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Today started off our last week in Boracay.
We organized going on an 'island hopping'/snorkelling trip around the island as we havent really explored much. We struggled up early and jimi ran to the dive shop to buy us an underwater camera.

Our guide John met us from where we are staying,Ocean Breeze, and we walked to d talipapa (the local open market) to meet 2 Korean girls that we were to share our boat with. (both of which were incredibly beautiful and looked no older than us..when we asked how young they were they said they were 27 and on holiday from banking in Seoul!)
We got on a tricycle and headed towards another part of the island where our boat awaited us. There, we met a couple from england (the first english people we've met in the whole month and a half we've been out here) and a couple from Taiwan and got on our way. We made the 40 second journey to 'Crocodile Island' (no crocs involved) and made our first dip. It was alot deeper than previous snorkeling sites we've been on but there were still loads of fish and meant there was no risk of treading on the coral. We saw a different variety of fish than we have before..most of them consisting of the characters of finding nemo, which was really amusing. The old familiar stinging/tingling sensation returned and we realized,yet again there mustve been jelly fish in the water..everyone else complained of the same feeling.
As always in the Philippines, there were hidden charges not previously mentioned when we paid our trip money in full, and we had to pay 20 PHP each for an 'environmental fee' (even though we couldve swum to the site from the beach) the english couple hadn't come across this before and were quite disgruntled by this which was great..we havent seen anyone else challenge charges. Turns out, Samantha works as a teacher in Hong Kong and Doug lives in Plymouth. It was nice to talk to them both and compare amusing Filipino stories..turns out the whitening chemical in ALL body products including suncream is in Hong Kong too.

We paid the fee, which was nothing in comparision to the 200 php EACH to go to the next site, luckily i had brought money after us being caught out by these charges before. The next stop was 'crystal cove' which sounded..and looked like something out of Peter Pan..and what i imagine Easter Island to look like.

We got onto the powdery white sand beach and weaved through some little paths to arrive at our first cave, which was a simple if not narrow descending spiral staircase into a glittering turquoise pool. We could see the fish swimming around our ankles before we even got in and we managed to take lots of underwater photos, which im really eager to see. Swimming around i saw a 500 PHP note too..so i dove down and picked it up..and that was our dinner sorted to tonight! ha. We saw lots of parrot fish and more finding nemo fish like 'Flo'. I managed to catch a rare glimpse of the shy eel aswell which was pretty cool. We floundered around for a while and then moved onto our second cave, which we had to clamber through on our hands and knees to get to the pool. Which was well worth it. Jimis getting good at diving really deep with his snorkel. Something he has been patiently trying to teach me to do..but to no avail. Much like yesterday when we spent a whole afternoon in the sea with him trying to teach me to rollie pollie. Hes a very patient teacher.

After an hour, we got back onto the boat to have a buffet lunch back on land in Boracay. Free beer too..cant be bad! After we sat and chatted more to our new 'snorkel friends' (*said in inbetweeners voice*) we got back onto the boat to go to a couple more islands. We got half way out of the harbor and the sky opened with rain like we'd never seen. It was so heavy we couldnt even see in front of us so we reckoned itd be best to retreat back to the safety of the shore. By which time lightening and thunder had begun to loud. The guide told us it was because of the Typhoon..but i think its more likely that its wet season.
After about half hour of rain and thunder we were all pretty cold and figured instead of braving the waves and winds we'd much rather just go back and warm up so we all chipped in to get a van back.

The other morning after our massage we went to the bar next door to get breakfast, which turned out to be the best breakfast we've had to far! Proper bacon (non of this streaky crispy stuff),non sweet bread and sausage (something jimi has been craving since we got here,as it seems filipinos havent considered putting sausage with a cooked breakfast) the bar guy came to serve us and asked us what we wanted in the crispest British accent we've ever heard, which threw us completely..turns out he was born here but raised in Bournemouth and came out here to open up this cowboy themed bar in January, he invited us to a pub quiz..which tonight we attended with our Australian friend Bret.
We were up against 2 americans, 2 Australians an irish man and a guy from leeds.
We paid 250php each to enter, and got the choice of chilli or fish and chips for dinner..which made us both very happy..which mustve paid off because we came Second :D :D mind you, our prize was a MASSIVE bottle of tequilla..which will teach us to come first next time because neither of us can drink the stuff hehe.

The typhoon in the north of the country has been making big waves here (literally) and bringing tonnes of stuff onto the shore. We've been keeping a close eye on it and it doesnt look like its going to come our way..however we may have a problem when we attempt to fly to Vietnam on Thursday..as the typhoon is set to hit Vietnam pretty hard on thurs..:/ seems like its following us!we'll have to wait and see.But until then i guess we'll soak up the sun and beautiful sea as much as we can in this breath taking paradise. It doesnt seem like we've been in the Philippines for a month and a half.
We've been to 12 islands out of the thousands this country has to offer, been on longass bus journeys and faired bad weather on little pump boats from island to island.

Theres lots of things we'll take from being here. The people are always smiling.Its a fairly undiscovered and unventured gem by westerners..esp compared to where we are heading next so it has a unique awe about it, and the locals will treat you like royalty because you are a novelty. The beaches are like the ones ive dreamed of whilst working nightmare shifts at Next for the past year..and every day i still am amazed by them..it hasnt got 'normal' yet which im grateful for.
The food is incredible, if not lacking in veg, and the drink is very,very cheap! We've fallen in love with some local dishes and will def be bringing recipes home with us! I love the sense of community out here, everyone knows everyone and children and families descend to the beach at 4 to swim and play everyday. And there are children EVERYWHERE. But you never see one cry, or throw a tantrum they are just happy kids..playing in the sea like fish, throwing themselves off boats or skimming flip flops like a game of flip flop bowls on the hot tarmac. Ive seen one tantrum whilst we've been out here, and that was from an Australian kid ha. The locals are poor, and i feel embarrassed when they ask what we are doing out here and we say traveling around. The vast majority of Filipinos could never afford to go to another country let alone stop work for a year to travel the majority of a continent.

Looking forward to being more immersed into eastern culture and meeting other backpackers..
[sorry for lack of photos once more..our internet doesnt seem to want to upload them ]

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