The Philippines - part 4

25.03.2006 - 09.04.2006

The Philippines: Puerto Galera, Coron



Back in the Philippines Molly is ready to go back to Norway, so we head south on our own from Manila by bus to Batangas where we catch a ferry to Puerto Galera (Sabang beach). It's hot again and the water is beautifully clear and inviting so it's time to dive. Our trip on the ferry over got a little bit exciting, while cruising along the captain of the ferry was not paying too much attention and didn't notice the big gas tanker heading straight for us and it was not until the crew member up front started shouting out he finally changed direction while the other ship honked his horn.



Well, we were now safe and sound in Puerto Galera and enjoying lot's of diving and more diving, we found a nice room overlooking the ocean and it was peaceful here. It is sad that each time we wanted to go eat we had to fight our way through the girlie bars that try to get you to come in where the girl are lined up, some dancing on the bar, with loud music and the drunks stumbling around. Some people do not mind but if you stay a while it starts to get on your nerves! We went to the beach every once in a while but mostly we were there for the diving and that was really good. We dived the following sites: Escarceo, Sabang wreck, Monkey beach, Shark cave, the canyons, Kilima bay wall, Alma Jane wreck, night dive at Sabang wreck, the Boulders, and Tangat wreck. Things to see: Flamboyant cuttlefish, white-tip sharks, cuttlefish, schools of snappers, titan triggerfish, octopus, rockmover wrasse, sweetlips, mantis shrimps, lot's of different types of frogfish, seahorses, sea hare, nudibranchs (nembrotha, halgerda, chromodoris, hypselodoris and many more!) :-)




We had hoped at this time to go to a small place called Anilao but we could never seem to get a hold of anyone there, so instead, after many days of trying, we headed for Manila where we caught a flight to Coron on Busuanga to do some wreck diving (WW2 ships). Landing was amazing, we passed some small and very green tropical islands which were ringed with coral reefs and the most beautiful blue water that rose up gently to pearly white sand. We landed on a dirt runway, very exciting, picked up our luggage and exited to wide open spaces and one truck as the only transport. We met a English couple going to the same place so we piled in and off along a dirt road, this is a very pretty island with some dense forest area but most of the land was grassy rolling hills, ranch country.



After a bumpy ride we made it to Coron where we walked between the houses to reach the hotel. We stayed at Sea dive resort which is located on the water overlooking the water, rolling hills and islands surrounding us. It was beautiful and the first night we got the most fantastic sunset, the sky turned red with the rolling hills in the back with a bit of fog hanging in between the hills with the red reflecting in the water with shadows being cast from the long piers with small houses on them.



The next day we head for some diving and sad to say this is where the nightmare begins!! After a long boatride we made it out the WW2 wreck the Tangat where we had an interesting dive and later went on to the Olympia Maru which was also a good dive and we headed back to the hotel (this was when we noticed that people were being served beer right after long and deep dives, which is not very good for you as it can cause decompression sickness). We were off again the next day and here things started going wrong, first the crew had a big birthday party and were all pretty hung over, they brought very little food and what they brought was really bad (not even edible), they then forgot to bring water so we had to borrow from the other boat (they did however remember the beer). We got to our first dive site, the Akitsushima and were to dive with a dive guide who seem a bit unsure of himself. Before we jumped in the water we found out that one of the divers was a open water diver (only allowed to go to 18 meters max) and the wreck started at about 20 meters and she was at the same time asking to penetrate the wreck. We complained to the head dive instructor that we were not happy with this. We were told that she would could not penetrate the wreck so we jumped in the water and started the dive. When we got to the wreck the dive guide started going the wrong way to the underside of the ship, we got him going the right way but he started going deep and to our amazement the open water diver followed as we headed off following one of the masts away from the wreck. At around 30 meters we stopped while the other kept going until the dive guide finally turned around (by then he had taken an open water diver to 36 meter). We continued our dive when we noticed that the dive guide entered the wreck with the open water diver!! On our ascent to the surface we passed two groups of divers sharing air (they had run out of air), as we arrived at the shot tanks (one or two tanks of air hanging from the boat at 5 meter in case someone runs out of air) we found not one, but four divers using the tanks, bad, very bad.



We were pissed off and had some harsh words with the dive leader and we got to dive with a different dive instructor, and not in the same group as the open water diver. Off we went to the next dive site, we got ready and were about to jump in when we noticed the current was running very, very fast and no one had checked, by this time two divers had jumped in and were hanging on to a rope so that they would not be swept away (one of the people in the water was Jorunn), things were in a panic to get the divers out of the water but after what seemed like ages we got both divers on board and moved on to a new dive site, the Olymic Maru. Did I mention the food was terrible so we were a bit hungry !!! After the dive we headed for the hotel with a lot of the divers having beers as soon as they got out of the water and drinking up to 3 or 4 on the way back. Halfway back the motor stops and lucky for us the other boat was there to tow us back, but the trip took several hours.



Back at the hotel we headed for the restaurant for food. The hotel is out on the water right across the water from where the freighters arrive and there are two things that made staying here a nightmare, the first is a karaoke bar that stays open to the early hours with the music on full blast even when there is no one there (sound carries really good over water). Second on the same pier is also a slaughter house for pigs, yes that's right for hours on end we heard the pigs squealing loudly before they were killed. To say the least this was horrible and sadly we could not leave as there were very few flights and they were full because it was Easter, and the ferry didn't leave for another 4 days.

In the meantime we were not feeling great, but at least we found a good French restaurant to eat at (they even had chocolate mousse) so we varied between the hotel and the restaurant. The qualitity of the food was amazing, especially considering that this was a remote island, with no ATMs. Sadly disaster happens again, we were back in the water and had another wreck dive at Kogyo Maru where we dived a conservative dive and felt OK, but Jorunn was still very exhausted. A trip to the doctor was not the best, he told her she had an irregular heartbeat, and should check this in Manila. That evening an English women started feeling very bad and had to see a doctor who later put her in a decompression chamber as she had signs of decompression sickness and had to spend several hours in the chamber. Jorunn was also feeling so bad and exhausted that the doctor gave her oxygen. Luckily she didn't have any other signs of decompression sickness. Looking back at this experience now, we probably did too much diving over a longer period, and we never dive this much on our trips now! Also Jorunn probably had anxiety because of all the stress, and also anxiety of getting decompression sickness, with the claustrophobia of spending hours in a small chamber.



We still had to wait a few days for the ferry so we took a day out on a snorkelling and beach tour, it is a very pretty area with lot's of clear blue water and volcanic islands with hidden inland lakes and great snorkelling, a really nice relaxing time after all the drama. I did one more dive which was a bit strange, you had to carry your gear up the steep side of a hill and then down a very tricky and difficult area to reach a inland lake called Barracuda lake (it once had a barracuda but it's gone now). Here we found young kids playing in a crystal clear lake. We got our gear on, bathing suit only, and dived into the clear water, after a while we noticed the water getting warm and the visibility had gone down, soon the temperature was up to 37 Celsius and getting hotter as we were diving into an area with a volcanic vent at the bottom. After a bit we started back to cooler water and the difficult trip to the boat and later the hotel. Luckily the ferry left the next day and we could finally leave.

Taiwan

15.03.2006 - 24.03.2006

Taiwan: Taipei, Tungshih, Taichung, Kenting



We went on a little detour to Taiwan to visit Jorunn and Molly's old friends as they lived there when they were younger. Taiwan was a bit of a strange place which I am not so sure I liked so much, but I still had a great time and met lot's of really nice people. We flew into Taipei to clouds and cool weather and took the bus south to Tungshih in the middle of Taiwan to visit the place where Jorunn and Molly grew up and lived for part of their 12 years there. We had a room in the back of a church which was rather nice, everyone wanted us to visit, everyone wanted to feed us and everyone wanted to take us around. We went to a park and just walked around in the area around Tungshih, which is close to nature areas. Our friends took us for a bicycle ride, quite funny since you could also rent electrical bikes, and we thought we were supposed to get som excercise?



It was strange and emotional for Jorunn to be back, even if she'd been there a couple of times since she moved back to Norway when she was 15. The country (and especially the food and the people) is great, but the missionairy stuff is another story for Jorunn... Also Jorunn's Mandarin Chinese isn't good enough to really communicate properly about anything interesting, very frustrating, especially since people are so friendly. So by the end of 5 days we were stuffed and ready to move on to something different, yes you guessed it was DIVING!



We travelled to the south to Kenting where we did some diving, relaxed in the sun and just had a nice time after all the socializing. We stayed with our dive guide John who took care of us all the time, drove us around, had dinner with us and drank with us. We dived the following sites: Flower garden, Sail rock (Sinking Nixon), Sand island, and San hai. There was not a lot to see, as there is a lot of fishing in the area, but it has gotten better after they made it into a marine park and there is less fishing. The visibility was OK and there were fish and nudibranch but not in great numbers. Sadly we did not have time to go to Green island where there is supposed to be really good diving but it was still interesting and fun. Also the beaches in Kenting were almost empty during the week days, very lovely for us. Before we headed off again we stopped in at the aquarium, the was very interesting even if we do not like to see fish and especially whale sharks in tanks it did help to educate the locals about the ocean and the to take care of it. Hopefully less people will be buying shark fin soup after they see how great the whale sharks are!! Soon it was time to head back to the Philippines so we spent a cold night in Taipei before our flight.



Interesting story from the backpacker place in Taipei: We met some younger American guys who were out partying all the time and the morning we were leaving one of the guys told us why they were there. Story goes that he had been working in Korea teaching English and making good money but he did not really like the place where he was working so he thought he would try Taiwan. Soon he found out that the money wasn't good enough for him so he had been there for the last three months waiting for a job that would pay a high salary. The strange thing was that he had gotten some good offers, but not good enough, so until he got the job he wanted he just called his parents when he needed more money. Weird!

The Philippines - part 3

05.03.2006 - 14.03.2006

The Philippines: Southern Leyte, Masbate, Donsol, Legaspi



After a night of partying we headed off to our next destination, this time we were off to Southern Leyte, first by bus, then by ferry and later by car before we reached the resort around 11 in the evening. The next morning we were up and ready for diving and some more excitement and yes it was fun and we even saw some more new things. After the dive we heard that a typhoon was heading our way so the weather got very unstable but we still got some good diving in. Here we dived: Voltares, Max climax, Bunga bend, Bunga north, and 2 dives at Napantao. Not much to tell about what we saw as it was about the same as the other places we have been to. Napantao had some beautiful underwater walls with lot's of corals on them and an amazing amount of fish, and I think there is some really good diving here but the weather did not help and we were the only people at the resort most of the time.





Travelling in the Philippines can be tiring and time-consuming. There was first 2 different jeepneys to get to the ferry to Cebu City. We headed over to the mall to pick up tickets for the overnight ferry to Masbate. The ferry was very cool with the air conditioning and as we were in an open sleeping area it was pretty noisy with people watching DVDs, playing music and snoring loudly. From Masbate there was a ferry to Donsol, from there we travelled by tuk tuk taxi on a very bumpy road, paved for 20 meters, washed out mud road for 20 meter and so it went for 3 kilometers before we reached the starting point for whale shark watching.



The Donsol area is the feeding ground of whale sharks, and they gather in large numbers every year between November and June. A group of 5 of us rented a boat (there are limits to how many boats that can go out at one time and there is only one place you are alowed to rent boats) early in the morning to look for this beautiful fish (Whale sharks are the worlds largest fish and mainly eat plankton). The boat crew would spot one for us then we would jump in and watch them as much as possible before they swam away. Then it was back in the boat to search for more. With all the plankton in the water, the visibility was not very good, and sometimes we wouldn't see the whaleshark properly until it was just a few meters away. Taking pictures was also difficult, but we had to try ! So by the end of three hours we had seen a total of about 20 whale sharks, all between 6 to 11 meters long, what an andrenaline rush! This was really an experience of a lifetime, and we were very lucky to be able to come to this place. We can recommend this to all !!!




The next day we were off to Legazpi, where we spent the night before we headed off to Manila, flying this time. Legazpi is a pretty city next to the ocean but what really makes it interesting is a large volcano, Mayon Volcano, close to the city. It has a tendency to erupt every once in a while, but it's beautiful, stretching hundreds of meter to the sky and with green and brown slopes.

The Philippines - part 2

16.02.2006 - 04.03.2006

The Philippines: Siquijor, Dumaguete, Apo Island, Malapascua



On Siquijor we got a taxi to the dive shop / hotel we were planning to stay at, the hotel was nice but the only room they had was on a cliff with several hundred steps to get to the restaurant and for diving. We decided that running up and down the stairs was not part of the vacation so we chose a place just down the beach, a room on the beach with a view, who did not have a dive shop so we spent time in both places. The weather was stormy most of the time and it was a bit rough for diving, but we managed and dived at the following sites: Sandugan canyon, Cedric's wall, Sandugan mushroom, and Salagdoong beach. Thanks to the overcast weather the mandarinfish were out even in the middle of the day, quite nice ! Things that we saw: mantis shrimp, mandarinfish, porcelain crab, glass shrimp, giant frogfish, snowflake moray eels, turtles, razor shrimp, banded sea snake and lot's of nudibranch. We did not spend too much time on Siquijor as the weather was not too good, however we met lots of fun people and even a couple of quarterly pensioners (they had no contact at all with home, no phone, no internet for 3 months!!!).



We had been trying to get a room in Dauin on Negros but had no luck, we also found out after a while that a lot of places would not answer e-mails, you had to call. We ended up finding a place just outside Dumaguete that offered diving around Dauin. Sad to say this was not the best solution, but we made the best of it, and only did four dives at Dauin: Dauin wreck, The sanctuary and Masaplod North and South. Things we saw included: schools of 200 to 300 trevally, snake eels, moray eels, rockmover wrasse, hingeback shrimp, anemone shrimp and some new nudibranch.



There are other stories of Dumaguete, first the part; Jorunn's sister had decided to get a haircut and some more red colour in her hair so she went to a good hairdresser, the guy who cut her hair was gay and sweet in his own way and did a really good job and Molly was pleased. When we saw the results Jorunn decided it was time for a haircut, so off we went, as we entered the shop the guy who had cut Molly's hair comes rushing out saying "your hair, your hair, what happened to your hair". Jorunn's hair was shorter than Molly's and not red, so he thought that she was unhappy with his cut and went somewhere else. Well we got him calmed down and told him that Molly and Jorunn are twins, same same but different, and it was her sister that had been in yesterday and she really liked what he had done so she thought he could do her hair also. He was still a bit sceptical but went to work, Molly came in a short time later and then we saw the relief in his face and he began to laugh and chatter to the others to come look. It can be fun to be identical twins.



One day we needed a few things so we went to the shopping mall where we went through security (bag check etc.) before entering, ok no problems, Jorunn found a blouse she liked, went to try it on while I waited, I heard some anouncement in the background but was not really paying attention then I noticed that people had stopped, I saw Jorunn come out of the changing room and she said they are praying. I listened a bit and she was right they had all stopped for prayers. A bit more religious than we are used to, and very opposite to most of the expat community.



Just off the coast of Negros lies the small island of Apo home to a few different people, whom are mostly related to one another in on form or another. This is a very pretty place and a great place to dive. We caught a boat ride with the dive guide from Dauin as he was going there anyway. We were met by ten women standing in a row holding up t-shirts and sarongs for sale, it's OK for new guests but for divers in wetsuits it's a bit hard to carry money underwater. The hotel and dive shop were right there too with a short walk up the steps to the Liberty community lodge. The Liberty Lodge is owned and run by locals, with really nice rooms overlooking the ocean and an excellent dive shop that also offered some good underwater naturalist courses. Here we dived the following sites: Rock Point, Coconut (great dive), Mamsa Point, Sanctuary, Chapel, and Boluarte. Things to see here: Lot's of turtles, stick pipefish, titan triggerfish, humphead parrot fish, imperial shrimp, moray eels, sea snakes, frogfish and lot's of nudibranch.



Now to tell a bit more about our stay on Apo Island. Apo Island was very social and we met some fun people from several different countries. One couple was from the USA and they were very nice people and had traveled a lot, and John looked a lot like Tom Selleck (Three men and a baby). We had some really fun dives with them and soon they found the only entertainment on the island, karaoke. Yes, that was it and it turned out pretty wild with drinking, singing, dancing and even some spills, Katie threw John to the floor while dancing. We also had a gay Canadian with us who had never sung karaoke before and of course his first song would be ABBAs "Dancing Queen". The thing that made this even more fun was the fact that all the electricity and lights on the island went off at 10 every night, so it kind of felt like we were back in school with a curfew.



After leaving all the excitement of Apo we took a small boat to shore and caught a ride back to Dumaguete and later by ferry to Cebu City where we spent the night before the 4 hour bumpy ride north to Malapascua on the northern tip of Cebu. At one of the stops a Philippino Elvis came to sing for us while we waited, he must have been about 60 and could not sing but he was worth every penny. After a short boat ride we finally reached the island of Malapascua with nice white sandy beaches and again it was time to dive. This was a fun place and we met more fun people from around the world who had many great stories to tell. The diving was good here, only limited to a few dive sites and some wrecks. We also went out early (5 AM) one morning to see if we could see some tresher sharks, but we had no luck this day. One late afternoon we went on a dive to see mandarinfish mating (very small, shy fish with lot's of bright colours; orange, red, green and yellow) and we saw a total of about 14 so we were very lucky. We dived: 4x Gato island, Monad Shoal, Dona Marilyn wreck, Lapu Lapu, and Lighthouse Reef. Things to see: Nurse sharks, whitetip sharks, lot's of seahorses, lot's of mandarinfish, shrimps, crabs, pipefish, squid, banded shrimp, dragonets and plenty of nudibranch. It's a good thing we had a copy of 1001 nudibrances by Neville Coleman (We really recommend this book).



Link to pictures from Siquijor

Link to pictures from Dauin

Link to pictures from Apo island

Link to pictures from Malapscua

The Philippines - part 1

01.02.2006 - 15.02.2006

The Philippines: Manila, Cebu, Alona Beach, Tagbilaran, Chocolate Hills, Cabilao



Our next big trip begins in the Philippines. Landing in Manila we went directly to a small backpacker hotel but all we really needed was a bed to sleep in. We also met Jorunn's sister Målfrid (Molly) who would be travelling with us. The next day we were off to the airport to catch a plane to Bohol to do some diving, well true to the rumors we had heard before we arrived in the Philippines, the fight was cancelled so we chose a later flight to Cebu City where we would overnight and then take a ferry the next day (we didn't want to take a chance on another cancellation). We caught the ferry in the morning and arrived an hour or so later in Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol, then got a taxi to Alona beach on Panglao.



After a very bumpy ride we arrived and went directly to Genesis Divers where we planed to stay, sadly we found out the hard way that the the place we were staying at was inbetween two bars both playing different music very loudly and the later it got the louder it got, so it was time to move. So we moved to a new place and started diving, our first dive was a check dive in the house reef which was a really good, the rest of the diving was a boat-trip away. Here we dived these dive sites: Gak-Ang, Kalipayan, Arco Point, Sanctuary, and on Balicasag; Black forest, Rico's wall and Rudy's rock. We were getting better at taking underwater photos, and having lot's of fun with our camera. Days not diving we spent on the beach enjoying the warm water and the clear conditions for snorkelling, in the evening we found that there were some good restaurants (even a Italian guy who had moved here years ago and served some really good food) and we were soon meeting other divers there. Alona Beach was a great social place to stay, with plenty of travellers and small restaurants and bars, especially for the non-diver Molly.



One day we went on a tour to see the Chocolate hills of Bohol, it took us about an hour or so to get there but it was a beautiful ride so it did not really matter. The link has a very interesting story of how they formed better than I can explain, so have a look, it's interesting. When first arriving we also noticed rice fields with small houses, which was very pretty and was like a picture out of time as it has probably been like this for a long, long time with very little change. We walked up to the top of one of the hills where we could see for miles around and we were amazed at the view with beautiful green hills surrounding us and with small rice fields scattered around them, it's amazing how nature works and how many thousand of years it took. Next stop was at a tarsier sanctuary where they help injured tarsiers back to health before releasing them again and making sure that tarsiers will survive for the future. We headed back to Alona Beach for some more fun in the sun and diving before heading off to Cabilao.



After leaving Alona Beach behind us we headed off to a island called Cabilao for some more diving! We drove up one rainy day over the bumpy road and the hair-raising ride, dodging animals, buses and other vehicles driving on both sides of the road. When we came to the end of the road we found a bunch of locals there and of course they wanted to carry our bags and later wanted to be paid even though we can carry our own bags. We had not booked a boat to the resort so we got one of the locals to take us over in a small boat in stormy seas and no cover from the rain! Well, it all worked out in the end and we looked forward to some good diving. The weather did not exactly hold, we had more rain but what does it matter when you are underwater, the bad part of the weather for me happens to be the mosquitos, who enjoy sucking my blood out at all times of the day and night. The diving was rather good at both Alona Beach and Cabilao with fantastic coral growths and lot's of other things such as: Mother and baby cockatoo leaf-fish, orangutang crab, spider crab, giant frogfish, octopus, banded sea snake, razor shrimps, titan triggerfish, longnose wrasse and nudibranch (some new ones). The dive sites were: Gorgonian garden, South point, Lighthouse, Sanctuary, Fallen tree and Coral point.



The day before we left was valentine's day and the owner of the resort had organized a party for the locals and the guests of the resort. Valentine's day in BIG in the Pilippines. We got there at about 18:30 at the basketball court where they had set up a bar, tables and music for the dance. We were all set well not really, as there were no people, but the music was there, and after two rain showers (small ones) people started to arrive. At that time we found out that this was not free! Along came a resort employee with tickets that said that a table of 4 had to pay 350p (not much really) and we received three liters of beer also. in the end there came about 50 to 70 people and you would be amazed how well they could dance, especially a little granny and boat captain who could really tango.

Also at this time we caught up on some gossip about us! It all had to do with the fact that we received a room with a very small bed so we asked to have change for a larger one which was fine until the other guests saw this & were wondering about our bedroom activities and if we managed to break the bed the first night. What a laugh we had and explained to them what really happened. The next day we were off on another exciting adventure, so we left all the scandals behind and sailed off over the ocean blue.

We left Cabilao in a small boat that would take us on a 45 minute ride to the island of Cebu (never thought we were going to make it in such a small boat with so much stuff in it!!), when got there we were left on the beach where we walked a ways to the road. We flagged down the local bus and were soon speeding through towns and markets in order to catch a ferry to the island of Negros and on to the town of Dumaguete. Once we arrived at Dumaguete we finally had some lunch, very welcome for the twins who need their food! It was time to catch the ferry to take us to Siquijor, a large island off the coast where we would stay for a few days of diving.



Link to more pictures from Alona Beach

Malta

05.09.2005-12.09.2005

Malta: Gozo, Marsalforn



After the summer we decide on another short trip so we looked towards the Mediterranean and there we found Gozo. We flew to Malta where we have the beautiful city of Valetta (I had been to Valetta many time when I worked on a cruise ship). We jumped in a minivan and raced to the other end of the island to catch the ferry for Gozo and went by taxi until we reached Marsalforn where we would be staying. We had a nice apartment close to the city so we had a good dinner and did some shopping for food before getting our gear ready for diving.



We dived with Calypso divers, a company who had been there for many years, and did our first dive the next day. There are mostly shore dives and the diving is not for people with weak knees or legs. Diving in Gozo is interesting with caves, grottos and underwater cathedrals, to enter the cathedrals you have to dive down several meters, go under the rock and come up on the inside where there is a big cavern waiting to be explored (spooky). On this trip we dived: Ayer rock, Reqqa point, the Blue Hole, Coral cave, Cathedral cave, Billinghurst cave, Mgarr ix-Xini, and Xatt l-Ahmar. The diving was interesting but we did not see a whole lot of fish, as it seemed quite fished out. We did see: seahorses, peacock flounders, octopus, tuna, flying guernard, lobsters, crabs and a few nudibranch.



It a bit fun diving here with the caves and especially the Blue Hole, we jumped into the center of of the hole and sank down slowly to about 10 meters or so where you could see beautiful shades of blue all around us and many small creatures. We exited through a hole in the bottom and swam out to to explore, on the return to the blue hole we swam under a large archway that soared 20 to 30 meters into the sky, when we return into the hole there seemed to be even more shades of blue as we surfaced. We did not any sightseeing on the island other that when we were driving to the dive site, when not diving we layed by the seaside working on our tan and swimming in the clear water in the harbour area. In the evening we ate at various restaurants, took leisurely walks and watched the stars. Being a short trip it was time to head home and start planning another long trip.

Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

12.03.2005 - 13.04.2005

Singapore
Indonesia: Manado, Bunaken, Lembeh Straits
Malaysia: Tioman island



So with our new camera in hand we flew to one of our favorite dive spots, Bunaken and Lembeth Straits on Sulawesi. We were once again met by the smiling crew from Froggies Divers who drove us through the busy city of Manado to the port where we caught a boat to Bunaken (for some reason the shops here think that the louder the music the more customers will come, and there was a lot of very load music, some even sounded like a live concert). Arriving is a happy occasion as you see the same happy faces each time with a few new people every once in a while, and to our surprise some of the divers from our last trip. We took the same room as we did last time as it overlooks the water and it's nice to sit outside to see the sunset behind Manado Tua and later at night to watch the fire flies (when the mosquitoes are not too bad). After the evening meal (reallly good food) there is usually music, played by the dive guides and boat crew, they love to sing and if things really get's going there might be some dancing, so things were pretty social for the most part.



Now for the diving: The Bunaken area is a fantastic dive area with steep walls that drop a thousand meters plus and at times have powerful currents so that you fly by the walls or move so fast that you can barely hold onto the rocks (this is where a local guide is very good to have). The dive sites we dived were: Likuan 1, 2, 3, Mandolin, Mike's point, Muka Kampung, Johnson's (night dive), Gunter's, Raymond's point, Ron's point, Pangalingan (Manado Tua), Alung Banua, Tanjung Pisok, Fukui, Sachiko's Point, Batu Kapal, Barakuda (Montehage). Some sites are better than others but on the average there is no better wall diving, even if we have not been everywhere in the world, and the variety of things to see are amazing. This area is a national park and the local North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA) looks after the wellbeing of the park (for the most part) and charges divers a small park fee. This time we saw an amazing amount of underwater life: White-tip and black-tip sharks, eagle rays, green turtles, hawkbill turtles, napoleon wrasse, pygmy seahorse, dogtooth tuna, blueringed octopus, dragonets, a new species of pygmy seahorse (found by Henche a Froggies dive guide), ghostpipefish, frogfish, crabs and shrimps, loads of nudibranch and so much more, so much it filled my dive log pages. Of course, having an underwater camera case for the first time was great, luckily it was a simple camera to use.



We once again went on a liveaboard to Bangka island and Lembeh Straits to find more creatures in the sea, we did our first dives on Bangka at Christiane's point and Sahaung, both very good, before we ate and settled in for the night. The whole trip had been a bit rough and wet but it's worth it, our first dive in Lembeh was at Hair ball 1. Just remember we are supposed to be here for muck diving, we were just starting off our dive when out of the blue come two manta rays, were we surprised or what, here we are supposes to be looking for small stuff. After the shock wore off we continued on a fantastic dive, back on board things were still a bit wet but I guess it does not matter too much when you're in the water most of the time. The crew was making us fantastic meals, playing some music for us and even spotting frogfish for us from the surface. As we ventured on we dived the following sites: Hair ball 1, Teluk Kembahu, Lettuce Surprise, Jahir, Nudi Falls, Police Pier, Pantai Parigi and Nudi Retreat. There are really some fantastic dive sites and each one has it's own surprises and we are yet to have a bad dive in Lembeh, if anything it just get's better. Things we saw were: stargazer, seahorses, pygmy seahorses, decorator crabs, stonefish, pegasus sea moths, ghostpipefish, mantis shrimp, frogfish, mandarinfish, moray eels, flying guernard, various octopus, up to 20 different nudibranch on some dives and so much more. All good things come to an end so we started our journey back to Bunaken where we would finally get dry before we get back into the water again.



We had several more days of diving wwith amazing wall diving with so many things that we did not want to leave but in the end so sadly packed our bags and said our goodbyes to all the lovely people we met and the staff that have been so great the whole time. We made our way back to the airport and were soon on our way back to Singapore for some much needed rest and relaxation and it was also time for Jorunn to fly home to work while I spent another 10 days diving. Our time in Singapore was spent shopping and eating great food so time went very quickly and I sadly said goodbye to Jorunn then went back to the hotel to get ready for my departure in the morning.



I departed early by bus to Mersing and ferry to Tioman island where I found myself a room before heading off to B&J divers to check in and met some divers I had met the last time we were here. I started diving the next day and soon was happy taking pictures with our new camera. Even if I was missing my dive buddy, in the afternoon there was always a game of volleyball or I would read while laying in a hammock under the palm trees. I met a few people while on Tioman and after dinner I always seemed to find the dive masters or some other people at the bar, one night it got so full that people were bringing tables and chairs with them. I dived the following dive site this time: Chebeh island, One tree, Tiger rock, Labas island, Fan canyon, Soya island, Sawadee wreck, Renggis and Batu Sepoy. About now I was starting to be a bit dived out and a bit tired of being chased by triggerfish.



The story about triggerfish is a story that needs to be told as these fish have huge front teeth for biting through the coral and has powerful jaws, now when it's mating season things get really crazy. The female makes a hole about half a meters round and protects the area in a cone shape all the way to the surface (like a V) and likes to use those front teeth. First time we saw the results were when we were leaving the Perhentians and there was a guy with bandages on his way to the hospital to get stitches. Another time it was a bit more funny as we were in Bunaken on a sandy slope where one of the dive guides (Hence) was using a metal pointer to point out something, when we saw something flash by very fast. We soon realized that it was a triggerfish and also that Hence only had half a pointer left, you should have seen the expression on his face, we could not stop laughing (and it's hard to laugh underwater).



After meeting a lot of nice people and doing some fun diving it was time to leave, so I made my way back to Singapore back to the The New 7th Story where I shared a room we a couple of guys until my flight departed. My flight was leaving 22.00 the next evening so I rang a couple of girls from Singapore i had meet on Tioman to see if they had time to meet for dinner, I was sharing a room with another Swede so asked if he wanted to come along, when we got there we found three girls waiting for us in a dumpling restaurant. After dinner one girl had to go to work and I had a flight to catch so I left the Swede with the girls and headed off to the airport and home to my other half.

Australia - part 2

22.02.2005 - 11.03.2005

Australia: Sydney, Canberra, Manly Beach, Blue Mountains
Singapore



Our time on the west coast was over, so we took a flight to Sydney, hopped on a bus to Canberra to visit an old friend and see the Australian capital. We were picked up at the bus station by my friend Zjelko who drove us to his beautiful home where we would be staying with his wife, fantastic kids, and their dog. Zjelko was kind enough to take a couple of days off to drive us around. Canberra is very spread out and hard to get around without a car. We first drove around the center of the city as this is where you find the Parliament building and other government buildings. It all looked very well planned, but a bit sterile, huge beautiful buildings in shuttle colours, long straight boulevards that stretch out before you. We spent a couple of days looking around the city, toured the Parliament, saw the city from a lookout, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and went to a history museum.

One day we went out of the city to the fire-charred areas from the fire in 2003, it was shocking to see the destruction around us where home, forest, wildlife and people were lost. As we drove we saw the deep canyons and mountain sides that were once filled with trees and looked like a big open sore, we did however find out that the main reason for the intensity and the destructiveness was due to trees imported from Europe. The trees that were brought were planted instead of the local trees (Eucalyptus) so that they could have a bit of home (the smell of pine). When the fire started the trees burned very quickly and intensely (unlike the Eucalyptus that can also regenerate and grow even when partially burned). The fire spread very quickly, thus the amount of damage and loss of life. There were probably many other factors but the imported trees made things worst, we did see signs that the local vegetation was starting to recover but this will take many years. We had been enjoying catching up with my old friend and seeing Canberra but the show must go on, it was time to explore Sydney and do some diving, What diving! Yes, there is very good diving in Sydney and there be Dragons!!!



Arriving in Sydney we made our way to the ferries that lay between the Harbor bridge and the Opera and were soon off to Manly Beach (a suburb of Sydney) where we would be staying in Sydney. We chose Manly as it is close to beach, this is where the dive boats leave from and it's easy to get to the city but not right in the middle of the meat grinder (maybe we are getting a bit too old to stay in King's cross with all the other backpackers). We spent some time seeing the sights, the opera, Harbour Bridge, King's Cross by night and much more, but mainly we stayed at Manly enjoying the beach and the local atmosphere.

We dived with Pro Dive Manly, they were excellent and friendly, for those that are sceptial about diving in Sydney don't be, it's great! We dove the following sites: Blue fish point, Blue fish wall, and Old man's hat (this is close to Bondi beach and was the only time we saw Bondi). For those waiting for the "why should I dive Sydney" well on our second dive we saw 4 weedy sea dragons (part of the seahorse family) Weedy sea dragon. I will try to describe one of our dives as it was very special. We went on what is called a dusk dive (just before night falls), this is the time when the day creatures hide for the night and when the night predators come out to feed. After seeing several Wobbegong sharks, giant cuttlefish and lot's of nudibranch, it was when we surfaced we got a surprise. It was like something out of a Star Wars film, Sydney was floating in the clouds, on the one side were dark black clouds with lighting flashing, on the other side the sun was shining with mountainous white cotton balls of clouds and then there was Sydney in the middle floating in the clouds with a golden hue. Amazing is all we could say, so what else did we see; Wobbegong sharks, giant cuttlefish, grey nurse sharks, sail catfish and a lot of nudibranch.



Another event was happening in Sydney that was a must-see, The Gay Mardi Gras, we've seen shows about this event and thought we would go have look and see what it was all about. It took some time but then we found a good spot in the centre of the action so we could see the whole parade. Things started slowly with a few drag queens and leather men and women that were not in the parade walking, soon there were people handing out whistles and condoms to one and all. They started with master of ceremony's followed by the famous Dykes On Bikes, what a show, people were going wild with the whistles and applause. Then came various floats and marching bands, dance routines, fancy dress and more (even a float with caged bondage people). This was a parade for people of every age group and many different nationalities. When we left the parade was over but the party carried on to the next day, for us it was more like trying to find a way back to Manly.



Some days later we were off to the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney where we joined a tour to explore the natural beauty of this wild and rugged area. As soon as we came to the first view point we caught our first glimpse of the beautiful mountains and valleys that stretch on for kilometers, the fantastic colours and sounds and even a glimpse of the birds and animals. We drove for miles through long valleys and on the tops of mountains, also driving through many small towns and villages, where we had lunch before moving on.

At one point we came to a old mine where we took a gondola to the bottom of the valley where we walked in a almost tropical forest area, that was very pretty and green. The trip going up was lot's of fun, we jumped in an old mining car and were sent speeding to the top, they were a few screams to be heard but it was good fun. On the way back we stopped in a park were we lay in the grass watching the wallabies and kangaroos as the came out to eat, while the birds screeched in the tree tops. Now for the bad news! When we arrived back in Sydney we found out that if we hurried we could catch the ferry and not have to wait half an hour, so we ran, the bad thing was that the camera was still laying between us on the bus and neither of us noticed the camera was still laying there as we ran out. Shit!! When we got off the ferry we found a pay phone and called the tour company and they said they had found it but we were leaving for Singapore early in the morning. We tried everything but nothing seemed to work, we even asked them to just send the film to us, no joy there either, so no camera and no pictures from the gay parade. The good news was that it was time to buy a digital camera with a underwater case, a Canon IXUS 2, and Singapore is great for shopping !!

In Singapore we once again stayed at the New 7th Story, then it was time to shop, we headed to Lucky Plaza where there was really good deals on electronics. We did not stay long in Singapore but we did head out to Sentosa Island to do some swimming and just relaxing, we also had dinner and drinks with a friend of Jorunn's before we headed off again.