I know it has been a while since I have posted last, but I have been really busy with helping out the centre. Anyways, I have time now and I can finally get this done. Well on the 13th through the 17th (well a 1am flight) we as a dive club went to Mactan near Cebu in the Philippines. Mactan was a really nice place, but I didn't realize how many Korean shops and Korean restaurants were on that island, at least in that immediate area that we were in. I thought that I was going to experience something different than Korean culture, but I was wrong. Anyways, we left Wednesday night, and the flight was full of screaming children... For 3hrs we had to endure the screams of this squealing little kid, while his parents did nothing except give it more candy and soda.... Oh well, we got to the airport in Mactan, and we took a shuttle to the resort. Now I had imagined a nice very plush resort, but what we got was a Marriott at best. The resort was nothing like the pictures they have on their website. The pools were ok, but nothing like on the website. The service there was great, the staff was really friendly and they went out of their ways to make sure we were comfy. Also I didn't realize that the water out of our faucets in our rooms was not potable. Oh well, I didn't drink it, but I was about too, and Nick told us not to drink it. Anyways, We all got ready to get on the boat, but I was not use to the fact that there were people carrying my gear for me. They set it all up and did everything that I usually do, because that is just the way I learned to do things in Korea. Anyways, I felt a little bad for letting them do that when I was more than capable of doing it myself, but that is just how things work there.
While we were there we did 7 dives and some of us did 8 dives. All of the dives that we did on the first day were about the same types of dives, but we saw so many different things on each dive. The people that owned the resort and dive shop there wanted to come out with us and show us new things, so we let the course director do the dive briefing. I was amazed on the infinite wisdom that came from that man's mouth. His dive briefing was about 30-40 second long. It equated to loosely this: "We all go in together. Swim around together, and get out together." I wish every briefing were that short and sweet. The last thing that he told us though was to be careful of the Triggerfish, because they were mating now. The first two dives were at Olango dive site. on both dives we dropped in and the water was an amazing 30C (86F). I have never dove in water this warm before and I LOVED IT!!!!! I also really enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to wear a weight belt, I just used my integrated weight system on my BCD. I had 2kg (~5lbs) in each pocket. This dive was to be a shallow dive so we could get the lay of the land and a feel for what we were doing. Well it turns out that a shallow dive of them is about 25m (82ft). Well I was fine going at that depth, because the water was still warm as hell at that depth. I actually ended up going down around 28m (~92ft) Well we swam along the wall for about 30mins and in that time, I saw more fish than I had seen in all of my dives in Korea put together. I loved it!!! We saw; Lion fish, Nudibranch, clownfish, moray eels, and so many other tropical fish there. It was wonderful. Now, Nick and I wanted to see a Triggerfish, because of what our friend Rob told us about them. We wanted to see one and see if they actually did what he said they would do to people. Also the guide Nemo told us to be careful of them because the Triggerfish were mating now. On the second drive we saw a Titan Triggerfish, it was really interested in our group and the DM that was guiding us wasn't taking any chances. He took his poker and his alternate air source and tried to scare it away from us. Also on that dive we saw a lone Barracuda just resting against the wall.
On the third dive of the day we went to Kontiki dive site. There we saw a giant school of Sardines. I was a little disappointed in the school of Sardines for the only reason I would have liked to swim in them instead of around them, but never less they were really amazing to see. This dive was also a wall dive. We went down around 24m (~79ft) for about 48mins. We swam along the wall looking at all of the fish and the different life that you can find in the warm waters off of the Philippines. We did our 3min safety stop with the Sardines and then we got back on the boat. I must say that the safety stops were MUCH more interesting in the Philippines than they are in Korea. There is a lot more to see and you aren't just sitting there getting bored. Well once were on the boat we made our way back to the resort. Again once we got there we were told no to worry about the gear and that the boat crew would get it off the boat for us and clean it. Again it didn't feel right for me to be doing that.
Well after got back to the resort and we got changed and cleaned up the owner took us out for a BBQ. It was really nice and getting there was half the fun. They shoved all of us into a small little truck and then they took us into town. The BBQ was nice place. The smell was amazing, but I quickly found out how much of the food I could actually eat. (not much, because I have a shellfish allergy) Well I stuff my face with the foods that I could eat which were most of the appetizers, but they all were really tasty. Well we spent about a few hours there stuffing our face with food. After that we went to the local mart to get some more provisions (beer, snacks, and Tanduay 65). Shopping at the mart in the Philippines is an experience, they have very dedicated lines for the size of cart you have and they enforce them fairly strictly. Well once we got the supplies we headed back to the resort for the night dive.
We did our only night dive at the House Reef that was about 200m (656ft) from the resort that we were staying at. Well we all got into the water and we went down around 24m (~79ft) and we were down there for 35mins. It was a really nice dive. The torches that we had were the same ones that we use in Korea, but for some reason they seem to light up a lot more than what they do in Korea. Well while were down there we saw a lot of different fishes. We saw; a Banded Sea Snake, a Sponge Crab, Lionfish, Moray Eels, and other fish. This was also my first non Korea night dive which made it wonderful. Well we all surfaced and we got into the boat and went back to the resort. Once we were back we cleaned off the gear and then showered and cleaned up. We also got out the drinks and snacks that we had gotten at the mart and had ourselves a little party poolside.
We sat poolside and drank until around 1am or so, and then we all decided it was time to get some sleep, so we all went to bed and that was our first day in the Philippines.
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