicate. by 2:00 PM we set off to Mabinay cave we

arrived around 430 and it was about closing time so we

had to visit only 1 cave, they call it the crystal cave, it

wasn’t my first time but the cave was new to me so i was

a bit excited. upon stepping at the entrance of the cave,

To my surprise something flew ahead of me, a swallowgreeted us. we move onward into the dark cave and saw

different types of formations and some gave shapes that

were interesting.

So we finished our trip there, what happened next was but a history, it expanded my mind to

become a marine biologist (hopefully if I manage to graduate) nevertheless i enjoyed and had a

great time with my friends and my teacher’s who gave us this chance to explore the wonders of

science. About my dorm life in Siliman, it was my very first time, it was my first time having to

share the same toilet and shower rooms, it was the longest time i had ever spent with my

classmates, although i did not stay very late at night because of all the activities we did duringthe day, i would never exchange those moments with my classmates and the knowledge given to

us by our lecturer’s, it was truly a unique and unbelievable experience.

Frances Evonne Costales

Mark De la Paz

Mark De la Paz

dumaguete trip

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