Bohol…
Yeah, I know… no entries for a couple of days. And no pics for now. Maybe tomorrow or on friday if I can connect with my laptop here at the business center. You know, the business center is open only from 8 to 5 which is not the time I am usually free to surf the net. In Dumaguete I did that in the evenings after the days work… 😉
But to let you know… I have arrived save and sound in Tagbilaran on Bohol Island. My transport was not there but on the Philippines they just take care of you and before I knew it I was in a car with a driver and he told me the ressort would pay for it (which they actually did). 🙂 Then I am not sure they expected me and when I saw the big welcome sign ‚Welcome Avon power-sellers“ my day was done… 🙁 And in fact the avon girls drove me crazy. They had the rooms near to mine and in the evenings it was like they had tupper parties (probably buying Avon-stuff though). Fortunately they stayed only three days and their last night I didn’t sleep much since it was like they had some sort of disco close to my room (although there is no disco in the ressort) and whenever I was dosing off they up-ed the loudness and I was sitting upright in my bed again…
Have been diving the past 2 days again and I have seen really amazing things. The first morning we went to a dive site where there are pygmy sea horses. They are 8 mm long and you can barely see them with your eyes. I have a couple of good shoots of them though. Yesterday we went to Balicasaq Island and again I had problems with my underwater housing since for the second time it leaked. I most probably hadn’t been careful enough with it. So unfortunately I do not have a picture of the hammerhead shark we saw on the first dive. And have no pics of the second dive since I took only the housing and left the camera on the boat. The housing was okay though and didn’t leak again. Tomorrow I’ll be going back to Balicasaq and of course I hope that the hammerhead comes back to pose for me… 😀
The ressort does have a wonderful nice white beach. Will go there as soon as I have finished here. Since it is rather long it never seems crowded. Although there are several groups from Taiwan ( geeez, these people are LOUD…). All in all it is not really the place I would normally choose for a vacation but it is a good value for the money I paid. Haven’t got to know anybody here yet though. When diving I am always alone with the guide which is not a too bad thing either since I can take my pics as long as I want. And I am getting better at spotting the nudibranches myself. Yeah, I AM proud of that… 🙂
Just came back from an island tour on Bohol. Will have to check the pics when I am back to my room. The Philippines are a fascinating country though!
Since it just started raining like a waterfall I can add a few things: looks like I am not used to being one of the few europeans in a ressort. Of the remaining westerners a lot are men with philippine women. Close to the restaurant where I usually have dinner there is a space which is used for group functions. So in the past day a group was doing karaoke there while a band of guitar players was singing in my restaurant. So I had karaoke in my right ear and the band in the left ear. That was not really funny… My room is rather big and with the air condition I am comfortable at night. But the kind of this ressort is like an AI (just without being AI). Diving here is different than on Negros. Different coral, different star fish but lots of fish I know and some I have never seen before (like the hammerhead shark – my first one *woohhooo*). Looking forward to diving again tomorrow. On friday I hope to be going dolphin watching but not sure they will do the tour since there was none planned when I asked yesterday.
And the only thing I DIDN’t bring here was an umbrella – bad mistake!!!! 🙂