Collecting Seashells on the Island of Cebu in the Philippines
The Island of Cebu in the Philippines evokes images of shells, shells, shells for the keen collector...Is it really as good as one might believe? I had the opportunity to find out to a limited extent during 2007 and 2008 with three separate trips to the island.
This article is not a list of shells that I found or a list of the species, but rather an attempt to describe what it is like collecting in such a famous sea shell location.
MY STORY is one of romance and shells... I was in Cebu on the first two trips visiting the woman (Anne) who was to become my wife. What is remarkable is that she was (and still is) a shell collector.
I spent 6 weeks there in July/Aug, 2007 and then again in Dec/Jan 2007, 2008. Anne returned with me to Australia at the end of that trip and we went back to Cebu together in Feb, 2009 for another 6 weeks. (Anne and I were married in Australia in Feb, 2008).
THE SETTING: When we hear about shells from Cebu, most are from the area near Cebu City (South side of the Island) for example Mactan and Olango Island. My travels took me to the provinces on the North side of the Island......and specifically to a place called Cabitoonan which is part of Toledo City (About one and half hours by road to Cebu City).
Toledo City is small (about 150,000 people) and is mainly small farming and fishing with associated retail and infrastructure industries.
FISHERMEN: We have met many fishermen in my time spent there and I honestly believe very little research on shells in this area has ever occurred. I never met a fisherman who actually collected shells other than for eating the seafood.
When were collecting, a common comment was...why pick that shell up?...you can't eat what's inside!!! When I said I collected, I received a vague look or a WHY? Understand that here life is a struggle and the concept of spending money on something that does not put food on the table is alien to them.
THE PEOPLE: The people stand out for their happy, friendly attitude. Many live in absolute poverty in a small house of timber and thatched roof. Of course there are rich among them but I never saw a rich farmer of fishermen.
Their day starts at around 4am. The boats are usually in from sea with the days catch by 7am and the entire family goes to work clearing the nets and getting the fish to market.
People work hard in conditions that I regard as 'extremely difficult'. Yet they always seem to have a smile on their face.
Aside from work, talking seems to be a normal pastime in this area. Someone from the extended family was always there, chatting without any concern for the time passing. For someone who does not understand the language, this can become very boring. However, I could usually sneak away to clean shells!
Karaoke is another famous pastime...singing involves everyone from young children to older adults and no-one is shy about it. If you ever visit Toledo take your vocal cords with you.
Eating seems to be the third high priority activity. In my opinion they eat too much and diet is not always good with high levels of fat and salt. Also, as rice is the main staple of their diet, it is easy to put on weight without regular exercise. Bottled water was always provided and Annes' family made sure all fruits and vegetables were washed with this.
In the three trips there I have only had a couple of minor health problems but I have seen most of Annes' family, including Anne suffer from 'fever' which comes after getting wet and then cold in the humid weather.
CLIMATE: Hot and humid all year round. They say they have a wet season but I could not see any difference in the times I have been there. If you are not used to it this climate makes you very weary and drains energy very rapidly.
OK SO WHAT ABOUT SHELL COLLECTING?
We spent a number of periods on different beaches within a 100km range from Annes' home. Usually we were there for no more 2-3 hours. After that it was just too hot or too wet.
Intertidal specimens are there, although they take a little searching for. It seems there are less there on the last two trips compared with the first. Maybe that's a seasonal thing...I'm not sure.
I cannot say we found any rare shells in our searches but we certainly have a lot of different species in quite good quality for the collection and trading.
Very few fishermen had anything to sell. We spread the word but most offers were poor. However Anne's Uncles are fishermen and slowly they are learning about shells and providing us with some nice specimens. We provided them with a tangle net after the first visit but so far it has not yielded any shells. They also tried to set up a lumun lumun net for us but after 2 months it was destroyed in a typhoon.
The most enjoyable time for collecting was on night walks. (When it didn't rain!) Annes' uncle has a huge kerosene lantern which he carries and all and sundry go for a walk looking for anything that moves (shells, crabs, fish etc.) We even had a 2 year old there one walk!
Teenagers loved to come with us (kids there are nothing like Aussie kids) and it was not unusual to be surrounded by a group of 10 or so all putting shells into the bag. Of course next day I had a huge sorting task as most shells were no good.
We also managed a boat trip to nearby Campalabo Island. The boats here are like a large canoe with bamboo outriggers. Fun to ride in but I would not like to have to seriously fish from them as the locals do.
Campalabo is a white patch of sand with rocks and coral around it......only out of water at low tide. We brought back many interesting finds from here. I am having trouble in identifying a number of these, particularly the tiny ones.
You can find more articles on seashells and also a link to our store where we have shells from Cebu available for the Collector. Our website is http://www.emilyscollectibles.com
In Summary, there is little doubt that the section of Cebu we visited has lots to offer the shell collector and I expect many more species to show up from there in the future. However, it is not a place to visit unless you have some local contacts. You need to be security conscious all the time...I was never on a beach without a number of locals with me and they knew many of the fishermen whose houses we passed. We heard stories of beatings, robberies etc in nearby provinces and also kidnappings and deaths of western tourists on islands such as Palawan. Despite this, it is a beautiful part of the world and deserves its reputation as a great shell collecting locality.
