marinegirl

trees!, originally uploaded by when milko shoots.

I’m currently on an island called Panglao, which hangs of the south west corner of Bohol. Sadly I didn’t take this photo - it’s been grey and drizzly since we got here, but I’m not complaining because the sea is flat as a pancake.

Alona Beach is either diving Mecca, or diving hell, depending on how you look at it. Every little resort (and there are a lotof them) crammed along the beach has a dive shop attached. The sea looks like where dive boats come to breed - I’ll try and get a photo tomorrow.

Lucky for me, when I came to book the trip, all the resorts were full. So we’re staying at a gorgeous little place called Alumbung, a few minutes ride away from the main drag. It’s nice to be waved at by children and offered coconut wine by drunks in the local sari-sari store rather than being scowled at by other tourists. We have a beautiful little ‘lumbung’ (which is apparently a Balinese rice barn with a Filipino twist!) with a sleeping area up a ladder and a great indoor/outdoor living area underneath with lots of bamboo and hammocks. It’s set in our own little garden, so it’s private and, roosters aside, quiet. Oh, and we have wireless internet too, hurrah!

Last August I took this photo of a petrol station on Siquijor and posted it to my flickr account. I recently received the following comment from Ablejon, updating me on the current petrol situation.

Technically speaking, we do still sell petrol with soft drinks bottles like Pepsi and Coke. But now, we have 2 gasoline refilling stations in the island with Petron; 1 in Nonoc, Larena and 1 in Pangi, Siquijor.

He also pointed me towards the Pangi Gasoline Station website.

I was fortunate enough to see the Pangi Station for myself this week as I was back on Siquijor for more fish counting, but sadly didn’t get the opportunity to top up there. We stayed at a little place called The Norwegian Dream Beach Resort just up the road. The staff were incredibly helpful, making sure there was a big pot of brewed coffee on the table for breakfast every morning, and even went as far as arranging some Norwegian weather for us. For four days we shivered in the rain, were thrown around on the surface in waves bigger than our little boat and underwater by unpredictable currents. One day it was so bad our boat couldn’t make it back to the Norwegian Dream, so Rich and I had to try and catch a jeepney back across the island in our wetsuits! I was cold and had had enough, so decided to end the trip a day early and come back to Dumaguete first thing Sunday morning. We woke up to the first blue sky all week and a flat sea - aaaargh!

Just got back from diving in Siaton. The surveys didn’t go 100% to plan… we had to scrap one site as there was nothing but sand, and another was near a river outflow so was kind of silty… BUT I saw a shark! Note: this is almost unheard of in the Philippines, there are no sharks left. Right at the start of the dive on our last morning, I was dropping down over the reef crest and right in front of me was a big blacktip reef shark. I think he was as surprised to se me as I was him, and shot off pronto. A thrilling start to the dive!

We stayed at a place called Kookoo’s nest - apparently kookoo’s, unlike cuckoo’s, have nests. We had a fab little hut with a balcony overlooking the beach, and the food was to die for. Every night Nikki puts on a buffet with barbequed fish, curry, stir fried noodles, salad, fresh fruit and all sorts of goodies. There was a really great atmosphere, unlike most of the resorts around here which tend to be full of sleazy old men propping up the bar, or being propped up by their underage Filipina girlfriends. It’s only a couple of hours ride from Dumaguete, so I think I’ll be tempted to come back for a weekend’s R&R and fattening up!

Oh, and one night there was an earthquake! I think this might be my first proper earthquake, simulated ones in some science centre in Iceland on a geography field trip don’t count I don’t think.