Badian Island is off the coast of Cebu where the only thing on the island is a beautiful resort. The sights were filled with white sand beaches, crystal clear blue water and flowers in bloom everywhere you turned. This place made you feel as if you were on Paradise Island.
After we arrived on Friday morning, we had to go exploring. The first stop on our exploration of the island was the "Coral Gardens". The Coral Gardens is a small secluded beach where the water is wavy and the snorkeling is beautiful. Dad and Gepher love to be one with the fish! Give them a snorkel mask and a big ocean and both are very happy and relaxed men. The afternoon was brought to an abrupt end after each of them were "kissed" by a jelly fish. I've never seen two grown men swim so fast back to shore.
Despite the Friday snorkeling adventure, Saturday is when the real memories were made. Badian Island was full of free water sports. Gepher is very athletic and always looking for something new (and he would say "manly") to try. Since the moment he learned the resort offered Wind Surfing he was anxious to try it. He suited up with life jacket and aqua socks and was ready to ride the wind!
Since the resort didn't offer lessons with the free Wind Surfing, it took Gepher a few tries to figure out how to both stand on the board and pull the sail up. Once he got up he caught a gust of wind and began sailing off. Mom, Dad, and I were watching from the shore as he sailed (and rode the current) farther and farther into the distance. Suddenly we were no longer able to see him standing on the board with the sail, but instead we see him sitting on the board, with the sail in the water, trying to paddle back to shore. Gepher is now stuck in the bay between Cebu Island and Badian Island and can't figure out how to sail back to shore against the current and wind. Luckily a boat (which had been pulling the banana boat) was following Gepher pretty close and offered him a ride back to the shore!!
Ridding back to shore, Gepher asked the boat driver if he could try the wind surf again. The guy smiled and said, "you can have it all day." To Gepher, he not only has access to the wind surf all day but the boat as well. As Gepher gets ready to surf a second time, Dad decides he will help Gepher with some lessons. (Keep in mind Dad has NEVER gotten on a wind surf board nor did he want to try it for himself.) You would have thought we were in Geometry class listening to Dad give instructions. Gepher took Dad's advice and got up on the board and took off surfing!! He caught a gust of wind (which Dad figured what direction it was blowing by throwing water in the air) and began surfing with the wind and the current! It seems the future father-in-law/son-in-law bonding paid off!!
As the three of us watched Gepher sailing off in the distance, we began having déjà vu. Gepher was getting closer to Cebu and no longer "sufing". Instead he was laying on the board trying to paddle back to shore. Paddling to shore was hard work and definitely caused Gepher to need to rest. With every rest he took the current would carry him right back to where he started. I guess you can say he wasn't getting anywhere anytime soon.
As I begin to wade out, I realized Gepher was definitely stranded!! At this point Dad has come to the same realization that unless we go out and try to help Gepher get back to the resort he's going to eventually float back to Cebu. Dad comes to the rescue again!! Since my idea of swimming out to get him wasn't the smartest, we go with Dad's plan for a rescue...the paddle boat!! Dad and I begin to paddle while Mom rides on the front of the boat. When we reach Gepher he is smiling from ear to ear thankful to be rescued! The paddle boat ride back to shore was full of laughter and reminding Gepher that he was definitely going to become a sermon illustration for Dad in the near future!!
In our family we have a saying "making a memory". Gepher definitely made his first memory in the family. Its one none of us will ever forget!!
