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Published: April 8th 2010
Hayahay
A popular night out in Dumaguete. They often have bands playing derivative reggae but this guy was nice and dubby. The journey from Kuala Lumpuh, Malaysia, to Dumaguete, Philippines. Where to start? It was going so well until we landed in Manila and set foot on Filipino soil. Because they are essentially sadists, Cebu Pacific airline insists on overnight flights. We landed in Manila at 6am local time. We were tired, dirty, hungry. Our plane to Dumaguete was at 7am. After a very long wait in the check in queue we were relieved to find ourselves at the departure gate. Then our plane got delayed for three hours. In order to butter up the disgruntled passengers, Cebu Pacific gave out free food to everyone on the flight. It was fried chicken and rice from Jollybee. This meant that the plane reeked like KFC. Grrr...!
We finally arrived in Dumaguete and we were immediately looked after by a warm and smiley security guard. He asked if we were OK and we told him that yes, we were fine, and we'd booked ahead in to Harold's Mansion and could we borrow a phone to tell them we are here so we can take advantage of the handy free pick up service. I called the hostel and we stood beaming at Dumaguete, very
happy to be back. We beamed for about an hour before realising something was amiss. I rang Harold's Mansion again only to find that there had been a misunderstanding. The receptionist thought we were still in Manila. She would text the driver immediately. More waiting. Oriel rang back to be told that the driver had been there when we were supposed to have landed, three hours ago, and would not drive out again. So, an hour and half later, we got a tricycle, checked in to the Mansion, drank a beer and had a big old shower each.
Our original intention was to drop in to Dumaguete on our way to Apo Island (where we intended on finishing our Advanced Open Water certifications). We were going to meet up with Harold and go on a few dives with him in Dauin, a nearby coastal municipality, 90% of which is marine sanctuary. We gave ourselves too little amount of time to do this, however, so we sated ourselves with going out for a few drinks with the lad before getting our affairs in order and heading to Apo Island.
It was excellent to be back at Apo. We could
see that changes were afoot, however. For a start, it was busier. There were far more diving boats around and the village itself had a few rooms to let. There were also rumours that a third dive school might be opening in November, headed up by Mario T. Pascabello, our dive instructor and island chief. I would recommend checking that he's up and running before booking a stay there as he is ridiculously experienced, a good teacher and will probably be using new gear (Paul's Diving is still run by Liberty who doesn't dive and who has been reticent of late where replacing equipment is concerned).
It was good to see Mario again, along with the other dive masters. We started with a drift dive on the other side of the island at a site called Mamsa. It was pretty quick and we had problems because one of the group was a photographer; stopping in the current was tricky due to fact that there was nothing to hold on to! PADI recommends hanging on to a 'non-living part of the reef' in such situations but that section of Apo was all very much alive! It was a good dive,
Gilberto
He lived above the door to our dorm on Apo Island however. We saw a huge black frogfish almost as soon as we got in and encountered the resident school of jacks. After that, we arranged a night dive with Mario. It was absolutely stunning! We set off from the beach and took a leisurely swim around, looking in all the nooks and crannies for the strange nocturnal wildlife of the reef. Oriel spotted an octopus, there were lionfish all over the shop, juvenile cuttlefish, hermit crabs with anemones stuck to their shells and, my personal favourite, a decorator crab which covers its carapace with bits of reef and vegetation in order to blend in. Above all this, however, is the eerie tranquillity of a night dive. We found a sleeping parrotfish tucked away in a hole in the reef. Mario later told us, parrotfish sleep with a thin membrane placed over the entrance which they can sense when disturbed. The next day we scheduled in our last adventure dive which is all we needed to do in order to complete our Advanced OW. We chose Underwater Naturist and we had a fascinating dive around the reef, pointing out various types of coral and animals we'd learned about. Again, we set
Gilberto
Looking very much like the evil velociraptor watching Bob Peck being eaten ('clever girl...') in Jurassic Park out from the beach, swam to the wall which is beautiful and fish-filled and then went round in a wide arch, across the reef to the boat. It was a pretty shallow dive so we were able to stay under for an hour and twenty minutes! After that, dive-wise, we did another night dive and (finally) dove the infamous Coconut Point where the currents can be very unpredictable but the sealife is excellent. It was rubbish visibility-wise and hard work but we've done it which is the main thing.
One evening we took a wander down to where we stayed when we last visited and saw the fishermen whom we'd befriended. They were very happy we'd come back (although they were drinking tuba - coconut wine - so would probably have been happy to have seen anyone) and we sat and had one of our very stunted chats with them. They were in good spirits because of the up and coming 'piesta' (fiesta... they have problems with 'p' sounds) on 5th April. Wilbur happily advised us that they were killing lots of pigs in the run up. Shortly afterward he excused himself to kill another pig. I vaguely wondered
Gilberto
In all his finery if 'killing a pig' was some kind of euphemism. This happy reunion was not without consequence, however. We'd arranged to go on a night dive with Mario that evening although, upon turning up to the dive shop, we found it was closed. When we had said 'goodbye' to the fishermen and headed to the resort for dinner, the staff all asked where we'd been and that Mario had been looking for us and that the night dive was very much on. Oh dear. We'd potentially offended the chief of the village. The next day we were due to meet up to sign off our course paperwork. No Mario. We got the message and went to seek him out at his house. We apologised a great deal and rearranged the dive for that evening. Mario gave no sign of being offended by the mistake and said that he working on his house but was supposed to be at the dive shop and thus followed us back. Equilibrium was restored, thank goodness.
We left the island, looking forward to a couple of days in Dumaguete, taking stock and planning the last leg of our trip. We finally managed to arrange some
diving with Harold in Dauin. Harold is a firm believer that Dauin offers a greater variety and better quality to the diving than that of Apo. We did three dives around Dauin and found that there was some fantastic stuff to see. The second of the dives was a muck dive. This is where divers search on sandy or silt sea bottoms in order to find some truly beautiful and bizarre creatures, mostly of a small nature. It was one of the best dives I have ever done. It was so nice to go on a dive where the emphasis was on the smaller things. When talking to other divers, there seems to be so much emphasis placed on seeing big fish or big schools of fish and whole areas can be written off should they be lacking in that area. Anyway, I intend on uploading some of Harold's pics of the dive so I won't harp on too much more about the muck dive.
After another heroic night out with Harold we did a last bit of shopping and arranged passage to Puerto Galera which is on Mindoro, an island just off the coast of Luzon and only
Volley ball on Apo
In the run up to the fiesta on April 5th, four teams of women practiced against each other, ready to take on teams from the visiting islands. They have a lot of rivalry with Siquijor two hours from Manila.
Upon arriving at Puerto Galera, on the main beach front called Sabang, we really weren't impressed. The first place we stayed in, we chose because to was close to the jetty (we were tired). It was pretty dirty although it did have a kitchen. This part of the beach was none too salubrious. There were scores of DOMs (Dirty Old Men) with extremely young girls and it gave us the creeps a bit. After two nights there we packed our bags and got a jeepney to Puerto Galera town with a mind to carry on to White Beach where we understood that a friend of Oriel's sister, a girl called Amelia, lived with her husband. He's an instructor and she's a dive master so we thought it'd be nice to meet up (*cough* matesrates *cough* *cough*). Luckily, we checked our emails whilst in town because we found that we'd both got completely the wrong end of the stick. Firstly, Amelia lived in Tenerife and secondly, she never lived in White Beach. Back to Sabang we went. Luckily we found a nice stretch of beach and a nice, clean apartment which a kitchen.
The diving
in Puerto Galera is stunning. The underwater landscape is quite different from anywhere else we'd dived in Philippines. The geology is multi-levelled and very dynamic. The sealife is extremely abundant. I was charmed an elated to finally see the notorious stonefish (deadly, DEADLY! You'll drown ye self for the pain of a sting!) and quietly surprised myself when i spent some time pointing its eyes and mouth out to Oriel with nothing but a naked finger - they are very well camouflaged. It just went to show my change of attitude. Prior to diving I was checking online in the hope they weren't there at all, such was my fear, and there I was, pretty much poking one in the eye! There are scorpionfish all over the place and tons of nudibranchs. I think what really did it for me, however, was beautiful rock formations and arrangements to be found on most of the dives there. Example... a site called 'Hole in the Wall'. Divers approach with a steep bank on the right where a great deal of excellent stuff can be found (highlight: a scorpionfish with young!). Looking ahead, a hole in the rock. Through the hole, though its
small, you can sea big schools of big fish. There were a couple of girt sweet lips hanging around as well. Once you've swum through the hole, you're hit with a warm current and schools of fish darting all around you. We also tallied another couple of sharks in a dive site called 'Shark Cave'. You drop to the bottom, around 25m, and peer under a low overhang of rock. Low and behold: a couple of white tipped reef sharks chilling out under there. It really is show-stopping stuff compared to the quieter beauty of our other dives in Philippines.
We did about seven dives around Puerto Galera (tallying a total of 30!). Whilst the muck diving wasn't a patch on Dauin, the incredible topography and range of different dives makes it an excellent destination, especially given that it is only a couple of hours from Manila.
We dived right up to the last minute, finishing off with the notorious canyons dive which has a reputation due to the strong currents and deeper depth (slow current and low visibility for our dive but well worth doing anyway). We had a very hairy safety stop (stop at five metres
One last sunset sequence...
We sat amongst the bangkas, chatting to the fishermen (who were very happy we came back), drinking ginebra whilst they knocked back tuba. Very nice for a few minutes to ensure that you don't get decompression sickness) because there was a down current. At one point I frantically began to signal Oriel as I thought she was surfacing too early. Turned out I was being dragged down, giving the impression that everyone was going up! Anyway, after that final dive we set off for Manila and stayed the night in Friendlys Guest House which is scuzzy but friendly.
Our last day was typically frantic. We ran around like mad eejits buying last bits, unlocking our debit cards, printing our flight e-tickets. Checking in was a massive nightmare as we had changed our bookings and thus had to pay excess. In their infinite wisdom, however, Emirates decided that they only needed one check in counter with a cashier so it took us ages. Then the lady behind the counter told us that they only accepted credit cards and not debit cards which is obviously complete BS. So we had to dash to an ATM only to find it was one of the many that don't work with UK cards. More dashing ensued till we found one that worked. Then we had to queue for ages
for passport control. At this time our flight was leaving in 20 minutes. We had been given seats apart as well which was galling. When we finally managed to get through and head for the plane, Oriel was stopped as a bottle of Ginebra had broken in her luggage and they wanted her to clean it up. It all got too much and Oriel was in tears, bless her. Still, this meant the flight attendant swapped seats around so we could sit together. Oriel is staying in Dubai for the summer where as I'll be in the UK so, given this was our last time to be together, it was a relief to sit together on the plane.
And now I'm back. At home. With no money. It feels like our trip is so far away already. If I had to pick highlights, the diving would be the most obvious choice. Other than that, I really liked Hanoi (eventually!). The tea plantations in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia were breathtaking. The relative opulence of Dubai was a good start to the holiday given that we saw nothing of the sort for the remainder. Despite there being a lack of emphasis on
pub/bar culture (most places to sit down are restaurants which isn't always what you want), I loved Hong Kong and would probably consider living there for six months. It's got good access to the rest of SE Asia and you can get out of the city to the beautiful countryside easily enough. Koh Tao, Thailand: our first sharks! So good to see them finally... majestic and shy and powerful. And then there's the Philippines which was my favourite place to visit. Low tourism levels, friendly and humorous locals, beautiful countryside and excellent diving. We've made good friends in Philippines - found out we have family there too! - if only the food was better for vegans! Apo Island and the time we spent in Dumaguete mark my ultimate favourite periods whilst being away.
Regrets? The two biggest are a) that we bungled our trip to Thailand and completely didn't see the best of the country and b) that we didn't have time to see much of Vietnam because we came off the motorbike in Sa Pa. Other than that, there are certainly things I'd do differently but this was our first big trip and an experiment in itself.
Next big trip will probably be South America for more diving in stupidly clear water (200m visibility!!!!). Next holiday abroad will most likely be New York and my next spell away will be to my beloved Wales which, in my opinion, is still the most beautiful place on Earth.
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Eric
non-member comment
I really enjoyed your Phillippines post. I have always wanted to go there. My blog is looking for travel photos, travel stories, hostel reviews, and food reviews. If you have any to share email us at dirtyhippiesblog@gmail.com, or check us at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric