Markets and Piers

My little retreat

If you cannot afford a tricycle you have to load your stuff on the public jeepney

A cattle truck

Do you think they have insurance?

Candy floss, penny arcades and kiss me quick hats! Oh! Wrong country! This was a busy private pier on Negros Island, built out from silos holding coconut oil and coconut rum with many boats coming and going to transport the goods around the Philippines. I would like to think it is due to the lovely overspill of coconut rum rather than the detritus discarded from all the boats that gives the life to all the weird and wonderful things that live beneath the pier, but I think I would be kidding myself. I had been told that the dive beneath the pier should not be missed, and I wasn't disappointed - schools of catfish, lion fish, nudibranchs, pipefish, frog fish and sea horses all living on the 20m pillars buried in the sea bed supporting the pier. A great dive, though a little disconcerting at the end of the dive when I saw a severed dog's paw - yuk!

Downtime from diving and I treated myself to a lovely place to stay for a few nights, where I could rest my cold filled head (I suppose I was unlikely to go for a whole year without catching a cold) - not extravagent at US$50 per night, but way more than my usual $10-$20. It was worth it as I spent two days in bed just reading and resting, though not too ill to make it to the local market and watch the bidding for water buffalo and the usual hubbub of markets.

Dive, dive, dive

I am refreshed. I have been diving. What was I thinking? Work! How could I have been so silly to think that I would like to get back to work - hee, hee! I have instead been to Apo Island, off the island of Negros and dived, dived dived. I love to be around other keen divers, it is great to share the same thrill and excitment of going to a new dive, seeing new things or talking about all the other opportunties to dive around the world. The weather has been a little rotten to us on Apo island, with a few days of rain making the visibilty a little poor, which is a shame as there are some beautiful corals here and if the sun had been out and the waters crystal clear it would have been most lovely. However, the water was a little churned up so although the corals were pretty they did not offer too much of a wow factor, but on the up side I have seen few new creatures - dragon sea moths, funny little critters that crawl along the sandy bottom with dragon like noses, ornate ghost fish, from the family of the sea horse, ribbon eels with their brightly blue and yellow skin and a few old familiars - turtles and nudibranchs and big schools of jacks and an array of anenomes. All fun and exciting and thrilling for me to be back under the water. Why work when can carry on enjoying myself like this!!! And just so you know that you are diving in a diffferent location there is also top side stuff to keep you on your toes. Apo Island has a small community living on it and the weekly community highlight is the Saturday night disco, held al fresco on the basketball court. The whole town turns out, but mainly the children and the grandparents and the foreigners dance - much to the delight of everyone else watching. A very friendly and homely experience and much enjoyed by everyone.

Rest, play and work (work?)

The reality of travel finally kicks in and as with everything there is always a downside. I am feeling a little travel weary. Continous travel, never knowing where you are going to sleep, whether there are actually any beds available, living constantly out of a rucksack and constantly feeling just a little on the grubby side can take its toll. Okay, okay, not the same stresses as high flying executive bankers, or people struggling with mortgages and debt (no sympathy - don't borrow if you cannot afford to pay it back), but still day to day stresses that can tire one out. It has been with great joy and familiarity that I have found myself back in Manila, with a decent roof over my head, to spend a few days of what seems like more normal life - clean clothes, internet, good food, cinema and perhaps just a little bit of shopping - the rest and play. I have also found myself being offered the opportunity to go and work for 3 months on a diving liveaboard. Now there is something to consider. Lots of good diving and having a base for a period of time. But, and there is always a but, that horrible word work crops into the equation. Watch this space...

Coron

Coron town
Diving bangka
Hell of a climb - even without dive gear

Clear coves

Coron Island

Coron town - built out over the water

El Nido to Coron: your choices are to go back to Puerto (long and dusty) and fly, catch a Bangka for an 8 hour day crossing, which is little more than a canoe, or to catch the over night ferry, which is also the cheapest option, so no contest. However, the ferry is actually more a cargo ship, and the cargo is fish! Um! Smelly! But safe, and it turned up and I am here to tell the tale so no problem. The journey was midnight to 8am so I didn't get to see much on the journey but the dawn breaking over the limestone cliffs was worth the cost of the journey in itself. Coron is a busy little port town, built out over the water with lots of houses on stilts, and caters to the many divers that come to dive the wrecks here. The sunken fleet consists of many Japanese boats sunk at the end of WWII. Unfortunatley the waters around here are brown and murky, so it is a little like diving in the UK, though the water is considerably warmer. I dived the Akitsushima, a 150m boat tender and the Taiei Maru at 187m in length. 2 good dives but with poor visibility it wasn't enough to make me go back for more.

The other option for a dive was Barracuda lake - based on Coron island and a scramble up and over the limestone ridge to get there, the lake has an amazing thermocline running through it (two seperate layers of different temperature water). After the scramble over the rocks the 28c water was very refreshing, however once you descend to roughly 13m there is an 'oily' residue of water where the two temperatures of water meet and below this 'oily' layer the water is 37c. You can hover in the water and put your hand over your head and feel the cold water and have your other hand by your side and feel like it is in the bath. The two layers also create optical illusions and the once you descend into the warmer layer it looks like the upper layer is air rather than water and there is a line, like a false horizon, running along your line of vision. A most enjoyable, if a little out of the ordinary dive.

El Nido

Between dives beach
Dive site
View from El Nido town

Local market

Rice - out to dry on the roads (on plastic)

My island hopping bangka on a secluded beach

Jagged limestone outcrops

Islands and beaches

BBQ'ed fresh fish for lunch

Snorkel sight

Limestone formations

El Nido, the gateway to the Bacuit Archipelago, and a long and dusty 8 hours local bus ride from Puerto - it feels even longer when there is a cockerel on board that cock-a-doodle-doos most of the way. But a journey worth while for a beautiful view of the limestone cliffs boardering the turqoise blue seas and all the other limestone monoliths and islands in the archipelago. There was a small market here with local fruit and veg and lots of fish stands selling straight from the days catch - including lots of squid and rays. The squid fishermen go out at night on small boats with huge lights and drop lines over the sides of their boats all night catching squid - the boats go quite a long way out but with all the lights shining it looks like there is a town lit up on the horizon. Not specifically known for the diving I was itching to get under the water and did a two tank dive with Sea Dog Divers - run by a crusty old Englishman from Huddersfield! It was a nice day great views out to the dive sight and a lovely secluded beach for lunch and a little sun bathing in the afternoon. The dives were rich in hard corals but lacking in fish in any quantity and not much colour. Still plenty to see as lots of things are new to me out here, lots of varieties of nudibranchs, squid, cuttlefish, rays, lobster and a shrimp with the biggest goggly eyes I have ever seen. I lovely day with pleasant rather than great diving.

Island hopping is more that El Nido is known for and for good reason, the sea scape is spectacular. The limestone towers out of the sea and there are secluded beaches, coves and lagoons galore. There is even a 'secret' beach where you have to swim through a hole int he limestone cliff, at low tide only, and it opens out into a swim pool with its only little beach - very serene. I have to say, I do not think my photos do El Nido justice, but it was lovely.

Port Barton

Port Barton beach
Sunset from the hammock
Calm seas

Boating, relaxed style

The healthy rice diet continues

Further up the coast from Sabang is a peaceful little village called Port Barton. You can travel by boat between Sabang and Port Barton but it is a 3-4 hour journey on a boat that appears a little less than stable from someone that is used to bigger, safer diving boats, so the only alternative is back to the main highway - 1 hour on the roof of a jeepney, an unknown wait for a bus going north that you hope will stop at your destination (1 hour wait in the end), a 2 hour journey north and then another 1 hour on jeepney, crossing the island east to west on a rather dusty road. The dust may get you dirty from head to toe but if it has rained the road becomes a little unpassable and the jeepney has a habit of getting stuck along the way - apparently. With all that travel there is nothing for it other than to relax in a hammock for a few days, read a few book, watch a sunset or two and continue on the healthy rice diet - there are no donuts here!

Transportation

The wheel changing incident
Puerto to Sabang - not a very substantial bus

I did not ride this one, but you get the jist of how they load them

Port Barton to Puerto

I rode on the roof on this one :-)

The view from the roof of the bus

Alternative transport

Pigs ride at the back

Subterranean River

Monitor lizards scrounging for lunch left overs
Entrance to the underground river
My new Philippino friends on the boat to the underground river

My rice diet - with fresh mango juice

It looks quaint!

Palawan is known as the Philippines last frontier, an unspoilt ecosystem of virgin forests, pristine beaches and clear waters. An island that has not been touched by mass tourism, and in areas not touched by tourism at all. It sounds idealic, of course on the downside it means that infrastructure is poor and in some places electricity is scarce - did I say that was a down side, what I really meant was that it makes everyday an adventure and keeps the riff raff out. I flew from Manila to Puerto Princessa, Palawan's capital and after a short rest stop and a maze of tricycles (the motorbike and side car variety not the cute child variety) I head out on a jeepney to Sabang to go and visit the Subterrean River. The 9am jeepney is sans wheel when I turn up and less than substantial looking, but I am ashored that the bus will be going to Sabang (and that it will get there). 10am and we are on our way - for 1 minute before we stop to load pigs and rice, and then we are on our way, until we stop to load cockerels and children, and then we are on our way, after a quick fuel stop. Fully loaded the 3 hour ride takes us up the north side of Palawan and then crosses the country east to west. The road is paved going north and then compacted gravel east to west. Once outside Puerto the landscape changes to jungle and there are straw huts abound, often next to a rice field and occasional with a tethered ox (maybe a water buffulo) in the yard. All is well until about 2 hours in and there is a large hiss - the said wheel has blown - everyone off the bus, a quick re blow up and back on the way.

Sabang is not on a particulary pretty beach, but it is surrounded by jungle clad mountains and the ferocious waves are quite refreshing after the ride in. I find a place to stay, which looks very quaint from the outside but is a little basic - no flush toilet and the whole town only runs electricity from 6pm until 10pm. The subterrean river is about a 20 minute boat ride around the coast and there are monitor lizards and monkeys to keep you entertained whislt waiting for your boat into the cave. The river runs for over 8km into the mountain but we only travel about 1.5km, being paddled by a guide and being accompanied by swiflets, clicking their way through the caves. There were plenty of bats as well but they were all asleep. The cave system is quite something and although there are not many formations the fact that the river runs through it makes it very memorable. Rather than catching a boat back to the town I do the 5km jungle walk. It starts off up about 350 steps up and through limestone karsts, which is very Indiana Jones and then runs through the jungle and down to the coast. I was dripping with sweat by the time I had finished - nice! Thankful again for the ferocious waves and a cooling down.

Donuts

A different number of nations have left their mark on the Philippines, the Spanish, the English and the Americans, to name but a few, and I wonder if one of the left overs from the American occupation is the desire for donuts, and I also wonder whether this will be the down fall of the beautiful people. There are donuts stands and shops everywhere - Dunkin Donuts, Mr Donuts, Go nuts donuts, Donuts are us - everywhere there are donuts. I have to admit that so far the Philippines diet is not as flavourful as say Thai but I hope that donuts are not going to take over. From my point of view I am quite happy that I am not such a big fan of donuts, my bread and cheese diet in New Zealand has added on a few extra pounds, always in the wrong places, and I am looking forward to them dropping off again on a nice sensible rice diet.