Bulusan in black and white

Seascape, Mabuhay, Bulusan

Seascape, Dancalan, Bulusan

Seascape, Sabang, Bulusan

Seascape, Riroan, Bulusan

Bulusan Volcano viewed from Dancalan, Bulusan

Photos: Alma P. Gamil

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Insight from Wendell Berry

Composite mountains of  Bulusan Volcano

"I am speaking of the life of a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children; who has undertaken to cherish it and do it no damage, not because he is duty-bound, but because he loves the world and loves his children; whose work serves the earth he lives on and from and with, and is therefore pleasurable and meaningful and unending; whose rewards are not deferred until "retirement," but arrive daily and seasonally out of the details of the life of their place; whose goal is the continuance of the life of the world, which for a while animates and contains them, and which they know they can never compass with their understanding or desire."

Wendell Berry, The Unforeseen Wilderness : An Essay on Kentucky's Red River Gorge (1971), p. 33; what is likely a paraphrase of a portion of this has existed since at least 1997, and has sometimes become misattributed to John James Audubon: A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.

Lifted from WikiQuotes

Photo by Alma P. Gamil

Kagawad Eddie G. Frando : Green Councilor of Bulusan

Kagawad Eddie G Frando's souvenir shot of the Bulusan EcoTrail Run 2013 as it appears in his FB account.

Ms. Earth beauties with outgoing Councilor Eddie Frando (extreme left in the photo) and  participants  of the recently concluded Bulusan EcoTrail Run Year Three event are shown here brimming with enthusiasm and excitement. The event is an LGU sponsored activity for its continuing green awareness campaign and to boost ecotourism in the municipality of Bulusan.

Kagawad Frando an outgoing Municipal Councilor co-authored with Councilor Cecil Frades the landmark Sangguniang Bayan Resolution banning Geothermal and other industrial development in Mt. Bulusan and thereby  preserving its pristine nature in perpetuity for the benefit of succeeding generations of Bulusanons.

Mt. Bulusan is an active volcano, one of the five intensely active volcanos (or volcanoes both are correct) in the Philippines (Taal, Mayon, Bulusan, Kanlaon and Hibok-hibok) whose location is close enough to large communities to be of major concern.The Philippines has a total of 405 volcanoes of which  23 are active,  27 potentially active and 355 inactive according to the released information from Phivolcs.

The SB resolution is often cited by environmental advocacy groups in the Philippines and those sectors opposing unwise choice of location for Geothermal Projects that negatively impact the communities near it.

I have however no knowledge of the stand of the visiting beauties regarding the Geothermal dilemma in Bulusan.

Further information on the landmark Resolution: http://bulusanruralvagabond.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/bulusan-lgu-shining-moment-for-ecology/

Photo credit: Kagawad Eddie Frando of LGU Bulusan 

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Agoho and Bulusan Volcano

"The mountain agoho (Casuarina rumphiana), which is known to have a very limited distribution in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, inhabits this protected area," reads part of the assessment report re BVNP of the team of Errol Gatumbato a noted environmentalist in the Philippines.  By protected area, this refers to  BVNP, Bulusan Volcano Natural Park located in the composite mountains of Bulusan Volcano (above and below photos). 
Some of these trees found its way in the lower areas of Bulusan comprising the residential areas. I have seen one big agoho at the churchyard and several at the cottage  grounds of Dancalan beach where this photo was taken.  The dangling leaves that fringe the upper  frame of the above photo are from an old agoho tree standing beside the open cottages in Dancalan beach. The electric wires along the road  run across the photo from this vantage point.

Bulusan Volcano (composite mountains) as it appears on a cloudless day, May 26, 2013.

Photos: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Mapaso: Bulusan's Indigenous Healing Ground

Mapaso  is a healing spring in Bulusan located in the village of Buhang. Hot waters shoot out from naturally  elevated ground crevices to join the sea several steps away.

Attributed by locals with healing powers, visits to the spring are usually made during Fridays.

Mini rivulets of hot flowing waters leave its track to the sea with a reddish-hue. The waters has a rich mineral taste to it and the smell can only be described as volcanic in origin.
(Note: the heart shaped silhouette  of the leaves)

In front of  Mapaso is a rich fishing ground for artisanal fishermen with 'agahid' (a pole with net on one end). 

The low cliff where Mapaso is located can be seen along the main road of Sitio Taisan in Barangay Buhang (San Vicente).

Boulders strewn along the beach  that look like  remnants of past volcanic eruption  form an impressive Rock Beach landscape adding a sense of  excitement and energy to the mysterious Mapaso spring.

Interesting bubbles form in the low-tide waters fronting Mapaso.

note: The heart shaped silhouette appears again in my photograph. See middle photo. This is not intentional. It just appears whenever I take photos of nature in Bulusan.

Photographs by Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Lake Aguingay in my mind

Lake Aguingay during drier months. Photo credit: Philip G. Bartilet 

Lake Aguingay still showing the receding waters after the rains. Photo credit: Pinoymountaineer.com

Imagine a lake three times the area of Bulusan Lake, her sister lake from the same mountain.

Imagine it on top almost 200 feet higher than her famous sister. Imagine a vast plain when the water receded on drier months. 

Imagine a lake bed like a vast plain savannah. 

Imagine it  surrounded by rainforests. 

Imagine the flora and fauna dancing with the ebb and the tides of these landscapes constantly changing. 

Imagine a lake for all seasons!

Imagine. The marvelous beauty of Lake Aguingay!


Facts:

Lake Aguingay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lake Aguingay

Location               Luzon Island

Coordinates       12°44′57.55″N 124°04′23.04″ECoordinates: 12°44′57.55″N 124°04′23.04″E

Lake type            Seasonal Crater Lake

Basin countries Philippines

Surface area       76 hectares (190 acres)

Shore length1   3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi)

Surface elevation            410 metres (1,350 ft)

1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Aguingay is a vast plain at the center of Bulusan Volcano National Park located near Bulusan Lake at the Municipality of Bulusan, South central part of the Sorsogon Province, Southern Luzon, Bicol Region, Philippines. It is called The Lake because it is occasionally flooded during wet season and dries up during summer. When it is wet it resembles a big lake located right at the foot of Mt. Bulusan. The area is home to various endemic birds, reptiles and other mammals. It is surrounded by lush vegetation and a tropical rain forest. It is only accessible by foot from Bulusan Lake and from the villages of Kapangihan and San Roque

" Bulusan Lake, on the southeastern side of Bulusan Volcano, is 635 meters above sea level.  The lake occupies the depression between two lava flow lobes abutting a hill on the southeast slope of the volcano.  With a depth of 33 meters, the lake covers an area of 16.5 hectares and has a circumference of 2,000 meters.  The intermittent Lake Aguingay is situated at a higher elevation about 1,100 meters above sea level.  This lake appears and disappears depending on the weather condition and even expands to three times the area of Bulusan Lake during extreme rainfall depths."      

Source:The Bicol Regional Physical Framework Plan (RPFP) NEDA 5

Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Optical Phenomena in Magical Mount Bulusan

Photo: realrica.com

Spectacular solar optic effects at the gaping mouth of Bulusan Volcano! Marvelous nature show.

A fog bow, solar glory, Brocken Spectre 3-in-1 phenomena caught in this one of a kind photograph by the team of Pinoy mountaineers with celebrity climber Ms Rica Peralejo last June 24 of this year.

These are actually three distinct phenomena : The fog bow appears here as a 360 degree white rainbow. The solar glory is a band of colored rings at the inner rim surrounding the shadowy  figure technically known as the Brocken Spectre at the center.

This seemingly supernatural optical phenomenon is rare. One must be at the right location at the right time with the right conditions to produce this atmospheric optical effects. The mountaineers were a lucky bunch to be present on the right spot at the right moment when the crater center was at the perfect moment for this nature spectacle to happen.

The mist of fog or cloud is needed to be at the center of the crater first and foremost. This will serve as the ‘screen’  (as in a movie) for the shadow of the observer standing near the rim of the crater. The sun must be at the back  just like a projector to the observer in whose shadow will be then projected at the thick fog located exactly at the mouth of the volcano.

The effect is optical magic. A marvelous  nature show. Colored rings known as solar glory appears around the head of the Brocken Spectre not unlike colored band of halos. It surely looks like a spiritual apparition for those not familiar with this rare nature phenomenon.

Adding up to the magic is the white rainbow commonly referred to as the fog bow forming the larger circumference--a  giant circular host-like apparition. It is as if the volcano’s crater is about to swallow a gigantic host from heaven.

Solar glories are formed by diffraction where light waves are scattered into a ring-like pattern as differentiated to a regular rainbow that usually appears as a colored arc in the sky which is formed by refraction and reflection. In this photo the glory forms inside the inner rings just above the head of the Brocken  Spectre. 

Do not be alarmed. The Brocken Specter is not a dark ghostly apparition. It is merely an elongated shadow casts into the clouds--the shadow of the observer and most of the time --the photographer/climber. The clouds and fog sort of distort the human shadow as it moves.

The anti-solar point is the exact spot where the solar glory and the Brocken Spectre appear. It is directly opposite the sun from the observer’s perspective.

This atmospheric spectacle is the first time ever recorded inside the crater of  Bulusan Volcano—probably  the only one of its kind in the world.

Written by: Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Magical Mount Bulusan: Ms Rica and the white rainbow

Magical Mount Bulusan. This is not a cliche. This is real.

I saw the magic unravel in the photos of Rica Peralejo-Bonifacio and her fellow trekkers.

They might not know it but they have stumbled upon a very rare phenomenon known as a fog bow during their recent trek to Mount Bulusan.

A fog bow is a 'white rainbow'. White because the colors are so faint it appear whitish. Almost ghostly. But yes the colors are there. And to add to the magic: the white rainbow appeared in a 360 degree form-- meaning a circle. The gaping crater of  Bulusan Volcano appears like in the act of swallowing a  giant Holy host from heaven.

They always say that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But this one is not the end of the rainbow (as the photo shows). This one is right at the HEART of a rainbow with the faintest colors of pink, yellow and blue.

More than a pot of gold I am sure is in there-- though not literally.

Whereas a rainbow is the result of the optical effects caused by  droplets of rain meeting the rays of the sun at a specific angle (42 degrees according to scientific journals), the fog bow on the other hand is caused by a mist of fog smaller than rain droplets not strong enough to reflect and refract colors vivid enough to the eyes. Thus a whitish arc or in this case a circle is formed instead.

The sight is truly magical and almost spiritual. It looks like an apparition of nature.

I have checked the web for similar photos of a crater with a white rainbow but none so far yielded to my virtual search. Arctic white rainbow. Yes, sighted by an expedition team. Golden Gate Bridge white rainbow. Yes, as captured by a photographer. But not this kind of a gaping mouth of a volcano with a giant 'host', the Eucharistic bread from heaven in a suspended  freeze frame waiting to be swallowed by the magnificent Bulusan Volcano from the hands of the  holy sky.

To the trekkers and to the beautiful Ms. Rica Peralejo-Bonifacio:

All I can say is: wish I was there!         (Photos: realrica.com)

For the complete set of photos from Ms Rica Peralejo Bonifacio with the white rainbow: realrica.com