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Diving trip photo’s
Thursday 23rd Feb
Left J at the hotel and collected by minibus to take me to the Port. From there a short trip out on the rib with luggage and fellow divers. We arrived on M/Y Azalea around 3 and then sorted out paperwork and dive gear. I looked like something you’d fine at a second hand shop after being kitted out in some fairly rag-tag ropey gear, still the BCD and regs were fine and they are the important bits. We gently started motoring out but it’s a 13 hr trip to Apo Reef area. Dinner was ok, got chatting to my fellow guests; Malaysian guy, French guy, Israeli guy, South African guy and Dutch girl (they were a couple), all quite young but fortunately experienced divers by the sounds of things. There was also another English couple, Jill and Dan, similar age to me and they also live in Devon, so I’m not the only oldie 😆 I have my own cabin (bliss) and there are only eight of us plus 12 crew.
Friday 24th Feb
Not much sleep, although typically fell asleep a few moments before the ‘alarm’ went off. Woken
at 6am by Cindy Laupur being blasted through the speaker in my room. A beautiful sunrise and went in the water shortly before 7 for the first dive. First dive was on a small wreck, rather nice and a good opportunity for the guides to check us all out. I was diving with the Malaysian guy, Jovey and Jill and Dan. I won’t bore you with the details but it was a nice easy dive, good visibility. The second and third dives were ok (although Jovey got moved to the other group to match their air consumption) so I was buddied thereafter with Coco, the French guy. The second and third dives were not especially memorable but the fourth dive around 4.30pm was outstanding, lots of sharks, turtles and other huge fish. Finished the dive around 5.30 and almost clean and dry by 6. Food was already on the table! A bit of chat and then an early night as the boat thankfully didn’t move overnight and I desperately needed some sleep, a great day though and fab weather.
Saturday 25th Feb
The good weather continues to follow us, the day followed a similar pattern although the first two dives were the best and the last one definitely the worst. After supper, the boat left for our return to Coron, sadly no more diving but maybe able to squeeze a dive in when we visit El Nido or Port Barton, we’ll see….
Sunday 26th Feb
The boat headed back overnight (13 hrs) from Apo Reef to Coron, looking at the map, it’s like travelling half way back to Manila (but back South obviously). Still the diving was worth it. It was a great trip; nice group of people, good boat, reasonable food (although I’m not in love with Flipino food at all). On balance, the Thai live aboard experience was still my favourite and very hard to beat. The only thing that spoilt it for me was that the dive guide decided to get a bit fresh with me underwater on the last dive when my buddy (a French guy called Coco) had to return to the boat as he’d forgotten his weight belt and couldn’t descend! That left me midway descending with the dive guide, he then proceeded to grab hold of me and tried to get me to take my reg out of my mouth so that he could kiss me! You can imagine my response!! Anyway, I spent most of Sunday night after supper in my bunk as the boat was pitching all over the shop, I also kept my door locked but spent most of the night awake, again trying to sleep by deep breathing, meditating and Yoga Nidra but nothing much worked because of the motion of the boat.
Got back to port at around 8.30am and back to meet J at around 9.30 in the hotel he’d been staying at. Unfortunately he’d been unwell over the last few days so he’d stayed pretty much in the hotel. He’d gone an hired a more powerful motorbike because he’d booked us a place in Busuanga, which is the less developed and quieter part of the island. Grabbed a quick shower, repacked a few things and then we headed off on the bike. It took a good hour to get to Sancturia Treehouse in Sagrada. Arrived and met by an American guy who built and runs the place. Very nice and quirky treehouses, a hobbit house and a few tents scattered around. He’s definitely catering for the backpack crowds. Shared a bit of lunch with J and then went for a snooze in our treehouse. All was lovely until about 3pm when some really noisy Americans arrived back from their day out so was woken up by them and never really got any more sleep after that… it was another long night!
Thursday 23rd Feb
Left J at the hotel and collected by minibus to take me to the Port. From there a short trip out on the rib with luggage and fellow divers. We arrived on M/Y Azalea around 3 and then sorted out paperwork and dive gear. I looked like something you’d fine at a second hand shop after being kitted out in some fairly rag-tag ropey gear, still the BCD and regs were fine and they are the important bits. We gently started motoring out but it’s a 13 hr trip to Apo Reef area. Dinner was ok, got chatting to my fellow guests; Malaysian guy, French guy, Israeli guy, South African guy and Dutch girl (they were a couple), all quite young but fortunately experienced divers by the sounds of things. There was also another English couple, Jill and Dan, similar age to me and they also live in Devon, so I’m not the only oldie 😆 I have my own cabin (bliss) and there are only eight of us plus 12 crew.
Friday 24th Feb
Not much sleep, although typically fell asleep a few moments before the ‘alarm’ went off. Woken
at 6am by Cindy Laupur being blasted through the speaker in my room. A beautiful sunrise and went in the water shortly before 7 for the first dive. First dive was on a small wreck, rather nice and a good opportunity for the guides to check us all out. I was diving with the Malaysian guy, Jovey and Jill and Dan. I won’t bore you with the details but it was a nice easy dive, good visibility. The second and third dives were ok (although Jovey got moved to the other group to match their air consumption) so I was buddied thereafter with Coco, the French guy. The second and third dives were not especially memorable but the fourth dive around 4.30pm was outstanding, lots of sharks, turtles and other huge fish. Finished the dive around 5.30 and almost clean and dry by 6. Food was already on the table! A bit of chat and then an early night as the boat thankfully didn’t move overnight and I desperately needed some sleep, a great day though and fab weather.
Saturday 25th Feb
The good weather continues to follow us, the day followed a similar pattern although the first two dives were the best and the last one definitely the worst. After supper, the boat left for our return to Coron, sadly no more diving but maybe able to squeeze a dive in when we visit El Nido or Port Barton, we’ll see….
Sunday 26th Feb
The boat headed back overnight (13 hrs) from Apo Reef to Coron, looking at the map, it’s like travelling half way back to Manila (but back South obviously). Still the diving was worth it. It was a great trip; nice group of people, good boat, reasonable food (although I’m not in love with Flipino food at all). On balance, the Thai live aboard experience was still my favourite and very hard to beat. The only thing that spoilt it for me was that the dive guide decided to get a bit fresh with me underwater on the last dive when my buddy (a French guy called Coco) had to return to the boat as he’d forgotten his weight belt and couldn’t descend! That left me midway descending with the dive guide, he then proceeded to grab hold of me and tried to get me to take my reg out of my mouth so that he could kiss me! You can imagine my response!! Anyway, I spent most of Sunday night after supper in my bunk as the boat was pitching all over the shop, I also kept my door locked but spent most of the night awake, again trying to sleep by deep breathing, meditating and Yoga Nidra but nothing much worked because of the motion of the boat.
Got back to port at around 8.30am and back to meet J at around 9.30 in the hotel he’d been staying at. Unfortunately he’d been unwell over the last few days so he’d stayed pretty much in the hotel. He’d gone an hired a more powerful motorbike because he’d booked us a place in Busuanga, which is the less developed and quieter part of the island. Grabbed a quick shower, repacked a few things and then we headed off on the bike. It took a good hour to get to Sancturia Treehouse in Sagrada. Arrived and met by an American guy who built and runs the place. Very nice and quirky treehouses, a hobbit house and a few tents scattered around. He’s definitely catering for the backpack crowds. Shared a bit of lunch with J and then went for a snooze in our treehouse. All was lovely until about 3pm when some really noisy Americans arrived back from their day out so was woken up by them and never really got any more sleep after that… it was another long night!
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