Hello Bohol!
Well Manila may be a massive big city, but hey, my flight left at 8am, and by 11am I was around 360km away, finished a 40 minute transfer by trike to Alona Beach in Pangalo Island in Bohol, and was suited up on the dive boat ready to go!
Yes it was my final 3rd holiday before heading back to Manila to return to the snowy lands of Scotland in 4 days time. It seems a million miles away (ok, an 18 hour flight, a few long stops etc to take it all in :-( )
I've only a mere three days in Bohol so I signed up for an Adventure Diving course and Paid Another Dollar In to PADI. I couldn't really justify an extra day to complete the Advanced so today I did the Peak Bouyancy, Underwater Photography and Night Diving dives. To be honest I never saw any more than Boracay underwater as we 'just' went on the boat to the reef off the beach. The bouyancy was tricky, the photography I never learned too much (apart from it was luck the camera casing sealed ok last week!) but the Night Dive was definitely different, a real adventure from stepping on the boat, even though it was only 6pm. My torch lit up the only things I could see (ok, this is the Philippines, we could still see some stuff without torches. My navigation was probably terrible though - think Scotland in a dark white out on the hills, but with pretty things swimming past you.
Alona Beach is definitely a world apart from Boracay as its so uncommercial in comparison, a lot smaller, and far fewer people - probably more dive shops than people at this time of year. I was overwhelmed with taxi guys bartering for my business at the airport so I just confidently strided past them to see who was the most eager. Two pounds brought me here in 40 minutes in a slow, but 'scenic' trike ride. My 8 pounds accommodation was sorted, and I've just finished my 3.50 GBP meal - including two bottles of beer. Life is good.
Tomorrow should see me heading inland though to see the world's smallest 'monkeys' (they're not monkeys despite what you read) at the Tarsier centre in Bohol, then hopefully a trip up the Loboc River to arrive at my accommodation's pier at Nuts Huts. That's if they still have my reservation as they've never replied, and everyone around here talks about it.
Hopefully there will be no Huntsman Spiders climbing up my walls though. I've got my anti-mosquito plug in the wall device, but erm, I left my adaptor back in Manila in my quest to travel light.
There's definitely something refreshing about heading off for three days with only a carry on bag on your flight. That means, camera 1, camera 2, borrowed camera 3 with borrowed underwater housing (Thanks James!), iAudio MP3 player for tunes and camera backup, sun cream, anti mosquito cream, my journal book, my Lonely Planet, my Mountain Disasters book, and maybe a pair of shorts and a tshirt.
Life is good.
Yes it was my final 3rd holiday before heading back to Manila to return to the snowy lands of Scotland in 4 days time. It seems a million miles away (ok, an 18 hour flight, a few long stops etc to take it all in :-( )
I've only a mere three days in Bohol so I signed up for an Adventure Diving course and Paid Another Dollar In to PADI. I couldn't really justify an extra day to complete the Advanced so today I did the Peak Bouyancy, Underwater Photography and Night Diving dives. To be honest I never saw any more than Boracay underwater as we 'just' went on the boat to the reef off the beach. The bouyancy was tricky, the photography I never learned too much (apart from it was luck the camera casing sealed ok last week!) but the Night Dive was definitely different, a real adventure from stepping on the boat, even though it was only 6pm. My torch lit up the only things I could see (ok, this is the Philippines, we could still see some stuff without torches. My navigation was probably terrible though - think Scotland in a dark white out on the hills, but with pretty things swimming past you.
Alona Beach is definitely a world apart from Boracay as its so uncommercial in comparison, a lot smaller, and far fewer people - probably more dive shops than people at this time of year. I was overwhelmed with taxi guys bartering for my business at the airport so I just confidently strided past them to see who was the most eager. Two pounds brought me here in 40 minutes in a slow, but 'scenic' trike ride. My 8 pounds accommodation was sorted, and I've just finished my 3.50 GBP meal - including two bottles of beer. Life is good.
Tomorrow should see me heading inland though to see the world's smallest 'monkeys' (they're not monkeys despite what you read) at the Tarsier centre in Bohol, then hopefully a trip up the Loboc River to arrive at my accommodation's pier at Nuts Huts. That's if they still have my reservation as they've never replied, and everyone around here talks about it.
Hopefully there will be no Huntsman Spiders climbing up my walls though. I've got my anti-mosquito plug in the wall device, but erm, I left my adaptor back in Manila in my quest to travel light.
There's definitely something refreshing about heading off for three days with only a carry on bag on your flight. That means, camera 1, camera 2, borrowed camera 3 with borrowed underwater housing (Thanks James!), iAudio MP3 player for tunes and camera backup, sun cream, anti mosquito cream, my journal book, my Lonely Planet, my Mountain Disasters book, and maybe a pair of shorts and a tshirt.
Life is good.
posted by Darren at 9:25 PM
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