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
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