Leaving the Philippines

After a week here in Small La Laguna, we are about to leave the Philippines. Have flights to Truk overnight out of Manila, so an early morning ferry to the main island and bus back to the city.

Have done some very relaxing dives here (and some not so relaxed as fighting the current) which have all been interesting. So many new species to see as well as the familiar things from Red Sea trips.

Much more hunks of metal to look at next week though.

Why the big paws?

[updated]

So, I was going to note something funny or interesting each day, oh well. My main memories of the trip so far have been:

• tiredness - from almost psychotically tired after a literally infinite, no exaggeration, amount of time packing and moving-out followed by three days of travelling and jetlag, getting never more than a couple of hours kip at a time before being awake for several more hours; to merely extremely tired after diving in this heat and so micro-sleeping at the table waiting for our food or just going to bed and falling asleep at 6pm;
• how boring BBC World is - it is just about all repeats and trails for things which might be interesting if you only knew when they would be on in my time-zone;
• and, of course the diving, which has been spectacular, with much more colour/diversity/coverage of life than the Red Sea - coral, fish and more nudibranchs than I have ever seen in total.
• [update] the variety and size of the anemones is amazing too - and the clown anenomefish, some of those mothers are just huge!

Allegedly it is the best diving in the world, oh well, off to Truk/Chuuk tomorrow and the Great Barrier Reef a couple of weeks later, so we’ll see...

Tuesday, 25 January

Nick behind barrel sponge

We have now done ten dives in the Puerto Galera area on nine different sites and are starting to feel very chilled. All really great dives with fantastic corals, varied and enormous sponges, tons of fish and loads of different nudibranchs.

Unidentified nudibranch

Started experimenting underwater with the camera today. Might just master it by the end of the four months, but at least we get shots good enough to help with identifying some of the things we've seen. Just need to find a website to find out more about corals and anemones. There's been some huge corals and anemones up to a metre across.

Another two nudibranchs

Yesterday we did three dives including a night dive - very tiring as we were fighting currents on all three. Night dive on a couple of wrecks in the bay saw a fantastic range of sealife. Also, earlier in the day, we were viciously attacked by a damsel fish - it swam up and bit both of us on the hand - Nick has a scar (maybe). Today's three were much more relaxing. The weather was a bit windy and rainy - like the UK only 20 degrees warmer - and the sea got a bit choppy, so we were limited in the sites we could get to in the boat.

Ribs at the Tamarind Restaurant

Today is the first day I've managed to stay up beyond 8pn in the evening. Not sure if the huge plate of spare ribs - the specialty of the Tamarind Bar in Sabang - helped with that!

Sunday

[Posted by ML]

Sunday morning, as the early morning sun sparkles over the bay, eating breakfast sitting by the pool.  Very relaxing.  We are staying at the Portofino Beach Resort.

Basic accommodation but we have a studio room with a kitchenette which means we can make tea and sort out quick snacks of sandwiches and fresh fruit (juicy mango and sweet bananas) between dives.

Another two dives again today - one at Sinadigan Wall and the second on the Alma Jane Wreck.  Saw this type of nudibranch on the first dive of the day - always wanted to see one of those.

After diving, we had a relaxing afternoon.  Went in the pool (though Nick only half in as it's too cold), then to Sabang for a late lunch at the Tamarind Cafe and a bit of grocery shopping.

Still feeling tired and both crashed out early evening (6pm) - now it's 2am and finished the day catching up with the Archers - usual kind of Sunday then!

First Dives of the trip

What seemed like days of traveling and getting more stressed, we final arrived at a proper destination. A tourist coach from Manila and a ferry bancal to Mindoro and the resort of Small La Laguna on Friday, but still too tired to face a dive - we could have just about got one in with the dive centre.

Got up Saturday after the first proper nights sleep, a hearty breakfast and walk into the small town for groceries and then our first two dives of the trip.

Nice gentle dives along the reef at Wreck Point and Sabang Point. Fantastic huge barrel sponges like volcanoes and at least six different types of nudibranch were some of the highlights.

Arrived in the Philippines

Eventually left Singapore on a Ryanair style flight to Manila. Taxi to the city centre and staying in the Citystate Tower Hotel.

Mostly felt like sleeping but organised where we are going tomorrow to start diving.

First stop - Singapore

Not a proper stop just 12 hours to kill before the flight to Manilla. Time to look at the Rough Guide to the Philippines to decide where to go first, have a swim in the roof top pool and get a couple of hours sleep before the overnight works started outside the transit hotel. It sounded like they were drilling a tunnel through the building!

Itinerary

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A (P)	London Heathrow
B	Singapore	19 January 2011
C (E)	Manilla	20 January 2011
D	Chuuk / Truc Lagoon	28 January 2011
E	Manilla	5 February 2011
F (H)	Sydney	16 February 2011
G	Cairns	20 February 2011
H	Sydney	28 February 2011
I	Christchurch	14 March 2011
J (L)	Auckland	Overland
K	Fiji	11 April 2011
L	Auckland	20 April 2011
M	Tahiti / French Polynesia	20 April 2011
N	Los Angeles	2 May 2011
O	San Francisco	Overland
P	London Heathrow	13 May 2011