Bacolod, Philippines - June 2011

Culasi Bay at dawn

We pack away the dive gear for the meantime and head for the city of Bacolod on Negros Island. It is home to Daryl’s brother’s ( John) wife (Merci). We figure the closest we can get the yacht to their suburb is stopping at Brgy,Talisay. By bad luck we choose low tide to go ashore. Local fisherman guide us in over the sandbar and we arrive in a muddy backwater outside the fish market. As we get out of the dinghy, into mud up to our shins, 50 odd men watching, Amber whispers ‘this will not be a good moment to fall in’. We squelch our way to shore and the locals kindly direct us to a tap where a lad pumps as we rinse. People stare as if we have just dropped from outer space. We chat to a local Chinese wood carver (who also has a crab processing business!!) who has some fears for the safety of the boat and dinghy. We assure him we’ll only be gone for a few hours and he seems satisfied.

We have a lovely lunch with the family, visit the flash local mall, pick up food in the local market and bring some of the young ones back to the boat. We decide to move the boat a few miles down the coast to a commercial harbour where the family thinks we will be safer. The rest of the family comes out for dinner. For them it is an experience they have never had and never likely to come across again.

Group at the fish market, watching........................Daryl and I with Iris

Merci's family.............................................................Young Timothy

Visit at Iris's work, the community hospital........... Iris getting wet with rain in the dinghy

Dinner on the boat

Ian with his new guitar..........................Emily, Iris and Ian on the dinghy

Taking Ian and Iris to 'Chicken House for lunch

Goodbye for now

We have a lovely lunch with the family, visit the flash local mall, pick up food in the local market and bring some of the young ones back to the boat. We decide to move the boat a few miles down the coast to a commercial harbour where the family thinks we will be safer. The rest of the family comes out for dinner. For them it is an experience they have never had and never likely to come across again.

As often the case it is the weather that determine the length of a stay and this stay is cut short by a weather system that is on it’s way in the South China Sea. Amber makes the fastest exit a crew member has ever made from the boat. It suits her to stay longer in Negros, we need to get going, so 45 mins after her decision to stay is made, Daryl is dropping her at the shore, as we need to be off. She’s stayed in daily contact and is racking up a list of ‘must do’ dives for Daryl for the future.

Mean while we high tail it south west back across the Sulu Sea before the weather hits. So we are currently tucked up in Puerto Princesa Harbour outside Abinico Yacht Club. John and Sissi are such great hosts, with their quaint restaurant and bar and their wealth of knowledge about the city and it’s people. Transport into town is easy, there are plenty of good restaurants and a good air conditioned supermarket – what more does a cruiser need.

Malapascua, Philippines - June 2011

So it’s another early start and we are anchored in Poblacion Bay in Malapascua Island by 8.30am. This is a small island that is situated at the top of Cebu, a popular tourist island in the Philippines. It wants to develop itself as another Boracay, but has a way to go!! For us, underdeveloped is good. The island has a population of 3500 and the town has no roads, only tracks. It was like a maze walking from one place to another. It was as if you were walking through their properties. Shops were like entering their houses. Amber wanted a phone top up card – “sorry none left on the island”.

We haven’t seen a cruising yacht in weeks but who should arrive in the afternoon, but Tigger, who we last saw in El Nido five weeks ago. The next few evenings are pleasantly spent exchanging stories of experiences we’ve had. The days, however, are spent swimming, snorkeling and diving the surrounding area. Usual story, watch where the charter boats are going, then follow along. In one snorkeling area we’ve been told that there are seahorses. Peter and Toni show us the meaning of patience as they spend hours fossicking likely habitats of the seahorse. We ask some staff on a tour boat and we move up to a different place. Not our lucky day.

Daryl and Amber have two 4.30am departures from the boat in pursuit of the thresher sharks and manta rays. Alas, without the success they hoped. They saw one thresher shark and they did see a glimpse of a six metre plus manta ray as they were ascending their final dive, which was pretty exciting. I don’t think Daryl is going to have the patience for too much of the ’descend, then sit and wait’ style of diving.

Daryl took himself out of his comfort zone and did an evening/night dive to see the mandarin fish. We saw these fish in Banda, Indonesia and they are relatively rare. Sorry, but no good photos.

Amber decided to do three dives out at Gato Island and we were most jealous, as she saw a seahorse. She came back buzzing about the day.

snake

juvenile barramundi

Crab on the night dive.............................................Strange creature probably related to nudibranch

Wreck in the bay

Masbate Village, Philippines - June 2011

On the trip down from Ticao Island to Malapascua Island we were expecting current with us and thought it would take 12 hours. We make a sunrise start but by early afternoon realise we aren’t going to make it and will need to stop for the night on the south east coast of Masbate Island. Daryl randomly chooses to anchor outside a village with a flash modern building we presume is a church.

Before long we realise we are a bit of a curiosity and there are boys in canoes circumnavigating our perimeters. When we speak to them our first impressions is that they don’t speak English, kiwi English anyway. Amber perseveres to see if one of them is willing to take her fishing in their canoe. It turns out they speak English but probably are too shy, at first, to communicate with us. Time changes this and Amber gets fishing lessons with Nico. She then gets offered motor boat driving lessons in to shore. The forward ones ask for cigarettes. By the time we reach the shore there would have been well over 100 people there to greet us. It is pretty obvious that these people seldom get to see western people and we are creating a village event!!

Curious boys................................................................Amber going fishing with Nico

Amber having driving lessons.................................Nico introducing us to the village

Curious children.........................................................Amber with a village elder

View from the church.................................................Many gathered to see us

Daryl playing with the children................................Farewell

We ask to see the church and are given an outer tour. We can sense some reluctance and only later do we work out that probably we were inappropriately dressed, in shorts and singlets, for being at a church which is probably why we didn’t get an invitation inside.

We turn down invitations to stay on as the tide is rapidly receding and fear it may become an issue for the dinghy over the reef. We come away feeling like we can better understand what it must feel like to be famous!!!

Ticao, Philippines. June 2011

Tacdogan Bay.............................................................Fisherman returning to the village

After leaving Donsol we travelled for only a few hours and then stopped at Ticao Island and, you’ve guessed it, another recommended dive spot. We anchor in the Tacdogan Bay and dinghy in to Ticao Island Resort to organize the dives on Manta Ray Bowl, just a few kilometres out in the Ticao Passage. Daryl and Amber negotiate NZ $100 per person for three bottle dives, average for around here but pretty good by world standards. That of course includes the boat ride, a guide and skipper plus lunch –and only the two of them booked aboard.

Rico, the manager on his horse.................................View from the restaurant

Daryl goofing around.................................................Cool Bananas from the dive boat

The dive was down 17 to 22 metres where you hook yourselves onto the bottom and wait………. The strong currents provide ideal conditions for manta ray cleaning stations, where the mantas queue to have the cleaner wrasse remove parasites from their skin……but not today!!!! Three dives and they didn’t see a one. They did, however, see reef sharks, nudibranches and other bits and pieces. Still, not a bad way to spend a day. Meanwhile, I have the day to myself aboard, pottering around - swimming, internet, photo sorting and baking.

Daryl and Amber

A big nudibranch

Rather large sweetlips

Dinner at the resort is a quiet affair, both nights with broken power supply that saw us provided with candles. We appreciate that it’s now low season but typically these places bring you the full menu, leave you for half an hour to choose, take your order to the kitchen, then back they come “sorry, no fish curry”. You reorder, they go out to the kitchen and back, sorry……. (Congratulations, Abanico Yacht Club in Puerto Princesa, for bringing us a blackboard with the choices of the night written up – so much simpler, more positive and such a time saver!! ) All that said, the Ticao Island Resort was marvelously accommodating, friendly and a magic setting.

Donsol, Philippines. May 2011

Our view from the anchorage across to Mt Mayon

About two hours out from Boracay we make a snap decision to travel 100 miles east to Donsol to see the whale sharks. We know it is late in the season but a quick phone call tells us that there are a few still in the area. The whale shark (or known locally as butanding) is the world’s largest fish and many feed from November to May along the coast of Donsol. They are known to grow to lengths of 18 metres, 40 tons in weight and live for 100 years. Their mouths are about 2 metres across.

Again the World Wildlife Foundation are working closely with the local government to research and monitor the whale sharks, to help educate tourists and locals alike and to help develop ecotourism. Our overall comment from what we saw would be that they are doing a great job all round.

We went out on a tourist Bangka (Boat) two mornings running and were successful in snorkeling with the whale sharks both days. The local boys aboard working relentlessly, looking for a fin in the distance or a brown shadow in the water closer in. The first sighting was a massive whale shark swimming just below the surface coming across the boat right below us. Excitedly we threw on and snorkeling gear and waited…….alas he’d gone down deep and we never saw him again. Later though as we were returning to land one was sighted and we were able to swim with it. On day two we hopped in a few times and everyone was happy.

Our whale shark spotters...........................................Pick the new boy on the team

Looking towards the whale sharks head.................Mid section

Head and dorsol fin...................................................Tail as he passes

I didn’t enjoy the frenzy of gearing up, leaping to the guides instruction, all of us seemingly landing in a pile on top of each other, extracting oneself, swimming free of the moving bangka and then snorkelling furiously towards the departing shadow. The guide was great and with only 5 to a boat he made sure everyone got a look in. I was lucky to have whale shark swim right underneath me so I saw it pass from head to tail. Certainly worth the effort. Both days we shared the bangka with a Japanese couple, Came and Riza and if I thought I was out of my comfort zone, I applaud Riza for her efforts, as she was far less water confident than I was and she came away smiling.

Riza and Kame, our boat buddies for two mornings

The water visibility wasn’t great for photos as they were still murky as a result of the typhoon passing through there. We will probably plan to be in this area next year in April so we can spend time in the peak season when it’s said to have so many whale sharks it’s hard to find a space to swim between them??? We’d like to see if that is in fact true.

Until 1998 the town was a sleepy little fishing village. We were delighted to see many of those characteristics were evident still. On the first evening in town there was a special basketball game on, so it seemed the whole town was out in force. We wandered the street stalls sampling bbqed pork sates and other delicacies. We turned down the gambling booth and then stumbled upon the end of a beauty pageant. You just never know what the evening is going to bring.

Donsol as we arrive in the dinghy.........................Village in the channel

Outside the local store.............................................Gambling in the market

Children - my favourite subjects............................how cute is that....

Winner of pagent with her family..........................two other contestants

We did a little self tour up the river at night and were rewarded with trees lit up with the lights of hundreds of male fireflies attempting to attract a mate. When the advertising said ‘lit up like Christmas trees’, they weren’t kidding. Getting back to the boat in the pitch dark, at low tide, down narrow channels and over sand bars wasn’t so much fun but our competent skipper had it all under control. That night we fell asleep to the gentle thump of karaoke somewhere nearby onshore.

The channel as we go in for dinner...........................Net fisherman

Fisherman at sunset