Philippines and Boracay

Well I've been in Borocay for all of two days now, and it's fantastic. I was long overdue and beach holiday to myself and after a birds eye view of the island from the twin-prop from Manila, the tiny man pushed boat transfer to the Banca boats, I didn't know whether to cry or scream walkign off the boat, through the water and onto shore. It's commercial, but done in a way that preserves it 'quaint-ness'. The 3km beach has a walkway along which small bars, stalls, stret vendors and tricycle trips cover. You always get asked if you want a room, or a boat trip, or a massage (a proper one, one the beach!) but no-one is pushy. Luxury resorts towards one end of the pristine 3km beach, slowly going into wannabe luxury resorts and cheap accommodation (my end! http://www.davesstrawhatinn.com/). It wouldn't suit everyone but it's clean, basic, but has everything you need, the staff are super friendly, and I think it suits the nature of this place far better than a $200 resort. I walk past local's shacks to mine and locals shops selling all the esssentials... I say that, but it seems to be cigarettes, water, and the odd beer, from a shack you can hardly stand in..then eventually I get to my place. It's not that backward though, some folk pay hundreds of dollars a night to stay in some of the resorts, and they look superb.
But most of all I did my first open water dive today. Not too much to see as we entered from the beach opposite the dive centre (http://www.calypso-asia.com/). I still saw a few corals though, and some fish, and the odd empty bottle of beer. It's a good time to come as it's not as busy as in a few week's time and I have one to one instruction with an English lass from Canbridge. I've been assured that tomorrow morning's dive site will be "the complete opposite, you won't know where to look they'll be so much to see". Bring it on. I did find some trouble with the bits I thought I would though, but I just persevered and got calm and everything was hunkydorey. Today I was totally natural in the water. It's my second day and I'm only doing stuff tomorrow morning so my last day will be two dives with no more theory. If was here for two more days I think I'd be straight into my Advanced Diver course....