Apalan, Tuburan, Cebu, Philippines
Apalan in Tuburan, Cebu is known to have rich shellfishes and underwater creatures that could really made a good viand. Me and my co-teachers decided to go shellfish gleaning as we do not have any errands to do. In Cebuano term, shellfish gleaning means "manginhas".
I haven't tried shellfish gleaning but my co-teacher encouraged me to try since she knows I am a huge fan of sea urchins and she wants to teach me how to get it on my own. Since we had not much errands to do, we decided to unwind for a while and go shellfish gleaning with them.
Our plan was to meet up at my co-teacher's sari-sari store. When we arrived, I drank some gatorade. I was waiting for my partner since he went to the local store here to buy some flashlight. If you will go shellfish gleaning, you would really need to have a flashlight.
In the u-box of our motorcyle, we brought some rice, and vinegar which we will be using later once we will be catching my favorite sea urchins.
We decided to to the shore at around 5:00 pm and look just how beautiful the view is.
Walking around made me so relaxed because of the fresh sea breeze and we could also hear some chirping birds from afar.
Despite the busy school days, it is really important that we spend time for days like these wherein life becomes slow-paced and we enjoy the little joys of life.
I really do not have any idea how to do shellfish gleaning since it is my first time but just the thought of being able to have fun with my favorite people while doing this makes me look forward to catch some seashells while having fun.
I am such a sea urchin lover and we buy sea orchins at the market where it is sold by bucket and sometimes, some vendors already open it and place it on bottles. But today, we will be getting it on our own.
We walked approximately ten minutes from the shoreline before we began our shellfish gleaning. We looked for some spots where they felt they could get plently of seashells.
My partner then started doing his shellfish gleaning while I was busy filming and taking some photos. He is also really good in doing this since he lives nearby the seashore back in his hometown in Leyte.
The first thing I saw were this cute starfishes and there were so much more everytime we walked away much more further, all of different colors and different sizes.
Look at that flashlight located at the forehead of my partner, that flashlight is really useful because you will be able to see a lot of sea creatures since we started our seashell gleaning at around 6:30 pm and the surroundings tend to be so dark. A flashlight is really helpful.
After a couple of hours, my co-teacher and her partner also came and they brought their own light bulb also. It is really useful to have a lot of light.
We took some group photos since we were done seashells gleaning and we were complete. Thank you to our son who took this group photo of us.
We gathered some small fishes, sea shells and other sea creatures but this is my favorite, sea urchins, in Cebuano Bisaya we call these "swaki" which is perfectly paired with the vinegar we brought.
We than ate at the seashore and to tell you honestly, I was not full because we only ate our rice inside our small rice cooker. All of my other companions did not bring their own rice. I could eat more if there was more rice because the sea urchin really tasted so good especially it was freshly taken from the sea.
To sum it all up, we bought some ice cream and ate it at my co-teacher's sari-sari store which our favorite venue where we gather around and spend our vacant days.
Seashell gleaning is such a fun thing to do. Also, you will be able to eat some free fresh seafoods. All you have to have is the patience since it is not that easy to catch seafoods. It is also painful for the back part of your body since you will need to bend.
You must also not forget to bring flashlight and many rice since eating fresh seafood will really boost your appetite.
What a fun night! Ciao! ❤️
