What a holiday! Mom n Dad met us at the airport - so wonderful, thank you!
It's nice and weird to be home, tho soon enough it will be routine as tho we never left. This trip will feel as tho we read about it in a book.
The last pics here are from a deluxe toilet in the Tokyo airport! Notice u can change the temp and pressure of the bedet. (bum spray). U can also deodorize, and add toilet flushing sound effects to cover any unpleasant bodily function noises. Wonder who sells these in Canada?!
Still unable to dive, we went snorkeling in front of our resort. It was awkward stumbling out over rocks, backwards, in fins. We were treated to lots of pretty coral and anemonies at the drop off, along with schools of swirling fish - in yellows, purple and silver. The bad part was, there were also lots and lots of jellyfish. Some were electric colours that actually lit up, others had long trailing tentacles. The worst though, was the huge masses of the clear box like jellies. They stung. There was no avoiding them either. There was so many. We did see what we were lookin for though, a sea turtle! Gliding gracefully off the reef on the hunt it appeared. Remarkable.Then we bee lined for shore, avoiding the Sharp, live coral, spiney urchins, and another urchin that looked like multi coloured hedge hogs. On shore we were covered with red stings from the jellies. These faded in a few hours and no longer stung
Really too bad we couldn't Dive tho. Otherwise, lazed about: reading, swimming, having massages, etc.
Stranded in stupid Manila. Awful, stinky, city. We were composing lists of the best and worst things in Philippines earlier, this flight counts as worst. So much for dinner plans in Singapore. :( At least the people watching is good.
Finally arrived at the infamous Marina Bay Sands just before midnight. Only 5 hours late :) Wow. Singapore is a rich, lush, cityscape full of skyscrapers and wonder. Our room is larger than imagined, its easily as big as our house! The next 2 days should be fabulous!
Our resort is so lovely. Small, friendly and quiet. Yesterday and today we just kicked back, enjoying the day, being lazy.
It seems all the guests including myself love the coconut shakes. The one staff member keeps scaling trees in order to cut down precious green coconuts. God bless him. :)
I did catch a ride to the nearby town and its pharmacy, who thankfully sold me antibiotics over the counter for a lovely bladder infection I've acquired. Seems Sean and I are doomed to be ill, as he's been having gastrinol issues. This and our head colds. And, Seans one ear hasn't been right sin ice our flight to Cebu. I think it leprosy. Better commit ourselves to one of the many beautiful island institutions in the area.
Seriously tho, we are feeling better... Hopefully well enough to dive tomorrow.
I'm starting to get used to everyone calling me mum. (really its ma'am, but it sounds like mum) thank you mum, sit down mum, nice husband mum... :)
Our flights were good, quick hops, similar to Hawaiian inter-island flights. Sean got searched in Manila, but I think they just wanted to frisk him. We hired a taxi to take us the 2.5 hours to Moalboal. $50
Our resort, DaCozy seems pretty sweet. I noticed a pool in the dark from our verandah, which seems it might have a view of the sea... The staff had a bottle of bubbley waiting for us, since its our honeymoon. Aw.
Since we are sick and unable to dive, we booked an island hopping snorkel trip for tomorrow. Today we are "getting better" aka: eating, drinking, having massage, lounging in the shade by the sea... Being sick could be worse!
Tonight were planning to hire a tricycle taxi to the hot springs after dark. Hot water, cold beer, stars. Sounds good. Well find out if it stinks like feces or if bats want to dive bomb our heads... :)
Later: No feces. The bats just swooped overhead. Great success! Enroute to the hot springs we picked up some kids and gave them a ride home from school. Ages 7-12, they practiced their English on us. "whats your name", "how old are you", babies?, etc. They were cute, all dressed in ill fitting school uniforms.
Next day: The island trip was fun. We got lovely sunburns, and were fed like kings on a tiny stretch of white beach with sparking aqua waters. The snorkelling was ok. Saw more nemos, some tiny electric jelly fish, and countless others. The wreck we swam over was overshadowed by the schools of fish swirling around us looking for hand outs.
At one mangrove beach, a grey monkey jumped aboard with us and begged for food. Dirty little creatures, yuck. They give me the creeps.
Lots of Chinese tourists everywhere, as its almost Chinese new year. Makes sense that the Philippines are a hot spot to visit.
Off to Cebu island on Saturday. :)
So, as usual with travel: we hurried to check out; pack, use the facilities, and get to the pier on time. We were a little late, but so far we are still waiting an hour and a half later. :)
I forgot to tell u, Sean got 100% on his PADI final, a first for the dive shop. Clever man. There u go Fran, now Sean has his diploma! Woo hoo! :)
The ferry is just a big canoe with outriggers, and glides easily through bud swells and choppy seas. It's 530 and I think were almost at our destination. Sad story: were both feeling sore throats, meaning we may not be able to dive the famous wrecks here. Boo.
The scenery is gorgeous and we have been passing hundreds of islands, all palm fringed, white sandy beaches... It's hard to believe there are so many sunken ships below us from WW2.
We've been doing lots of dives. Sean is now certified and were taking a 7 hour boat ride to Coron island where the wreck dives are supposed to be amazing.
We've been lucky to swim with turtles, sting rays, and cute Nemos of all colours and sizes. Even a sea snake, luckily it wasn't as creepy as the ones on land! It's hard on the hair tho, all the salt and sun.
