Blogs from Leyte, Philippines, Asia

This morning I am on the other side of Sogod Bay waiting excitedly for an actual 'real' coffee. CCC have come on holiday- ie we crossed the bay to try out a night dive site. Unfortunately I have managed to pick up a cold from somewhere despite the 34c heat, so have been out of the water for a few days, missing not only the first day of surveying but also an incredible sounding recreational dive on the south wall and the pier night dive that everyone went on last night. Luckily we had a night dive earlier in the week so I got to have this amazing new experience- diving in the dark is totally different, a strangely peaceful experience in which I got to see the parrotfish tucked away into their nighttime cocoons (they ... read more

Another week has flown by! Again, it has been busy and hard work, but really fun and my brain is currently aching from how much we have learnt (and from all the Tanduay last night). On Thursday, we did two recreational dives to celebrate being fully qualified and welcomed the new volunteers, Charlotte (who was returning from last year), and father and son Peter and Charlie, Rachel the new scuba instructor, and Javier the new science officer. On Friday, it was back to work again and we began SDP, the science development programme. We began by learning about substrates (sand, corals, sponges etc) which is far more complicated that I had ever realised, but after a nailbiting computer test and two underwater validation tests, I finally passed. It was the same with Invertebrates and Impacts (the ... read more

So I finally made it here! Twenty-one months after my original start date, I arrived at the Coral Cay Conservation base in Napantao with scuba instructor Pip who had picked me up at the tiny Tacloban airport at the other end of the beautiful, lush island of Leyte. The base location is amazing- from my bedroom window (bedroom name= the Saucy Sweetlips) we are just a few metres from the sea and the most amazing coral I have ever seen. The place puts the base in 'basic'- there is no running water and so to flush the toilet we have to stagger in with heavy buckets filled from the sea, but there is a nice outdoor shower and a diligent roster of chores and Saturday morning deep clean keeps the place nice and tidy. The power ... read more

A wonderful day to you all. This is my first post about my trip that I'm setting off for on Feb 3rd 2014. I'm heading to the Philippines to work with Coral Cay Conservation on their reef project and around in the local community. More to follow.... read more

A very old beach resort, popular for families who like to spend their weekends together locally. I remember coming here all the time when I was young. The resort itself is clean, the water is not your usual white sand & crystal clear blue water. The sand itself if black due to the island's volcanic origins.... read more