Fish Sanctuary Project: We received a grant for over $2000 to improve the fish sanctuary! Our first activity using the grant was Manapag Reef Day – a celebration to promote pride in the village’s marine resources and educate folks about the sanctuary. It was a fun day filled with poster and poem contests, sea creature crafts, and snorkeling. For the 20 kids who snorkeled, it was their first time ever seeing a coral reef, although they can see the sanctuary area from their homes. The community had a great time and is already looking forward to planning Reef Day 2012.
[our counterparts judge the coloring contest]
[poem contest about coral reefs; we had 6 great entries] Community Profiling: We are working with 10 villages to create environmental profiles of their communities – identifying their concerns and brainstorming solutions. Tori is leading workshops about fishing and livelihood practices, while Brandon is doing surveys of the mangrove areas and reefs. So far, the biggest environmental issues are lack of access to potable drinking water, coastal law enforcement, and waste management. We’ll be working on the Coastal Resource Management Plan, hopefully having a draft by October.
[Tori and counterpart conducting workshop for environmental profile] 
[Brandon and fisherfolk friends doing a mangrove survey] 
[resource mapping activity] Visitors! Amy, Fabrizzio, and Steve came for 3 weeks in March-April. We did the “Epic Philippines All-Star Tour,” snorkeling with the whale sharks in Donsol, visiting the white beaches of Boracay, trekking the rice terraces of Mountain Province, and exploring the caves of Sagada. Liz came to Eastern Samar in May and we did all the ES highlights: snorkeling with the giant clams, investigating the tidal pools, swimming on the Pacific, and taking in the local vibe. Liz was a quite a trooper, joining us for fiesta celebrations and all the eat-a-thons and dance-a-thons that come with it. (Photos from our visitors’ adventures posted later).
Having visitors from home is a great reminder of how amazing it will be to return and spend time with everyone. It’s so nice and reassuring to know that we have wonderful friends and family on the other side of the world.
Most recently, Brandon took his advanced scuba diving certification, so he can now officially dive to depths of 120ft and do cool things like night diving, cave diving, and ice diving (although why would anyone want to do ice diving??...)
[scuba class]Coming up: We’ll have our final PC-sponsored conference in just a few weeks. We’re also working on a water safety training program for deep sea fishermen, with training support from US Coast Guard staff. Hopefully we’ll be seeking support from you as well through an online giving program, but that’s still a few weeks away. We’ll keep you posted.
We’ll leave you now with a few snapshots of daily life:
[Choco: our half-adopted dog. He actually bums around at many houses in the neighborhood, but he has a knack for making you feel like YOU are his owner. Very tricky. Anyway, he sleeps on our porch when it’s raining.] 
[Ant.bomb. A consequence of life in the tropics: any tiny bit of food left on the table, floor or counter will draw hundreds of ants. (And who knew there are so many KINDS of ants: little red ones, little brown ones, biting ones, really painful biting ones, big red ones, big black ones, and so on). One time though, we came home after a week away and found this ant colony had been constructed in our bathroom doorway…] 
[officemates at a fiesta meal] 
[The Manapag Reef Day team]
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