Going home :(

So my time at Malapascua is over. Duane and i left the island on Sunday (making sure to get three dives in first) and caught a car back to Cebu. We had met an Aussie named Cam who had arrived in Malapascua just the day before who was also leaving Sunday so we shared our car with him. It was helpful because Duane and i didn't know where we were headed in Cebu and Cam seemed to know the area well enough to get us to a decent place to stay the night.

Now Duane and i had discussed how to spend our remaining time here (my journey home starts on Tuesday night) and we had heard that you can swim with whale sharks in a place called Oslob, three hours south of Cebu. Sounds like fun! Cam was also going to come with us but changed his plan at the last minute because a friend was going to be in Cebu that night and he wanted to meet up with her.

Before leaving for Oslob, we did some interneting to figure out a place to stay overnight in Oslob as we heard the best time to swim with the sharks is early in the morning. Turns out Oslob is a VERY tiny town and the only places that we could find online were nearby resorts charging $200+ US per night. No thanks. So we decided to just go and see what happens. Best decision ever!

Well we hopped on a bus and found our way to Oslob. When we got off, there was no obvious places to stay so we just started to wander. The town was really quite nice and the people were all very friendly, everyone would smile. I don't think they're used to having many long-noses (white folks)  around. The first place that we saw that "might" be a boarding house announced itself with the distinct smell of weed. We were also not really sure that it was a boarding house so we kept walking.

When we got down by the water a couple of guys standing in the street called us over. They asked us if we were looking for a place to stay and told us they could take us to one. They were quite friendly (as was everyone in town) and they took us to a place that we had actually just walked by without noticing. We ended up paying 600p instead of $200 so we were quite pleased.

To thank them (their names were Iti and Dennis) for being so helpful we asked them if we could buy them a beer, so we walked down the street and sat at a little shop/stand and chatted. We learned a lot about the area and how we should go about getting to Tanawan (where the whale sharks are) and about life in Oslob. Iti is the warden of a marine sanctuary and Dennis is a retired nurse. Anyways, we had some laughs and then Iti's daughter came by to tell him there were fishermen in the sanctuary so he had to go. We walked over to his house and waited on the shore while he paddled out to talk to the fishermen. I was really surprised when I saw the area near his house, beautiful park land right on the ocean with a couple of old Spanish ruins in it. Amazing!

I should note that it seemed like both Iti and Dennis were pretty drunk after the two beers we bought them. I was really surprised when Iti got in his little canoe to paddle out on the ocean in the dark.l, bit he made it back ok. When Iti got back, he took us over to the main street and recommended a place to eat. He and Dennis both had to get home then and they left.

Now I should mention I had a questionable meal when I was on Malapascua that basically made for a uncomfortable afternoon. I have been trying to be a little more careful about what I put in my mouth since then, but this meal was going to test that decision. Duane ended up ordering some whole baby squids that he basically had to gut before eating. I chose not to partake in that mess but I did have a plate full of tiny whole pickled fish that were quite nice. Duane did end up regretting the squid later, especially since they don't seem to have toilet paper anywhere in town. I pulled some leaves of a plant for him and wished him luck.

Well when we left the restaurant we walked down the main street a bit and were drawn by the sound of karaoke. Here's where things got interesting. Duane really seemed to want to sing, so we went in for a beer and looked at the songbook. He wrote down a number but i didn't see what it was, I assumed from what i saw on the page that he was going to do some Sabbath and I wasn't really sure how that would go over with the locals. Well when they punched in the number Eminem started playing... Huh? They must have gotten the wrong number... Then Duane started rapping! Huh? Do i know you? Well the bar loved it! Not only that but it was like half the town showed up at the door to watch and cheer. It was awesome! When he was done they wanted more but since Duane didn't know any other songs they just got him to do the same one again. Following Duane's performance I ended up doing a couple of country tunes that cleared out the croud that Duane had built, but it was a good time.

Today we woke up to the sound of roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing... at 3am. That's a serious downside to a town who's primary entertainment is cockfighting. The whole town is full of roosters, they're everywhere, and the half dozen that were roosted outside our rooming house were really loud.

We eventually got up at around 6am and made our way to Tanawan for the whale sharks. They are really beautiful animals. We both went out and snorkled with them, but Duane went back and did a dive with them as well. I couldn't because I'm flying tonight, but I think I got some great pics.

Anyways, I'm on a bus on my way back to Cebu now and sadly I'll be starting my long journey home tonight. This has been a fantastic trip and I'm really glad that Duane was able to join me.

Goodbye Philippines, goodbye warm weather, goodbye beaches, goodbye hammocks, goodbye palm trees, goodbye mangos, goodbye scuba, goodbye sharks, goodbye $1 beers, goodbye amazing seafood. I will miss you all.

Diving makes me tired

It's not all fun and games you know... diving is hard work. I've been getting up on a daily basis a full 2 hours earlier than I would at home! It's been rewarding though and I've done a ton of great dives, today's were no exception. We went out to dive on the wreck of the Dona Marilyn, a ferry that sunk back in 1988. The wreck is down about 30m laying on it's side and is basically covered in black coral. We went inside to do a little exploration (this was my first time inside a wreck) and I loved it. Lots of tight spaces and rusty metal to squeeze through, I'm kind of glad my tetnus booster is up to date because I cut my knee and there was a piece of rusty metal in my leg that I had to dig out later.

As we were passing through the wreck, I saw some of the others head up a shaft towards an exit and I guess Duane didn't see that eveyone else had left. I was bringing up the rear and saw some of the others leave and then Duane turned back around and headed further into the wreck. I assumed he had seen our dive master go that way and was following him. Either way I wasn't about to let him go deeper on his own so I followed. It soon became clear to me though that he wasn't following anyone and we were on our own. I let him go a little further and was about to bang my tank to get his attention to say that we should turn back when I heard someone behind us banging for attention. It was our DM trying to let us know we were going the wrong way. We turned back and left with no trouble, but it was awesome exploring the wreck.

Our second dive was back at the cave at Gato island and it was even better than the first time we dove that site. I took a lot of video as we were going through the cave and as we were nearing the exit I got some great footage of a white tip reef shark guarding the exit! It was a perfect dive!

I've come to the sad realization today that I've only got two days of diving left here before I have to start making my way back home :( It's been so relaxing here, I really don't want to leave. Unfortunately vacations have to come to an end and in about a week I'll be home again.

Well I should get to bed, I've got a 5am wake-up for the thresher shark dive.

My New Home

Yup, I think i want to live here forever. When you use the term "island paradise" this is the place to which you are referring. I got to Malapascua two days ago after my hectic trip from Manila. By the time I had even gotten to the boat to cross to the island the sun was nearly down so I arrived at the island in the dark. Even still I could tell I was going to love it already!

As I jumped down from the boat to the sandy beach I took it all in. The palms draped with hammocks, the little open air bar with great music piping out of it, the little beachfront cabanas that I could only assume would be where I was going to stay; I had been here for a matter of seconds and I already loved it!

I could hardly sleep that first night. I felt like a kid at Christmas! All night I kept waking up wondering when it would be ok for me to get up so I could go diving. When i did get up this place got even better; watching the sun coming up over the water through the palms on the quiet beach. So amazing!

My first dive came a couple hours later, and although I had some trouble balancing my ears (and the fact that the dive itself wasn't exactly a stellar spot) it was amazing. I was just so happy to be in the water again. I got two dives in that first day and then settled in to the bar to wait for Duane to arrive.

Duane showed up at about the same time of day as i had the night before. It was good to see him again... it's probably been about 4 years. We did a lot of catching up but still managed to get to bed before too late as we were going to go on the early morning shark dive at 530am the next day.

Day 2 of diving was spectacular! We did spot a couple of threshers at Monad Shoal on the early dive and while it could have been better, I was just really excited to see these fish. They are really beautiful! I wish I could post pictures but I don't have the right computing equipment with me so they'll have to wait until I get home. I'm told that on a good day you can get half a dozen or more threshers circling you on the reef. We'll be going back tomorrow so I've got my fingers crossed.

My second and third dives of the day were great too. The divemasters are quite good (some of them anyways) and that will generally lead to a good dive. I got some pretty nice pics today and i look forward to seeing how they turned out once I get them home on the computer.

Duane and I both decided to take our nitrox certification today which will allow us to dive deeper, longer with enriched oxygen gas mixtures. I figured it would be worth it since our shark dive this morning ended up being cut short due to nitrogen saturation. The nitrox will reduce the amount of  nitrogen that will get absorbed into our systems which will also reduce fatigue from repetitive diving. Tomorrow we will be doing the shark dive again with nitrox and hopefully we'll get a better show.

I was talking to Matt, the owner of the dive shop, and we got talking about Borneo and Scuba Junkie (where I took my dive training) and he mentioned that Rowen (my former instructor) would be arriving later this week to do a tech course. Awesome! And how random. Rowen was a great instructor and it will be good to see him again.

Well it's getting late and i need to be up at 5am tomorrow. Can't wait to get another shot at the sharks, I think I'll do a night dive tomorrow night too... It will be a long day. I know what you're thinking right now... Poor Nick :-)

ps. As a final note I just thought I should mention that other than my dive fins, I haven't worn footwear of any sort since I got here.

An island in a lake in an island in...

I took a trip out to Taal volcano yesterday because I didn't really feel like spending another day in Manila. Taal is the area's most active volcano (I think) but it hasn't erupted since 1911. It's located to the south of Manila in the center of a crater lake. The volcano itself is an island and it's cone is a lake as well. In the cone lake there is another island. So it's an island in a lake in an island in a lake in an island.

I took a boat out to the volcano and was asked if i wanted to walk up or if i wanted to take a horse. I'm not sure even if i had wanted to take a horse if i would have fit on one. The horses they have here are pony sized at best, their heads only come up to about my chest. I could just imagine getting on one and being able to drag my feet on the ground.

Anyways I walked up and saw the island in the crater, there was a great view from the rim of the volcano and you could see that the water in the lake was boiling at its edge. Not so good for swimming I guess.

It wasn't a hugely eventful day, but i did enjoy the trip. On the drive back into Manila as i was watching out the window there were a ton of little roadside shops, one in particular was selling lawn ornaments. Well in the rows of gnomes and birds and fountains and such there stood an 8 foot tall (at least) Incredible Hulk statue flexing and looking very angry. I really wish i had my camera ready. Can you picture that sitting in someone's yard in Kanata? Are you even allowed to have lawn ornaments in Kanata?