Blogs from Mindoro, Philippines, Asia

TOURS with Marco Vincent Resort During my stay at the Marco Vincent resort I am sure I regained the ten pounds I lost while walking the El Camino in Spain. I ate three delicious meals each day and did only 300 steps a day. Thank goodness my room was on the second floor and I had occasion to go to my room often to get my things for that was the extent of my exercise. As I said, I hoped to catch up on my blog and rest since I couldn’t dive; my jaw was throbbing. The staff wanted to cheer me up, however. The day after the boat ride, right after breakfast they took me on a tour of an aborigine village. This Mangyan village houses about a hundred families. (There are perhaps ten different ... read more

There are times in life when things happened not the way as planned. It was summer when my great friend invited me to attend her 18th birthday at their hometown. Puerto Galera. Looking at the picture taken from Puerto Galera, as I have to describe the photo, I was with a friend, and the background was a a sea, clear as crystal ball, best I've ever seen in my life. It was my first time to ride in a what they called, "roro". We took many rides, but first we rode a bus going to Batangas Pier, then there we rode a "roro", then afterwards, we rode again another roro which my friend owns for where my friend lives in another island. As our travel went on, we saw blue water, mountains, grasp fresh air, to ... read more

Puerto Galera is the north westernmost municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines It is located at the southwestern end of the Isla Verde Passage, about 130 kilometers (81 mi) south of Manila. This coastal town is well known among tourists for its numerous pocket beaches and many snorkeling and scuba diving spots. The area was designated a Man and Biosphere Reserve of UNESCO in 1973 and has some of the most diverse coral reef diving in Asia. The marine environment has benefited in recent years from the influx of tourist dollars. This has seen a huge reduction in the number of fishermen in the area, as they gain higher revenue from tourists. Puerto Galera is listed by the Club of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World, and is the only bay in the ... read more

Two simple facts to rest on...if you haven't been to a place, how can you speak about it....and...to become a good diver...you first need to dive... It's Songkran school Holidays in Thailand...Songkran being the Thai New year...everybody is on holidays, the country shut down...well, that's for Bangkok, because the resorts are packed...and the prices high...high...high... So we moved for two weeks to the Philippines...and guess what, it's also Easter Holidays...the places are packed...and the prices are...you guess...high...high...high... But I do my homework, and I booked most of our flights and nights back in November 2013. I write nights are we have decided to go solid backpacking...so proper hotels it won't be this time. Next point, Leslie may have over 50 dives logged and a pretty good diver at it....Tiffany is now just certified, a... read more

I didn't take a lot of land photos, since our focus was on diving, at least for the first two months. These nudibranch photos were some of my first underwater photos. They were taken in Sabang near Puerta Galera, our first dive destination. Some sea slugs are exquisite, and some are just ho hum. They come in every color and size. I am familiar with nudibranchs of the Pacific Northwest, but I have had fun finding the new and unusual here in S.E. Asia. For my non diver friends, there are two kinds of nudibranchs, or sea slugs, the dorids and the aeloids. Dorids have a "...branchial (gill) plume which forms a cluster on the posterior part of the body, around the anus." Our favorite biologist likes to tell visiting students that they breathe through their ... read more