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Sogod Bay looking stormy
Al's getting really good with his new camera! We arrived safely at Sogod Bay Scuba Resort after a ferry and hour long ride in a minivan. Ron, one of the owners greeted us and had a chat. Sogod bay is a famous area for diving with whale sharks but we were out of season so we didn't get a chance to do this- next time gadget, next time. Our stay at Sogod Bay was a pleasant one, diving twice a day and relaxing the rest of the time or exploring the surrounding towns. Our cottage was a fairly recently built room with ensuite bathroom with hot water AND air conditioning. A real treat in our price range. We ended up staying 7 nights because we enjoyed the place so much. The best dive we did was a night dive under the pier at Padre Burgos- it was a very shallow dive at 7m (low tide) but we saw so many critters that we haven’t seen before (see the photos for just some of the weird creatures we saw) and Lise raved about the dive for a long time afterwards. On our regular diving we were also treated to seeing pygmy seahorses, frogfish, turtles and amazing schools of colourful
reef fish. Al had a run in with a triggerfish on one of the dives, he came around a corner after Pedro (the guide) and Lise and hadn’t seen it’s aggressive behavior so decided to go in for a close up photo. For those of you who haven’t seen a triggerfish before they are about 70cm long and they look like something that Picasso drew with huge googly eyes, bright colours and big teeth. Aparently it’s nesting season at the moment and this one took exception to Al’s yellow fins and they had a good fight. Al also made friends with a remora, a cleaning fish, on another dive and it buzzed around him cleaning his wetsuit and hair. Lise nearly drowned from laughing so hard.
We took a couple of trips into town (Padre Burgos and the larger Ma'asin) by tricycle and jeepney. Each island in the Philippines seems to have it’s own different style of tricycle which is quite interesting. The locals in the know all ride the jeepneys closest to the exit, which leaves the seats above the engine, behind the driver for the westerners who don’t know better. It was a magical thing that every
jeepney ride we did we seemed to get on at just the right time to get those hot, stuffy seats! We were also lucky enough to ride in Mr Magoo’s jeepney returning one evening to sogod bay. A little weather beaten old man with coke bottle glasses and a floppy hat he could barely see over the steering wheel (in fact, we doubt he could see much at all anyhow) He was a real character though and insisted that he was a tour guide and gave us a running commentary in rough English. The locals thought it was very amusing, as did we. We’re getting used to being singled out when we travel. The way you alight from a jeepney if you want to get off before the end is to rap loudly on the roof with a coin. Mr Magoo though could not hear people doing this. After a few times where people missed their stops, the rest of the trip was dictated by the locals shouting (we assume) “stop!!!” and “go!!” all together. Mr Magoo would stop, but quite often before the person had actually alighted would continue the journey which meant more cries of “stop!!!” and much
Pygmy Seahorse
This little guy was about 2cm and so well hidden. Our guide Pedro had an amazing talent for picking these critters out for us. giggling. It was an amusing trip (which is good because we had humour to keep our minds off the fact we were in the back of a prehistoric isuzu truck driven in the dark along twisty roads by a man who couldn’t see or hear particularly well)
We are now on our way back to Cebu where we’ll spend a couple of days before flying over to Puerto Princesa which is on Palawan.
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Broadsword
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Chocolate Hills
Little unsure if I'm putting the right comment on the right blog but still, here goes. Once again, the wonders of technology thrill me. The comment about you getting better with your camera are certainly true, the pictures taken both above and below water are fanriffic!! No change here, except I look like I've eaten two of the Chocolate Hills! Keep on enjoying the holiday, can we get a picture of you in your wetsuit? P.S. Don't ever.....