( Overview
/ 2023 more travel adventures
Tuesday 14th Feb
Woke to the sound of rain and Happy Valentine’s Day from all the staff at breakfast. They really seem to celebrate it here, there are hearts and flowers up everywhere, as there were in Manila. Breakfast is interesting, we’re walking around the buffet, in a sleepy and bewildered state and another guest (who is a Filipino / American guy called Mel or 24, that’s his nickname apparently!?) takes pity on us and kindly explains all the various local delicacies on offer. I end up asking the staff to make me an omelet, as you simply cannot eat healthily here it seems in the Philippines. During breakfast we make plans, we’ve shelved the plan of quad biking to the base of the volcano because it’s chucking it down and we don’t trust the operator after all the to’ing and fro’ing (long story). We’ve decided to head to Donsol on the coast to chill out there for a few days.
We manage to catch a grab car to the bus terminal and make the 11am bus (it costs £1.80 each plus we pay for the bags to have their own seat) and we’re off. It takes about an hour and three quarters to get to Donsol, views of jungle, rice fields and water buffalo along the way. We see no other tourists and I really seem to stand out with my silver hair and blue eye, so I seem to be quite a novelty for the locals. When we get dropped there are tuk tuk’s waiting and they know instantly where we’re staying, we don’t even say anything and then we’re here. Staying at Vitton Beach Resort, a fairly run down sixities looking hotel but it’s clean and tidy plus it’s on the beach and the staff are lovely and friendly. We’ve turned up a day early and they’re very accommodating. We sit on our balcony watching the rain and the sea, this is certainly a world away from Manila. Don’t think we’ll be whale watching so we may just be enjoying the peace, rain and wildlife. James falls asleep and I do some yoga. Then we’re off to find BARacuda restaurant / bar. Food was the best, healthiest and delicious that we’ve had since getting to the Philippines. Run by a crazy Filipino lady called Juliet. We meet another English couple, our first fellow travellers for a while and Juliet keeps the drinks flowing.
Wednesday 15th
We wake up early with stonking hangovers, our first blow out all trip (actually my second, had my first bad one on the live-aboard). Eventually we go for breakfast, J doesn’t eat anything . I go to Reception and get chatting to various people about the option of whale shark watching. I think we might struggle to do it this morning so we retire to poolside and read. Then one of the reps rushes up to me about 11.30 saying that there’s been sightings out in the bay. So we grab our stuff and head down to grab snorkelling gear and to meet our boat. It’s only J, myself and an American lady plus her two young daughters. We get on the boat around midday and we head out. We get ready and we’re in the water at around 12.45, we land just over the top and we see below some spots, J sees it better first time around. Back to the boat and we’re told to ready again as the boat moves and we plop in for a second viewing and it was amazing! He / she didn’t stay with us long, but I could see it face on - incredible. Back on the boat and same drill, ready again for round 3 and we’re in again and this time was even more amazing. I was right on top and just finned like crazy to keep pace so got a good view and in fact was so close, the dorsal fin brushed me, I really tried to avoid touching. We must have stayed like that, me hoovering, finning above for 2-3 minutes, it was totally exhilarating. The shark was approx 9-10m which is pretty big!! Back on dry land later in the afternoon for a hot shower, we just can’t believe our luck, and our hangovers have disappeared. We were lucky to see them as some people go out repeatedly for days, so to see them on our first trip out was fantastic. We’re both really buzzing… I haven’t seen one since a trip to the Maldives years ago so it was such a thrill.
Update: at 5.15pm we experienced an earthquake!! We we’re sitting on our balcony just chatting and planning the next leg of the journey and all of a sudden our seat starting moving and shaking. I thought J was messing about and he thought same.
After we realised what had just happened we headed back to BARcuda with Liz and David who we met last night. I don’t think I’ll be drinking tonight though! Yes famous last words…
BARcuda was lovely, we ordered the most amazing grilled Jack fish.
Experience another earthquake at 2.10am!
Thursday 16th February
After the second earthquake (dogs were kicking off outside, they knew it was coming). We felt the bed moving and shaking again last night, turns out it was 6.1 on the scale and the centre was 45km from here. Amazing… whalesharks and earthquakes all in one day. Not sure what today will bring. We’re chilling out today as have a very early start (4am!) tomorrow.
Woke to the sound of rain and Happy Valentine’s Day from all the staff at breakfast. They really seem to celebrate it here, there are hearts and flowers up everywhere, as there were in Manila. Breakfast is interesting, we’re walking around the buffet, in a sleepy and bewildered state and another guest (who is a Filipino / American guy called Mel or 24, that’s his nickname apparently!?) takes pity on us and kindly explains all the various local delicacies on offer. I end up asking the staff to make me an omelet, as you simply cannot eat healthily here it seems in the Philippines. During breakfast we make plans, we’ve shelved the plan of quad biking to the base of the volcano because it’s chucking it down and we don’t trust the operator after all the to’ing and fro’ing (long story). We’ve decided to head to Donsol on the coast to chill out there for a few days.
We manage to catch a grab car to the bus terminal and make the 11am bus (it costs £1.80 each plus we pay for the bags to have their own seat) and we’re off. It takes about an hour and three quarters to get to Donsol, views of jungle, rice fields and water buffalo along the way. We see no other tourists and I really seem to stand out with my silver hair and blue eye, so I seem to be quite a novelty for the locals. When we get dropped there are tuk tuk’s waiting and they know instantly where we’re staying, we don’t even say anything and then we’re here. Staying at Vitton Beach Resort, a fairly run down sixities looking hotel but it’s clean and tidy plus it’s on the beach and the staff are lovely and friendly. We’ve turned up a day early and they’re very accommodating. We sit on our balcony watching the rain and the sea, this is certainly a world away from Manila. Don’t think we’ll be whale watching so we may just be enjoying the peace, rain and wildlife. James falls asleep and I do some yoga. Then we’re off to find BARacuda restaurant / bar. Food was the best, healthiest and delicious that we’ve had since getting to the Philippines. Run by a crazy Filipino lady called Juliet. We meet another English couple, our first fellow travellers for a while and Juliet keeps the drinks flowing.
Wednesday 15th
We wake up early with stonking hangovers, our first blow out all trip (actually my second, had my first bad one on the live-aboard). Eventually we go for breakfast, J doesn’t eat anything . I go to Reception and get chatting to various people about the option of whale shark watching. I think we might struggle to do it this morning so we retire to poolside and read. Then one of the reps rushes up to me about 11.30 saying that there’s been sightings out in the bay. So we grab our stuff and head down to grab snorkelling gear and to meet our boat. It’s only J, myself and an American lady plus her two young daughters. We get on the boat around midday and we head out. We get ready and we’re in the water at around 12.45, we land just over the top and we see below some spots, J sees it better first time around. Back to the boat and we’re told to ready again as the boat moves and we plop in for a second viewing and it was amazing! He / she didn’t stay with us long, but I could see it face on - incredible. Back on the boat and same drill, ready again for round 3 and we’re in again and this time was even more amazing. I was right on top and just finned like crazy to keep pace so got a good view and in fact was so close, the dorsal fin brushed me, I really tried to avoid touching. We must have stayed like that, me hoovering, finning above for 2-3 minutes, it was totally exhilarating. The shark was approx 9-10m which is pretty big!! Back on dry land later in the afternoon for a hot shower, we just can’t believe our luck, and our hangovers have disappeared. We were lucky to see them as some people go out repeatedly for days, so to see them on our first trip out was fantastic. We’re both really buzzing… I haven’t seen one since a trip to the Maldives years ago so it was such a thrill.
Update: at 5.15pm we experienced an earthquake!! We we’re sitting on our balcony just chatting and planning the next leg of the journey and all of a sudden our seat starting moving and shaking. I thought J was messing about and he thought same.
After we realised what had just happened we headed back to BARcuda with Liz and David who we met last night. I don’t think I’ll be drinking tonight though! Yes famous last words…
BARcuda was lovely, we ordered the most amazing grilled Jack fish.
Experience another earthquake at 2.10am!
Thursday 16th February
After the second earthquake (dogs were kicking off outside, they knew it was coming). We felt the bed moving and shaking again last night, turns out it was 6.1 on the scale and the centre was 45km from here. Amazing… whalesharks and earthquakes all in one day. Not sure what today will bring. We’re chilling out today as have a very early start (4am!) tomorrow.
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