Philippines – Padre Burgos to Donsol

Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte, Philippines Day 80-82 (April 20-22)

We spend three days diving around Sogo Bay; two days with Sogo Bay Scuba Resort, and one day for a whale shark trip with Peter’s Dive Resort, next door. Unfortunately, we don’t have any luck on the whale shark trip. It seems we just missed the whale shark season in Southern Leyte. We are kind of whale shark crazy now, because all the divers have been talking about it since Thailand. They say seeing a Whale Shark is like a dream come true.

We find out that Sogo Bay Scuba Resort flipped their big Bangka boat on Good Friday, a week back. They were packed with Chinese tourists, and after mooring in front of the resort, everyone went to one side to get out. Once the boat started going over, the staff couldn’t stop it. Fortunately, no one was hurt, as there was enough time to jump in the water and swim away. It must have looked funny going over with the staff hanging on the opposite outrigger trying to stop the boat from flipping. The owner said they reported the accident to the Coast Guard, who didn’t know there were three dive operators in Southern Leyte.

Morning sun shower

can I go dive with you guys? Sure, hop on the Bangka!

hmm…I wonder what kind of dog food they have down there

See you underwater

lots of fish to see

the longest Sea Cucumber I’ve ever seen

camouflage Goby

mama puffer fish – she is due anytime now!

Tose Commenssal Shrimps

Scorpion fish hiding in a coral leaf

Chasing the snake for a priceless shoot

Sea Star

White-eye Eel

Nudibranch

Nudibranch egg

look, underwater Micky Mouse, it’s like a Disney down here

red Anemone

White scorpion fish

Schooling fish

Clown fish

Pipefish

pink scorpion fish hiding underneath the coral

he’s got his jail outfit on again

Cigar Wrasse

Orange brain coral

Clown fish

Nudibranch

Video – clown fish

Video – pink skunk anemone fish

Video – Pregnant puffer fish

Peace out

Our divemaster Pedro – Good times!

Click Below to see more diving pictures:

• Day 1 – Zack’s Cove and Adrian’s Cove
• Day 2 – Napantao S. & Lar’s Hole, Panaon
• Day 3 – Whale Shark dive

While Kevin naps in the afternoon, I took my camera out to play with local kids next to our resort.

Hello there!

What are you guys looking for?

Sand crab?

What is it?

a pregnant crab

fun!

fog bank coming in the late afternoon

CLICK HERE to see more Padre Burgos picture.

Padre Burgos to Donsol, Philippines Day 83-5 (April 23-25)

Philippine Map – We traveled from Padre Burgos to Donsol. It took 2.5 days

Since we missed the whale sharks in Southern Leyte, we take the two and a half day trip to Donsol, in Southern Luzon. Donsol is famous for consistent whale shark viewing. The visibility is poor from all the plankton in the water, but the whale sharks consistently hang around for feeding from January to May. We travel with Eric, who was on our whale shark trip boat in Leyte. Eric is from the south of France, but currently teaches Spanish in Hong Kong.

Eric – our travel buddy for the next 3 days. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French. Once a while, he will speak to me in Chinese, which caught me off guard.

It’s a long adventurous journey; tricycle > public bus > air con van > medium distance bus > tri-cycle > Fortune Hotel in Catbaloganon Sumar > tricycle > 11 hour long distance air con bus with ferry to Southern Luzon > Jeepnie > Legaspy Tourist Hotel > tricycle > air con van > tricycle, and finally arrive at the Casa Bianca resort in Donsol.

In two days of travel, we don’t see any foreigners. We now realize that before the Philippines, our entire trip through Southeast Asia has been on the gringo trail.

Anyways, we have a good experience because the Filipino people are helpful, friendly, polite, and pleasant. You see families of five or six traveling together, and nobody complains. The kids seem really well behaved. They love to look, smile, giggle, and have their picture taken. The kids don’t have a lot of material things, but they are super happy to have so many young friends to play with.

The food is the major downer. We buy something to take along after breakfast, because there is nothing to eat on the road. The food in the Philippines seems universally terrible. Catbaloganon (where we stayed the first night) is the provincial capital of western Sumar, but there are only a few hotels, and almost nowhere to eat.

None of the hotels in town include a toilet seat, so I ask the nice fellow at the Fortune Hotel for instructions; do you sit, squat, or hover? I suggest that he should give us a demonstration. He laughed and smiled after my request. In the Philippines, it’s kind of funny, because instead of water closet, bathroom, or toilet, they call it the comfort room. I didn’t see too many that were comfortable, but I did feel more comfortable after using them.

We stayed in Legaspy the second night. Legaspy is the provincial capital of Southern Luzon, and we have access to ATM, internet café, pharmacy, and cell phone refill for the first time in a week. We are glad to make it because the long distance air con bus stalled several times, pulling over to restart the engine. Also, in the evening the driver had a hell of a time getting it into second gear. I don’t know how they are going to make the remaining 10.5 hours to Manila.

The big bus drops us in Daraga around 8PM, and we take Jeepnie into Legaspy. With the mood lighting and groovy tunes blasting, you almost think they would be serving cocktails on the Jeepnie.

We are sitting in the back near the driver, so we pass him the money and pass back the change as people load and unload over the next 20 minutes. We have a productive and quick stop in Legaspy; booking air tickets back to Manila, and searching chat rooms for hotels in Donsol, since most of the Lonely Planet numbers don’t work. All the hotels use mobile phones, and I book our second night in Donsol by text message. The hotel clerk doesn’t want to answer the phone and pay cell phone minutes; since texting is much cheaper.

Calling ahead, we are lucky to find an available room at Casa Bianca Beach Resort, as everywhere near the Visitor’s Center is full. The place is strip down basic, and the food is terrible; although the flaming chicken looks pretty cool. The second night we stay at Villa Joli, which has better rooms and an interesting village behind the hotel.

Here some pics from the road:

crossing street

Motorbike fits three size small

house next to the road

Catbaloganon city, where we stayed the first night

Kids dive for coins if you throw them from the ferry

On the air-con bus, this little cute girl keeps looking back at Kevin. It’s love at first sight! can you blame her?

This 11 year old boy at the bus stop shop followed us around smiling. He says he is top of his class and plans to be a doctor. We told him to practice his handwriting.

Kids playing next to the road

After 2.5 days of travel, we’ve finally arrived the resort in Donsol.

The resort made us their famous flaming chicken. Look cool but the taste is so-so.

Philippines – Alona Beach

Alona Beach, Panglao Island, Philippines Day 72-76 (April 12-16)

Alone Beach, Bohol, Philippines Map

We spend a day to visit all the resorts and dive shops in town, and decide to stay at Cherrys House Too and dive with Sun Divers, which is just up the street. Sun Divers is run by a friendly fellow from Austria, and they have the best boats; small speed boat for local dives, and larger Bangka for day trips. You know you’re on the right boat when everyone is speaking German. We spend four days diving; each day with a different guide; German, Filipino, Swiss, and English divemasters.

Sun Divers’ Bangka

Transport to Bangka

The first day is at Puntod on the south of Panglao Island. We drop in over the flat, and then descend besides a deep vertical wall which is inclined in several spots. The visibility is really clear. Kevin feels some disorientation and a touch of vertigo, with the wall on our left, and deep blue everywhere else. The wall is elaborately decorated with colorful coral and fans, and the current pushes us along without swimming.

KR, wall on the left shoulder

On the second day, the Bangka cruises to Snake Island; a sunken sloped island with lots of sea snakes. We see a handful of snakes less than 40 mins. Vana spots snakes making out and shots a great video! The second dive site is at Watch Tower on Pamilacan Island, and then the Bangka parks on the beach for a BBQ party with another snorkeling Bangka. The food is amazing; German and meaty.

Swimming up for air every twenty minutes

Snake head

Filipino divemaster holding poisonous snake

Two snakes making out

Don’t be armed

Snake making out video

Every time the Bangka beaches it, the local children swim out and turn the Bangka into a water playground. They love to climb up and then jump off the boat.

On the third day, the Bangka cruises to Balicasay Island. The visibility here is amazingly clear and the water is glassy. We see lots of things; school of Barracuda, turtle, colorful sea slugs, shrimps, crab, lionfish, and pipe fish.

Clear day with amazing visibility

Schooling Barracuda

Nudibranch (sea slug)

Paliid Chelidonura nudibranch

Common Lionfish

Does our bangka look like a lion fish?

Another nudibranch

crab hiding behind soft coral

Nudibranch video

Lionfish video

On this dive there is a minor incident. The drop off is gently sloped with really good visibility. While Vana is chasing the fish with her camera down to 30m, Kevin looks back at the guide, who is making lots of nasty looking signs. It looks like she’ll be down to 40m in another 20 seconds. Kevin chases her down, and brings her back to our planned dive depth of 25m. Back on the boat, everyone gives Vana a friendly but firm lecture about staying with your buddy, and being careful with depth.

It’s an easy mistake to make on a gentle slope with good visibility. At depth the percentage change in pressure much less than near the surface, so you don’t feel depth change as much. For our remaining dives, the Swiss divemaster lends Vana a dive computer, which gives her a new distraction; aside from the camera, blowing bubbles, buoyancy, and looking at the fish. Vana just loves distractions!

Vana looking embarrassed while everyone’s giving her a hard time

We take the smaller speedboat for two local dives on the fourth day; Arco Reef and BBC. The visibility is not as clear, but there is a lot to see on these two wall dives. We see a heavily camouflaged scorpion fish, and a really cool flounder in the sand. Also, there is a Jeepnie wreck; which is a bit humorous, because the Jeepnie is the funky Filipino truck used by all the locals. How did that thing get down here?

find the scorpion fish

KR pointing out the Jeepnie wreck

What are you guys looking at?

oh…it’s a Flounder

We had a really awesome time. Thanks to everyone in the dive shop at Sun Divers.

Also, thanks to the German chef at the Bistro on the main intersection in Alona Beach. He serves some of the best food I’ve had anywhere on the Planet, which is worlds away from everything else we’ve eaten in the Philippines. Vana describes Filipino food as something you make at home for the first time that turns out so bad; you toss it and then order pizza.

We’ve been eating at the German restaurant everyday

More pictures from Alona beach and diving below:

Alona Beach

Alona Beach

Local fisherman

Let’s go diving!

One small step for man, one giant step for diving

Vana with the scissor kick

Hello~ little guy

White sea worms just love sponge

making a feeding noise to attract fish

Horn Sea Star

Leaf scorpion fish

Sea Pen

Arco Reef, some expert diver descend through this whole

Mimic filefish

Elephant-Ear Coral

Horn Sea Star

Small fish hanging around table corals

Bubble coral (I think the brown dots are Nudibranch eggs)

Red soft coral

Feather Star

Dive Buddies
Hungry from all this diving? We are invited to a Birthday Party on Pamilacan Island

Armed and dangerous

Water fight!

Filipino pinata
Fighting for the last toy

German sausage – Yummm...

Sunset at Alona Beach

Sunset at Alona Beach

Sunset at Alona Beach

See you next post!

Click Here to see Puntod diving pictures
Click Here to see Snake Island diving pictures
Click Here to see Pamilacan Island diving pictures
Click Here to see BBQ party pictures
Click Here to see Alona Beach pictures

China – Hong Kong

Hong Kong, China Day 66 (April 6)

South East Asia Map

We spend the entire day running between the internet café and the travel agent handling our China Visas. We are shocked to find that China visas cost $250, which is a lot more than the $110 they charge from the consulates in the US. We go back and forth about ditching China, and going back to Thailand. We decide to go because Tibet just opened to foreigners, and Vana’s Uncle sourced a very reasonable tour.

Later, we find that Vana is denied by the PRC Visa office. They want to confiscate her old China passport, which we no longer have. This is the last straw, so we buy one way tickets to Manila, in the Philippines, for April 8th.

Hong Kong, China Day 67 (April 7)

We spend today sightseeing in Hong Kong. We take the subway to Hong Kong central, and then take the peak tram for city views. Afterwards, we ride the mid-level elevators around SoHo, before taking the Star Ferry back to Kowloon. The loop involves significant walking, and tires us out good. Again, we are amazed by riding subway, tram, elevators, and ferry in just a few hours.

It’s impossible to get lost in HK. Street signs are everywhere in both English and Chinese

We said HELLO to Jackie Chen

then quickly jumped on the tram to the hill top

City view

Star Ferry back to Kowloon

SOHO

famous market where Jackie Chen did a food tour on Food channel

our hotel district

Cantonese are good at making roasted tasty duck, chicken, goose, pig, you name it. Even KR loves it!

Can’t leave HK with an authentic Dim Sum! Yes, Dim Sum is a famous Cantonese cuisine, not Chinese. A lot of my western friends are confused about Cantonese and Chinese cuisine. I always say, if there is seafood involved, then it’s most likely Cantonese. If there is Kong Bao chicken or Orange chicken on the menu, then it’s an American restaurant.

CLICK HERE to see more Hong Kong pictures.

Hong Kong to Philippines, China Day 68 (April 8)

It turns out that buying one way tickets to Philippines was a bad idea. Their immigration requires proof of your flight out, so we miss our flight while figuring out what to do. Fortunately, the Hong Kong airport has free WIFI internet, and we book flights to Japan.

It takes a lot of time, because finding cost effective flights is complicated without Orbitz. The proof is a lame exercise, because immigration doesn’t check when we land anyways.

We arrive without trouble, pick a hotel from the airport booking service, and stay at Hostel 1632 in the downtown area of Malate in Manila. It’s a business style hotel with function, but no personality. I can touch opposite walls with my hands in the narrow room.

Thailand – 3 Day Live-aboard Simulan Islands

Live-aboard Similan Islands, Thailand Day 57, 58, 59 (March 27, 28, 29)

Its an early morning transport to the harbor, and we enjoy breakfast onboard, heading towards the Similan Islands National Park. Similan means nine, as there are nine islands. The boat is small but comfortable. All 16 guests chill out in the upstairs eating area, small sun deck, or the shared sleeping cabin. There isn’t much else on the boat besides two shared bathrooms, a small kitchen, rear deck, and captain’s cockpit.

the islands are few hours boat ride from Khao Lak

our boat

shared sleeping cabin

Over the next several days, we work our way from Island 9 to Island 4 (1-3 are closed for turtle nesting), stopping in sheltered bays for the evening. Over these days we see; tons of fish, jellyfish, flying fish, glowing-in-the-dark fish, dolphin, turtle, octopus, sea snake, moral eel, and ray shark.

We see more variety of fish on this trip than any other diving we’ve experienced. I was really happy to see clown fish, sea snake, and lion fish. Octopus is always fun to watch, and I shot a video with an octopus rapidly changing colors.

In most places, the coral is not very impressive, but there are a few places with very colorful soft and hard corals. There are several places with heavily damaged reef. No good, because reefs produce the majority of the earth’s oxygen.

The live-aboard is really sweet because there is tons of time in the water, and you can see different fish in the early mornings and late evenings. The food was really good.

turtle 1

octopus changing color

sea snake swimming

dolphin 1

turtle surfacing

dolphin 2

groupers

flying fish

Big Jellyfish. This kind doesn’t sting.

Spotted Shovelnose Ray – largest guitarfish. Usually swim in pairs at the bottom. Male smaller than female. The two small fish next to them are Cobia. They protect the Ray. I think the Rays are making babies right now…shhhh…

I swam into a wall of jellyfish. Ouch!

the water is clear, you can see the turtle swim around the boat. we quickly jump into the water

we saw 4 different turtles at 3 locations. This one is a Hawksbill turtle. We also saw Green turtle. I love turtle. Besides they are cute and graceful. they love to eat jellyfish!

Squid

Orangespine Unicornfish

Yellow Trumpet fish

Black Lion Fish – they come out in the evening

Giant Moray

Titan Triggerfish

Emeror Angelfish

Feather Star or Crinoid

Oriental Sweetlips

Black Unicorn

Longnose File fish

sunset at the bay

watching sunset

red amemone fish

Yellow-lipped sea krait – They are venomous but are not aggressive to divers

Storm in the distance

Water tornado, one took out a brand new dive boat last year

Milk Fish

eating on the surface

blackspotted puffer fish

silver white unicorn fish

we spotted few octopus at different locations

octopus changing color

False Clown Fish – they defend their host anemone against anything & anyone regardless of size with their gaping ‘jaws’. The mother always comes out first and the biggest. When the female dies, the largest male changes sex.
They try to look mean, but they are so cute!

Schooling butterfly fish

Graeffe’s Sea Cucumber

on our way back, a group of wild dolphin were showing off how fast they can swimming next to our boat.

They were playing with us for about half an hour. We are so luck!

Swimming next to our boat, show off!

We got Swedish, Danish, American, any German on this boat. One thing we definitely have in common besides snorkeling – UNO game!

Good times!

The boat returns in the evening, and we stay another night in Poseidon Bungalows. It was a great trip. Next time we hope to be diving and see manta rays and whale sharks.

CLICK HERE to see more underwater pictures and videos.

Thailand – Ko Lanta Island

We spend the next two weeks island hopping in the south of Thailand. It’s paradise!

Ko Lanta Island, Thailand Day 51 (March 21)

We spend the day to relax, catch up on sleep, and take a cool swim in the ocean in the pouring rain. We have the resort mostly to ourselves, not including the resort cats. We also enjoyed the great sunset every evening while having dinner on the beach.

reading Thailand Island and Beaches while on the Thailand beach watching sunset

sunset

getting dark

CLICK HERE to see more sunset pictures

Ko Lanta Island, Thailand Day 52 (March 22)

speed boat pick out in front of our hotel

Today, we take a speed boat trip to Koh Rok Island park, about 40 minutes south of Ko Lanta. The islands are not inhabited, except for camping on one of the islands. We snorkel twice, lunch on the island, and then one more snorkel before returning. The coral is in good shape. We see lots of clown fish in the sea anemones, and some different fish. At lunch we see a barong, which is a giant lizard.

Vana

KR free dive

Magnificent Anemone

Butterfly fish

Moorish Idol

Hard Coral & Soft Coral

Sea Urchin

Cleaning fish

Parrot fish

Sand Lizard fish – it’s a couple! awww…

Sea Cucumber splitting

Pink Skunk Anemone fish

Giant Clam

Black Spike sea cucumber

Pink Mushroom coral

Yellow Spotted Puffer fish

Yellow Trumpetfish

Gold-Saddle Rabbitfish

False Clown Anemone fish

Giant puffer fish

Christmas tree worm

barong

water is clear and warm

perfect weather

We love it!