Finding Nemo and the search for Turtles !!

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Days 67 – 70 (Mon 12^th –Thurs 15^thNov)



So after 3 days on Bohol island I moved to Panglao island. An off shoot from Bohol and very close to Tagbilaran where the main ferry and only airport on Bohol lies. I moved to Alona Beach on Panglao which is an awesome beach resort. I moved here mainly to take my PADI open water diving course. I’d done a bit of research about the course and where was best to take it in the Philippines and heard here was good for it as they had close and local reefs so that’s the reason I came.

My course ran from Monday to Thursday lunch time. I did theory and videos etc on the Monday. I was due to do a confined water session in the pool but my instructor was under the weather so just did the theory instead.

Tuesday I took in 3 chapters of the theory in the pool. Pretty much passed all the tests first time Had a couple issues with staying still in the water. My lung space is a lot bigger than a little Filipino girls so I was going up and down a lot more than she was. It’s something you get used to and can manage. To be perfect at diving you’d be best of being really small. Therefore not fluctuating much in the water. In the afternoon I went out to the Alona House reef, which is a couple hundred metres at a push from the shore line. The water levels suddenly drop to 5m and then on more towards 20m. My course was only to take me to 12m but I sank a couple times and went to around 16m. The reef itself in Alona is stunning. There an a massive assortment of tropical fish, including some lionfish and many Nemo fish, actually called Anemonefish but for the sake of the film, Nemo is obviously easier for the kids.

The next day I had another pool session, a little bit of theory about what to do after the course and how to stay involved etc and 2 more open water dives. By these dives I’d massively improved in my floating and ability not to bump into reef nor suddenly surface or sink, both 2 massively bad things to happen with the density of the air and that, but got that under control on these days. I went back to my guesthouse after day 3 feeling good that I would have no problems passing the test the following day and becoming certified. I sat in the bar and drank a few too many red horse, drinking until 1am or so. It wasn’t my intention but sometimes nice beer takes over and you can’t stop drinking it once you’ve started. I’ve actually emailed San Miguel to ask why it’s only a domestic beer. It’s the nicest one I’ve ever drunk and would do well in the UK for sure. No reply as of yet.

I woke up Thursday morning with a slightly sore head knowing I had a test to take. Only multiple choice though so can’t be that hard. Got to the dive shop, met my instructor Michelle and got the test. Was a little dubious on a couple questions but managed to get 47/50, only getting a couple first aid questions wrong, nothing about the actual diving so was all good. I went out for my last open water dive knowing I’d passed and that I could enjoy it. You practise some of the tasks you learn in the pool on your open water dives such as removing all masks, regulators for breathing and having your ait shut off, so you get plenty of practise knowing how to deal with emergencies, but from what I’ve been told they’re very rare anyways but it’s always good to know I guess, I had no problems in any of these tasks and after them you just dive the reef enjoying to view. Finished this by lunch time. Had some food and headed to guesthouse to have a kip for the afternoon. Food here is amazing. It’s not massively spicy or flavoursome but nor is it bland. I was eating pork and chicken mainly, either cooked during the day or bbq’d at nights. I never paid more than £2.50 for any meal. Considering it was a beach resort, the food was stupidly cheap. I’ve not heard anyone not like Filipino cuisine although it’s not the most adventurous of foods, it all tastes good, and it’s cheap. Maybe got a little drunk in the guesthouse again that night!!



Day 71 (Fri 16^th Nov)



After passing my Open water course I decided with my last day in Alona beach to do another couple dives. I’d massively enjoyed the previous 4 days so it seemed to make sense to go out and do some more diving. There was a trip running to nearby Balicasag Island so I joined in on that.

Balicasag is around half an hour by speed boat from where I was staying so I met the other 4 divers at 9am at the dive shop and we headed out with one of the divemasters for 2 dives, hunting for turtles.

Our first dive started around 10am and within a couple minutes saw my first turtle and a few minutes later saw the second, unfortunately these were the only 2 I saw but they are amazing creatures. I was also surprised by how quick they can swim considering the size of them.

Lots more tropical fish seen, it really is a nice place to dive. So laid back and relaxing with amazing scenery and wildlife.

We took an hour break in between dives, due to regulations and nitrogen build ups in your body. We parked the boat on a local beach and just sat about in the sun chatting to each other. Not a bad way to spend the day. We then moved around the island to do our second dive and following this we returned to Alona Beach, although the weather had turned a little bit by then and the trip was very rough, but I’ve had more than enough sketchy sailings on the sea cat’s back home so certainly didn’t bother me. A Japanese guy looked a little worse for wear though.

Spent the night drinking again in the communal area of the guesthouse.



Day 72 (Sat 17^th Nov)



I moved early Saturday morning to return to Tagbilaran to get the ferry to Cebu to then get a flight to Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island. I walked to the guesthouse which only has 3 rooms and is very new, having been open by a British lad who doesn’t want to go home to UK so he’s started this little business off. It’s a nice place and close to the airport which is very handy indeed. Spent the night chatting to the other guests and the owners about all sorts, from religion to politics and so on. Ben has made a little bar area which is great, it’s so chilled out and relaxing to just sit about chatting and drinking. As it was a transfer day I never plan anything to do, and just relax.



Day 73 (Sun 18^th Nov)



Me and an American girl tried to get a trip to the underground river booked in the morning but trying to get anything done in the Philippines on a Sunday is impossible so that never happened. You have to get a permit to visit the river as only 900 people are allowed in each day. For this reason you need to get it the day before and then book a tour. As I couldn’t do it, I decided I’d stay around for another day so I could go see it.

The afternoon I spent with everyone from the guesthouse. We went down to the beach, met a few of their friends here and had a bbq on the beach. Someone supplied a load of food and we all just tucked in. It was a brilliant day. After the bbq we went back to the guesthouse a few of us and drank until the small hours. I’d pretty much used today as the day to celebrate my birthday.



Day 74 (Mon 19^th Nov)



Today was my birthday but I did very little with it. I had wanted to go to the underground river but as I couldn’t I spent it wandering around Puerto after waking at lunch time with a hangover. Hangovers here tend to only last an hour or so as you sweat it all out of your system which is great, there’s no feeling bad all day generally. I treated myself to a huge pizza for tea but apart from that it was a very quiet birthday, possibly the most so of my life. The fact that I’m having the trip of a lifetime, every day is different and special in its own right so I don’t need a special day to celebrate, plus it’s a Monday, possibly the worst day to have a birthday. The weather here at the moment is stupidly humid and when the sun is out it’s also mid 30’s. Sleeping and doing anything is hard work at the moment, relaxing and drinking seems the easiest thing to do, which I won’t complain about. I also can’t get drunk on my birthday as I’m up at half 6 in the morning to go to the underground river, so maybe have a few more shandies tomorrow instead.

Day 75 (Tues 20^th Nov)



Stupidly early start which was not really necessary but the way the tour run to the underground river isn’t the most organised in the world.

One of the other tourists was a 20 year old boy who at 7am was doing his ‘foundation’ in his little mirror whilst on the way to the Underground river. Pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve seen a male doing that.

My permit said 8:30am entry, the other 5 filipino’s on the tour had it down for the afternoon. We got there around 9am, but then didn’t get anywhere near it until after lunch. We instead hung around for a bit, then went on a mangrove paddle boat as a side excursion, an extra little expense but it was decent enough. Lasted around 45 minutes and we saw monkey’s, snakes, monitor lizards and a few different types of bird. After this we had time to take photo’s, which took me around 2 minutes and the rest of the group half an hour.

We then had lunch at 11am. By this time we could have seen the river and been back in Puerto but they do nothing quickly here. After lunch we finally headed back to the launch point for the tour. You have to first get a motorboat about 20 mins from the beach to a secluded beach where the tour starts. The heavens opened and it lashed it down whilst we were out in the South China Sea. Visibility was pretty much nil as the water bounced of the sea. We get there, registered and waited to go in. As I have said a few times nothing happens quick here so we were probably another half hour if not longer milling around before we went in.

It is pretty impressive and they consider it a 7 wonders of the world, which is amusing as everywhere seems to have their own wonders. We spent around an hour inside on a paddle boat being talked through all the different rock and cave formations. It does however smell quite bad due to bat’s leaving there remains all over the place. We went in around 1.5km but the river does go to 8.2km. The whole trip takes 3-4 hours and I don’t think I could do that. Does get a bit samey but it’s impressive nonetheless. We left and headed back to Puerto. The trip time was about 2 hours each way and poor roads most the way. Was glad to get back. Spent over 10 hours on a day trip that could have been done in half the time.

Last night in Puerto before I head to El Nido on a nice long mini van so can’t wait for the trip. It’s about 6-7 hours I believe, yay !!

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