Surfing to Diving

Surfing in Alona Beach? Locals take advantage of the waves to surf. It's very rare that there are any waves to surf in Alona Beach.

Taeko, Yuhka, and I went to Alona Beach from my place because Taeko wanted to do an introductory dive and Yuhka wanted to do a refresher course; they’re basically the same. Since there was a tropical storm off the coast of Alona Beach, we had to do the dives on another side of Panglao Island—in Doljo beach.

Che dancing for Taeko and I.

Palm trees blow in the wind. "Hangin Kaayo" - very windy.

We got our gear sorted, and I did an extended dive briefing with Taeko and Yuhka which ran a little late. Once we got our equipment sorted, we took the Genesis truck to Doljo beach which was only a few minutes drive from where I live. The new instructor Ricky came along with us and wanted to watch me do the course. Conditions were better but still not good to practice shallow water skills.

For someone who barely knows how to swim and whose second language is English, Taeko did exceptionally well doing the dive skills. She had no problems clearing her mask, equalizing, or breathing underwater and she was completely comfortable underwater. I was impressed. Yuhka also was really good underwater also and needed little assistance. During our Open Water dive, I can tell Taeko was interested in a lot of the things she saw underwater because she would always try to swim off to things she saw. Several times, I had to hold on to her to slow her down. I didn’t mind, I got a free ride while she could towed me around.

Even Janet doesn't like the wind so much.

Elna frying fish for dinner.

Jolie gets ready to pour the Flaming Lamborghini.

Taeko and Yuhka drank the drink so slow the flame melted their straws.

Taeko, done with the drink for now.

In the evening, I hung around Genesis where Elna showed me how to cook fish Filipino style. Quite simply, you just deep fry fish in oil and eat it with rice. I like simple and open to any way to eat more cheaply. I hung out and watched Elna cook until about 7 PM when I met up with Taeko and Yuhka at Oops bar. There we had some drinks, played a lot of Genga, and Taeko got drunk. Good times.


- jason