Getting to Alona Beach

I woke up around 9:30 am and ate breakfast with Day, and Jim. As usual, it was good. During the morning, there was a sense of rushing around as Jim had to prepare for performing an oral surgery, Day was trying to figure out directions to the airport (no mapquest in Phil), and I had to pack. Day drove me to the airport at around 12:30 pm which was later than we wanted. My flight was at 3 pm and I wanted to get there 2 hours before. Plus, we didn’t know how traffic would be (it’s worse than Los Angeles).

We made it just in time and I actually had some time to spare. Pity I had to pay extra for having 14 extra kilos in weight for my baggage. This time, I went through the two security check points with no issues. My flight left right on time and was only 1.5 hours long. The plane was a medium sized plane, though it was slightly scary on takeoff because the landing gear sounded like it had a hard time closing. Additionally, we had one of the roughest landings I’ve experienced.

A driver picked me up in a van from Tagbilaran to Alona Beach. The drive was shorter than I thought, only 35 minutes. I booked a room beforehand at Genesis Divers which was a dive resort I used before. It’s not a fancy place, but, the people are friendly and it’s at a good location. I met Luer who is the manager and Arlene showed me to my room.

My room was actually better than I thought it would be. It’s bigger than I thought and there are more amenities like a few drawers to put my clothes. Security is also better than I thought. The only thing I didn’t like was a funky smell in the place, it’s kinda dark, and my bed sheets were gummy feeling (cleaned?). Plus, my pillow was the saddest pillow I’ve ever seen. I didn’t feel clean on my bed. Thankfully though, the shared bath and shower are decently clean.

That evening I hung out in the common area with Luer, Sander (a dive instructor), Marc (a local foreign resident), and Giso, the owner. We had several San Miguel beers which put me in a good buzz. Afterwards, I ate dinner at some local restaurant on the beach. I had a fresh grilled snapper, some rice, and a San Miguel. All of it cost me 270 pesos ($6.70 USD). It was relatively expensive, but I had to splurge.

I walked to a nearby favorite bar called “Oops Bar!”. It was crowded and there were people dancing. I’ve never seen the bar this crowded before. I tried to find a place at the bar but couldn’t so I decided to smoke a cigar and hang out at the beach. It was my private celebration for making it out to the Philippines. The last week took a toll on me with all the stressing, moving, lack of sleep, and random problems (car broke, airport security problem, etc). I’m fortunate to have a good set of friends and family that helped get me through it all.

- jason