After about 5 minutes I managed to get my ears to properly clear, not by forcing it, but by just waiting for it to "happen". It was great. We went on 3 separate dives, one down to 55ft and saw some great coral, lionfish!! and some crazy fast swimming sea star. So now we will have to get Miranda certified in Malaysia in a week or so, so we can dive together in future. woo hoo! Thanks Sandra!!
-Joe
[ 2 comments ] ( 8 views )
After the whale shark adventure we decided to make our way to Legaspi (also spelled Legazpi) in a jeepney (a common way to get around here, though our butts hurt a lot after the hour plus ride) and stay there the night before heading farther north. The place we stayed was relatively cheap, but for a reason... Joe killed a cockroach running across the floor and there were ants everywhere... Oh well.
The next day we figured out how to get to Batanges, a place Sandra researched and found out there was some good diving there. We caught a 6:45pm bus. We had to get off in one town at around 4am, then catch a different bus. By this time, I was feeling terrible. My stomach was cramping and I had a headache. We caught the next bus and were only on it for about 45 minutes before people mentioned in was Batanges City, so we got off. Unfortunately, there was really nothing around. There was really nothing around, so we hopped into a jeepney and got down the road a bit farther. We jumped out again then tried to find our way to Anilao, which is more technically where the places we wanted to stay were. We found another jeepney that took us to another small town where we hopped out. By this time it was raining (which it had been on and off for the last couple days) but we found an open internet cafe (it was 8am by this point). Eventually we decided to splurge and stay at a dive resort. A bit pricier than normal for us, but after the cockroaches and mice of the last few places, plus the overnight buses, we decided we deserved it.
So, we took a tricycle (motorcycle with a sidecar) to the resort where we had to walk down an incredibly steep and relatively long driveway. Our room is very nice. The food is buffet style, so we do have a few options, fortunately. Before dinner Joe and Sandra had gone out snorkeling and said it was awesome. I didn't go though because by this time I was feeling pretty awful. I couldn't eat much, my stomach felt awful and my head hurt. I napped most of the day. It poured all evening and all night. The wind started to kick up in the evening also. For dinner they had sheets up to block the rain from coming in and right after we left, one of the sections blew off. The people there mentioned that a typhoon was coming in. We ended up just going back to the room and sleeping.
This morning I felt much better. So, it appears the lack of sleep and the super bumpy bus were the culprits and not some bug. Yay! Joe's got a bit of a sniffly nose now though. :p Hopefully that passes soon. He was hoping to try diving again with Sandra. She was willing to help him with clearing his ears, etc. They could do a dive right off the shore. While snorkeling he's been working on trying to clear his ears and was having some success. Unfortunately, now that he's stuffy, he's really having problems with it.
The snorkeling today was fun. We went out twice and saw lots of neat fish and the coral here is very different. All the photos posted below were taken by Sandra. We also compiled video clips that both of us took. We're planning on staying here another two nights.
-Miranda
Snorkeling in the Philippines (click for video)
The jeepney from Donsol to almost Legaspi.
Our room at the resort.
Neat coral or something.
Christmas trees. They disappear when you swish water over them (see video).
More fun feathery stuff.
Possibly a Crown of Thorns. I believe it's a type of sea star.
Star fish!
[ 3 comments ] ( 90 views )
We've been hanging out in Kota Kinabalu (also known as KK) for a number of days now. Most of it was just relaxing and walking around town. Two of the days we took a boat to Sapi, a small island not far off shore. The snorkeling there was great. Especially once you got away from the main swimming area. A lot of people here simply don't understand that they are not supposed to touch or stand on the coral, so a lot of the coral is busted and dead. Once you got out of the main swimming area though, it was very cool. Lots of fish.
All the photos were taken by Sandra. She has a case for her camera so she can take photos and videos.
-Miranda
Monitor Lizard (click for video)
There were huge Monitor Lizards hanging out on the island since some tour groups fed their 'people'. They seemed to be hoping to get scraps.
Snorkeling (click for video)
Snorkeling video. The last few videos were taken by Sandra.
Clown fish.
Crazy bright orange coral.
More clown fish.
Moorish Idol.
[ 2 comments ] ( 63 views )
We spent some time just working and resting. Donald, the guy we met on Maui, and his girlfriend, Megan, were both in Honolulu around the same time, so we really wanted to meet up with them.
Friday we made plans to go snorkeling and leave early in the morning. Well, it rained all night, so Donald figured the water would be too stirred up to really see anything. We went back to bed and ended up heading out later in the afternoon to a different, closer area. The rain started up as soon as we went over the mountains. It was pouring! We stopped at the beach and decided to go into the water anyway. It was kind of neat to snorkel with the water hitting your back. The visibility was pretty awful though.
We didn't stay long, but the main problem was, Megan and I didn't really have much for dry clothes. We got some stuff sorted, warmed up a bit, and found a restaurant that had very good food. We then found a creperie called Le Crepe Cafe that was amazing. We had very good dessert crepes before dropping Donald and Megan off and heading back to the house.
The next day, we got some stuff prepared before calling them again to try for a new snorkel adventure. This time we went to a place nicknamed 'Electric Beach' because it is right outside a power plant that shoots warm water (it uses sea water to cool its pipes). Apparently fish congregate around there. We headed out and definitely found some warm water. You can see it bubbling to the surface.
It was a very neat area. There were fish everywhere, some we hadn't seen yet. We also got to see an eel. When we started heading in, Joe spotted an octopus! So, that's our second one. Very fun.
This adventure went much better than the previous one. We headed towards an Indian restaurant for dinner, but ended up going to a Hawaiin-Southern restaurant? The food was good, it was just a bit interesting. Afterwards, we all agreed that Le Crepe Cafe was amazing and we should head back there. We were hoping to be home by 8 to get a load of laundry done, but we ended up chatting for quite a while and didn't get home until 9. All worked out fine though. It was a blast to get to know them.
-Miranda
[ add comment ]
We woke up at 5:30am in order to get to the harbor we were leaving from by 6:30. We were going on a snorkeling adventure out to Molokini. A crater about 2 miles off the coast of Maui. On the way there, we saw a few whales. We got to the spot before other boats though, which was nice. We got to snorkel for an hour. The water was super clear. There wasn't a lot of underwater geography, but there were lots of different kinds of fish. Some we hadn't seen yet.
From there, the plan was to go to Turtle Arches, to see some turtles. Apparently the surf was pretty high in that area, so we went to a different spot instead. On the way, we saw two adult whales breaching off in the distance. Very neat!! They breached at least 3 times.
The spot we went to for snorkeling was amazing. It was probably half a mile off the southwest coast of Maui. The geography was great and the visibility was really good also. We saw quite a few turtles and lots of fish.
Once we were done with the snorkeling, we did a little whale watching. We saw a whale calf practicing breaching. Once we were in shore, we decided to check out Paia for surfing/boogie boarding opportunities.
The water ended up being a bit messy, but Joe and Laura went out anyway and had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we had a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant there in Paia, then headed home to conk out for the night.
-Miranda
One of the turtles I saw
CLICK FOR VIDEO:TURTLE
One of my favorite fish, the Black Triggerfish. Apparently known as the Hawaiin Parana because when they used to allow the feeding of the fish, it would bite fingers trying to get the food faster. Fortunately (for a number of reasons) they don't allow the feeding of fish anymore.
CLICK FOR VIDEO:BLACK TRIGGERFISH
[ 3 comments ] ( 8 views )
Back Next
Calendar