Wet dreams

Apo island. A village, some resorts and home stays and that's about it. On land. But who cares about that if there's this amazing under water world? It's one of the best places I've ever snorkelled and I've snorkelled in a few (Indonesia still wins though). In the morning at high tide there are turtles everywhere! And they don't give a damn about some humans playing fish and let you really close. We took some great photos with us and them and only being close to hypothermia brought us back ashore. Apart from those friendly creatures there's beautiful coral, nice rock formations and a lot of small things like nudibranchs. Like everywhere else, also on Apo island we couldn't find anything you could describeas big except one grouper. (That's why Indonesia is still my number one). We also went diving which was pretty amazing given the fact that we rode the boat 2 minutes from the beach.

Right after the dive we found someone who was going back to Dumaguete and we took the chance. There was still Bohol and Cebu left on the itinerary. Now we were really low on time and decided to give Bohol just a couple of days. Everything worked out so well that we arrived on Bohol the same day we left Apo island! What a change to the provinces where there's one bangka or jeepney at 06:00 and the rest of the day nothing, absolutely nothing (I still can't forget being described as lazy by a guy on Sibuyan). We didn't want to stay in Tagbilaran, Bohol's main town so we headed to Alona beach where we could find something in our price range. We did eventually, our tricycle driver ignored our orders to drive to a place we picked from the guide book, he just said no, no. So we drove to the places where he gets commission, they were on the way anyway. The first 3 were all full only the 4th had vacancy. There we said no, we want to go to the place we picked, but a lady from the resort said no, they're renovating. Fair enough, we thought, but we planned to check that out later. We finally stayed at the place of this helpful lady named Joy and got a decent bungalow for 700 pesos, 200m from the beach.

Alona beach itself is not really a beach. It's a concrete catwalk with some sandy patches in between. And the prices are steep. 70 pesos for a San Miguel! We paid 30 on Sibuyan! We tried to eat cheap and called it a day. The next day we slept long, swam a bit and ate like kings, it was our one-year-travel-anniversary! We really enjoyed spending money on food and drinks without thinking about it and we wisely picked a cheaper place away from the beach. Okay, maybe we still looked a bit after the money... This night brought back memories from everything we've been through so far and we suddenly saw how much we did in these 12 months. It did feel much longer than that and the thought of going back home was suppressed (as almost always).

We didn't really care about the beach this time, we were here for the Chocolate hills and the tarsiers. The Joy lady said we should rent a motorbike from her, it's only one hour drive to these places. Earlier we heard from other travellers that it takes about 3 hours one way, so we skipped that option, also the option of riding on the back of the bike of the night guard. We got ourselves a tricycle again and for some 1300 pesos he promised to drive us to those two sites. After an amazing breakfast we took off on a trip that my ears will remember for the rest of their life. Sitting next to the engine and exhaust of an old, battered Kawasaki bike is not very relaxing especially if this keeps going for over two hours...One way. The chocolate hills were pretty good, sadly though the weather was a bit in a changing mood and thick clouds put dark shadows over these hills. The tarsiers were absolutely cute. There are about 10 of these tiny lemurs spread throughout the sanctuary and the trees where they hide where marked with flags (they were not really hiding though, miraculously they all sat in the open at eye level). The whole sanctuary was a bit of a joke anyway, they tell everyone not to use the flash and to be quiet as these animals are nocturnal and need to sleep during visiting hours. But because they have such cute big eyes people don't give a shit about any of these rules. The whole place was an asian madhouse. If someone ever says that the youth in Europe has no manners anymore I'm gonna tell him about those old asian ladies. We also checked out the place where they were renovating, according to the Joy lady, they weren't, it was business as usual. Another lie, we were used to it by now.

We skipped diving on Bohol even if there's a chance of seeing whales, the chances are too small to spend valuable pesos on an overloaded boat. We only had one more goal now and that was Malapascua and the thresher sharks! We took the space ship ferry again to Cebu's massive port. There we resisted the temptation of a taxi ride for 2000 pesos straight to Maya, from where the bangkas leave to Malapascua. The problem was that our tricycle driver on Bohol said the ferry to Cebu leaves at 10:00. It didn't, it did at 11:50. The last boat to Malapascua was somewhere between 16:00 or 17:00 as far as we knew and we really wanted to make it straight to the island. But the bus took long, too long, even though the driver drove like an idiot and didn't stop for anyone at the end, we arrived in Maya at 19:00. But there's always a solution: private charter, the favourite solution of any Filipino bangka captain. 1500 pesos he wanted and after a long discussion we agreed. We just didn't want to spend another night in the province with no food (people in these places tend to close shops and restaurants at 20:00 and be in bed at 21:00). First we thought it to be madness to spend so much money but it turned out to be worth it. Because of low tide the bangka sat in the sand/mud and four guys pushed and pulled for over 1.5 hours to get us free (we eventually had to transfer to another boat, also stuck in the sand) and in the pitch black night on the way to Malapascua we drove through glowing plankton again! The whole boat was gliding through thousands of little stars, it was indescribable!

Malapascua looks like a dream. Just perfect. White beach, green, turquoise, blue water and palm trees. Along Bounty beach, the main drag, are some resorts lined up with prices three times higher than I would dare, but throughout the village behind the concrete blocks there are still good deals available. Our room cost 600 a night and was about 100m from the beach. All good. Then Anni got a cold and couldn't even think about diving but snorkelling worked good. Sadly there's not much to see for snorkelers. Same story as everywhere. Still we spent the days with the face facing the seabed and had good fun. But then the end of our stay came closer and the highlight was still waiting, thresher sharks! Anni was fit again and we went from dive shop to dive shop and compared prices and services. We found a good dive company away from the beach where we made a 4 dives-deal and booked an early morning dive.

Early morning it was! At 04:45 I was wide awake, which is worth mentioning, we grabbed our gear at the dive shop and left the island for Monad Shoal. This place is an underwater mount that rises from over 200m up to like 15m below the surface and the only place in the world with almost guaranteed sightings of thresher sharks! They normally live in the deep, as deep as 350m, and to see them in 20-30m is just unique. What makes them so special is their long tail fin that can reach the same length as the shark's body. It's said that they use the tail to smack it into schools of fish to stun them. Anyway, they look gorgeous on photos! We descended the mooring line and hit the top of the plateau at around 15m. From there we swam to the edge of the drop off and went to 28m where we sat/lied on a little ridge. Even before we arrived there we saw from above that there were sharks around! While we tried to find a comfortable position in our brand new 5,5mm suits (all equipment from the dive centre was brand new) we couldn't believe we were actually here! All in all we saw 3 sharks, and all of them came pretty close. I couldn't take a decent photo though, first it was very early, the sun just got up and second we were not allowed to use the flash, this would scare them away (most good photos you see in the internet were taken with flash though. Very respectful, just for a photo...). After the last shark left we followed the wall a bit, then turned back for another chance but didn't see any (only Anni did!) and then back to the line. There was plenty of stuff to see on the plateau, but I couldn't concentrate any more, I was just so happy. The following dive site was close to the first one, with chances to see manta rays but our luck was all used, it was quite an empty dive.

Two more dives followed the next day, we got a deal but for that we had to do at least four dives. One in the morning was at a pinnacle with very strong current and bad visibility. It was still fantastic, we've never seen that many softcoral in one place before. But the real draw at this place are the pygmy seahorses. The guide found two in a purple fan coral, we knew they're tiny, but barely a centimeter is really small! The second dive was different to anything we knew. It started short before sunset in front of the lighthouse and was focused on mandarin fish. With slowly disappearing light we followed the guide who was looking for them. Apparently they have a meeting ritual almost every day before dark where the small female and the big male first chase each other through corals and holes and then suddenly start to "dance". They swim around each other and slowly rise from the coral upwards in a spiral, it's so impressive and cute I forgot to take photos at that moment. Sadly there's also a negative side to that spectacle. It brings tourists. The photo hunters. As we found the place of these fish meetings there were already two tourists with a guide present and one had a massive camera ready. The other carried something that looked like a midsized submarine, I would've fit easily in that one. It wasn't a submarine in the end but the biggest camera one can imagine and the guy operating it made himself comfortable on a block of coral. Yes, he was lying on this table coral with his full weight so he can balance his submarine camera better. I couldn't believe it. This guy probably flew to the Philippines just to get a shot of the thresher shark and then a prize winning photo of dancing mandarin fish and for this he had to sacrifice a table coral. It's probably worth it for him. But because of dickheads like this the whole area down there looks like a Filipino dynamite fishing ground. I was complaining earlier about this practise but this is locals ruining their neighbourhood. What I find much more disgusting is these white tech freaks jetting around the world for some photos and leaving nothing but ruins.

After I calmed down I concentrated on these beautiful fish and tried to get some photos myself with my humble camera. But every time the fish couple rose and danced for a few seconds this guy's double flash went off and all the fish were gone. I guess the guys with the small cameras were not cool enough to play in the same league as Mr. Submarine. We left the playground of the techies and switched on our torches, it was pitch black by now. Everytime a diver found something it soon started to attract others and every seahorse or cuttlefish was soon surrounded by several divers fighting for a photo opportunity. We had enough of that and went further away and started looking for our own highlights. And we saw a lot of nice creatures you normally don't see during daytime like cuttlefish, many different crabs and an absolute highlight while hanging on the mooring line during our safety stop: bioluminescent plankton! We knew it was around when we arrived on Malapascua but didn't know it was still here. We switched off our torches and had the best three minutes of safety stop ever! By the time we climbed back aboard the bangka we were shivering uncontrolled, we didn't realise earlier that we were freezing. Probably the best sign for a good dive!

Then it was time to leave. For good. We had a flight waiting in Cebu and wanted to be there the day before. This time we crossed over to Maya via the regular bangka for 80 pesos. Then some sweaty, cramped four hours with the Ceres Liner bus and we were in Cebu where we shared a cab with a nice Australian couple that had been on the road for almost as long as us. We followed our amazing guide book and checked in to Pensionne Florentina, a nice guesthouse in a old building. For dinner we thought to head to the big mall around the corner where we would sure find a Max's, we just wanted this sizzling tofu again we had in Laoag! There was none. Only stalls selling local food like meat. Chicken, pork, beef, corned beef, fish, shrimp, crab, squid. Everything grilled or roasted or fried (which means deep fried) or in dumplings or on a stick or in balls or in a sauce. And white rice. That's it. And that's why we were happy to leave the Philippines. It's been amazing, beautiful, sometimes frustrating and annoying. And hot. Always hot. But we can deal with that. What makes it very hard for us is the lack of edible food. I eat meat but in normal portions. But there it's just meat! A big lump of something meaty, white rice and that's it. I didn't like it. And don't even ask Anni.

We left early to the airport so we could get breakfast/lunch there. The taxi was surprisingly cheap, 200 pesos for quite a long journey. At the airport we checked the luggage in and then had to pay the terminal fee. 550 pesos which is pretty much 10 euros. As with everything so far in this country there's always an additional fee but this was just too much! With this money they could build a new airport every year! So we handed our last pesos over, sure we could buy food with credit card, it's Cebu international airport after all. But no. There's one cafe where they ask you to leave if you sit down and don't consume something and a restaurant but neither of them accepts credit card and the nearest ATM is outside the terminal building. So we spent our remaining 80 pesos on an old fruit salad and a peanut bar. Cebu/Mactan international airport is the main way in and out the Visayas but for that it's pretty disappointing. So bring enough cash if you ever use this place, I wouldn't.

We left the Philippines with mixed feelings. The nature and the size of this country is absolutely incredible but if you look close, so much is destroyed or on the way there and in the case of the reefs it will take centuries to recover. Also there are only a few places actually prepared for tourism, no restaurants, no information about transportation (mostly not even the locals know when the jeepneys and boats leave and this on small islands with one jeepney and one boat a day...) and also no clue how to deal with these foreigners. Most people are absolutely lovely and try their best to help but we also met a fair share of bad characters which are hard to avoid once you're in their village. So travelling the Philippines is easy if you follow the package tourists. If you don't, you will experience some serious travelling with all the troubles it brings along. After 2 months in the Philippines we just didn't have the energy for this anymore.