El Nido Diving

Barry briefs us before we go onto the boat.

I woke up around 2 AM at night to the stumbling sounds of my drunk neighbor getting into his room. I would normally just fall back to sleep but he decided to play music loudly. I tried sleeping through the music but the thin bamboo walls don’t do anything to dampen the sounds; it was just too loud. I knocked on his wall and door but there was no response. Eventually, Sara and I got the guys attention to turn off his music; no respect.

We eventually met at the Sea Dog dive shop at 8 AM to setup for our three dives today. After setting up my underwater camera, I noticed my camera’s flash wouldn’t fire so I just left my camera in my dive bag. Martine, Erich, Sara, and I went where we met up with Fred and our dive guide Barry. Barry was fairly informal about diving and a little disorganized. We didn’t sign any liability forms, he didn’t check our scuba certification cards, and he took my entire dive bag onto the boat where we set up our gear; you usually just bring what you need. Barry said our first dive site was a secret one that he found.

Barry sets anchor at the first dive site.

Erich grows a fin on his head when you put saltwater on him.

We traveled to the first dive site on a small power boat for about 10 minutes. The dive site was just at the base of a big limestone island rock. We dived the wall where I buddied up with Sara, Martine with Erich, and Barry with Fred. After we descended, we swam along the rock wall. Visibility was about 50 feet. Barry swam quite fast and was actually difficult to keep up with him. Erich and Martine dived at a casual pace while Sara and I tried to keep in sight of them and Barry. Eventually, Sara and I lost sight of Barry and Fred and then lost sight of Erich and Martine. I’ve always dived at a casual pace because it’s hard to find things if you don’t and what’s the rush?

When Sara and I surfaced we Barry and Fred were already on the boat waiting. Erich and Martine were not in sight and once we got onto the boat we drove out to look for them. They surfaced on the other side of the island. My first impression of Barry wasn’t that good—as a guide, he should be showing us the dive site and what’s there. He just swam fast out leaving us behind.

Sara comforts Martine.

At the second dive site, Barry said there is a good amount of coral and something he wouldn’t tell us because he wanted to surprise us. Similar to the previous dive, Barry and Fred swam off ahead of everyone while Erich, Martine, Sara and I went at our own pace. We didn’t see much at the dive site that was impressive; the highlight of the dive actually was when Erich stole Sara’s fins and put them on his hands. I’ve never laughed so hard underwater before. Too bad I didn’t have my camera.

For lunch, we hung out at a beautiful white sand beach on some desolate island. One good thing about Barry is that his wife cooks really good food. We ate pork in a nice sauce with rice and a salad. After about an hour of hanging out on the beach and me eating two large plates of food, we went out to our last dive. Barry briefed us on the dive site saying that the visibility isn’t as good as the last sites and there isn’t as much coral. So why are we doing this site?

Sponge coral.

The small nudibranch I caught floating around.

The dive site was okay. Barry and Fred descended before I got into the water and as usual they went quickly ahead of the rest of the group. What’s the rush? Sara, Erich, Martine and I took our time and went at our own pace. We found a lobster, a small nudibranch, a flatworm, and a few clams. The nudibranch I found was floating in the water and I managed to catch it on my hand. I decided to take my camera underwater because having it even without the flash is better than nothing at all.

Back at the dive shop we rinsed and stored our gear. I paid by credit card which was a very laborious task for Barry’s wife to do. Since they didn’t have a land line, they had to text the information over. Primitive, but at least we could us our credit cards because there’s no ATM around. Unfortunately, I never got a discount for having my own dive gear. All that work carrying the stuff for nothing. After we settled everything at Sea Dog, we all made our way to Art Cafe to hang out and get a coffee.

At Art Cafe, I met two other Dutch travelers Timo and Nina. I struck up a conversation with Timo because I noticed he had a Lomo LC-A camera with him which isn’t common and takes unique stylized photos. I learned we share similar interests in a certain type of photography. Its good to meet a photographer who enjoys the creative uses of film and the camera in photography; the predictability of digital photos can be so uninteresting.

Erich, Martine, Sara, and I scheduled an island hopping excursion with Timo and Nina. We chose “trip B” which would take us to five different islands where we would hang out on white sand beaches, snorkel, and even go inside a cave. Sounded exciting and its good to have a change from diving. Diving in El Nido was unimpressive compared to Alona Beach or any other places I’ve dived in the Philippines.

Sara during dinner.

For dinner, we ate at a Dutch owned restaurant that was quite good. I ate garlic fish with garlic rice. For some reason, I really had a craving for garlic. While waiting for our food, Erich and I came up with a new game to pass the time—breastketball. It simply was just throwing small wads of paper into Martine’s cleavage. After dinner, we bought a bottle of Tanduay rum and a liter of Coke. We drank it on our porch. It was a quiet, mellow night.

- jason

The Long Road to El Nido

Erich and Martine discuss, uh, her eye.

We woke up early to catch a bus that was leaving for El Nido at 7 AM. It’s an eight to ten hour bus ride mostly on dirt road; I wasn’t looking forward to it. As usual, I rushed to pack my things I left around the room and hoped I didn’t leave anything behind. We took a truck to the bus terminal because we thought we were running late. We weren’t.

Martine takes a nap on Sara in my shadow.

I didn’t know what to expect of the bus ride and how safe it was. I heard of stories of people stealing tourists belongings on the bus. I was paranoid about my laptop being stolen so I packed it in my dive bag which has a lock. The bus crew threw my hiking backpack and dive bag on the roof of the bus. Two bus crew guys stayed up on the top of the bus to make sure no bags got loose. That was nice.

Within about 10 minutes into the bus ride my lower back was aching because of the small seat and little leg room I had. At about the same time, the driver stopped the bus because something was wrong with it. An onboard mechanic opened up his toolbox on the floor of the bus and went to work under the bus. After a few stops and fixes, the bus seemed to work fine. By 10:30 AM, we stopped at an eatery to have a late breakfast. There I met Fred from France and Terry from the US. I was hungry and ordered some pork adobo with rice. Shortly before we left, I noticed Terry eating the scrapes of food off of Fred’s plate. That’s weird.

Bus crew putting the flat tire on the roof of the bus.

After an hour of driving from the eatery our bus got a flat tire on its front right wheel. I saw it as a time to get outside, stretch, and take pictures. Several others, mostly foreigners, joined me. Outside I met Andrea from England who has been traveling around with Fred and recently Terry. After replacing the flat tire, putting it on the roof of the bus, and balancing the new tire we were set to go.

About 2 hours of the bus ride are on paved road while the rest—about 7 hours—is driven on a dirt road. I was actually a little excited to get to ride on the dirt road. After seeing some rain clouds in the distant I got concerned about my laptop being on the roof of the bus. What if the sun heats up the moisture in my dive bag and then damages the laptop? If it rains on the bus are they going to cover the bags with a tarp?

Lunch at a small family eatery.

At about 1:30 PM, we made a stop for lunch at a small family eatery. I didn’t eat anything while Erich, Sara, and Martine ate lunch. Fred ate again and Terry ate the leftover scrapes off of Fred’s plate again. What a vulture! I wonder how long he’s done this since he started traveling with Fred. Does Fred know?

Sometime during our drive in the dirt our bus stopped for no apparent reason. The bus crew was doing something on the roof. Maybe a loose bag? I looked up at top and noticed they were putting a rain tarp over all of the bags; excellent. It was nice to see they cared so much for the bags on the roof of the bus. No worries.

The rain caused the road to get a little muddy. One part of the road we came upon was a steep muddy incline. All the vehicles in front of us lined up to go up the hill like cars in a roller coaster; each one would stop at the base of the hill, quickly accelerate to gain speed and momentum, and try to make it over the hill before sliding down it or to the side.

When it was our turn to drive up the hill, we stopped at the base of the hill and paused for a moment. I braced myself like I usually do right before I’m shot out of a roller coaster. The driver accelerated, we went up the hill, drifted sideways, then Sara and I moved away from the window as we saw a fuel truck come within a couple feet of our window. I realized we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon so I got out of the bus to see what was going on. The fuel truck was stuck in a ditch in the mud as well as our rear tires. Another truck managed to pull the fuel truck out. Once they did that, our bus gingerly got out of its ditch. I jumped back into our bus with my muddy feet.

Stuck in the mud.

Throughout the rest of the drive, the bus got more or less crowded as it picked up and dropped off people. At one stop, the bus dropped off a lot of rice but brought aboard a chicken. By 4 PM, about 8 hours after we left, we arrived at El Nido bus stop. El Nido was a beautiful area set among tall limestone rock formations. Geologically, it is different from most other parts of the Philippines which makes Palawan unique.

Erich finds comfort on Martine's shoulder.

Another passenger on the bus; now it's really getting crowded.

It didn’t take long to find a place to stay that we liked. The place we checked into was on the beach, had two beds plus an extra mattress, private shower, and a beautiful view of the bay for 650 pesos per night total for 4 people. We settled in a little and then broke out the rest of the rum and Coke to celebrate. Good times.

Rum, Coke, and a smoke. Time to celebrate.

The view from our 650 peso/night room.

Before it got too late, we ventured out to look for a dive shop to see if we could dive the next day. We walked all around El Nido looking for dive shops which was no easy task. It was all much more complicated than it should be; restaurants would advertise dive shops, but then when we would find the dive shop, we would then have to find the dive instructor for more information.

We did find a dive shop that was run out of the instructor’s house and bar. The instructor, Barry, was a nice English man that seemed decent. He was the cheapest for the dives at 3000 pesos for 3 dives. We booked our dives for the next day and then walked over to the Art Cafe which is supposedly a good spot to meet people, schedule trips, and get more information about the area.

Art Cafe is a really cool and useful place. Coffee was good, the interior was decorated nicely, decent food, there were a lot of travelers to meet, and there was a booking office to book activities and transportation. What a great idea to create a hub for travelers to get information, book activities, socialize, and hang out.

Dogs playing in the night.

After drinking a latte and checking out how to get to Coron in Northern Palawan, we walked out onto the beach to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up eating at a nice looking restaurant where I ate the hot and spicy squid. It was okay.


- jason

Coffee Coffee Beer Pool Rum

Good coffee, marble brownie, and Internet. An ideal breakfast.

I woke up fairly early today so I can have a nice breakfast and coffee at a cafe that looked really good. I wanted to have enough time before my friends Sara, Martine, and Erich arrived from Manila. The cafe, Itoy’s Specialty Coffee Shop, has a nice coffee house atmosphere with free wireless Internet. Their espresso machine setup looked decent, their pastries looked fresh and good, and they seemed to care for how they made espresso. I ordered a cappuccino with a marble brownie which was all very good. That coupled with free Internet access on my laptop made for a relaxing and enjoyable breakfast. I hung out at Itoy’s journaling until it was about time that my friends’ flight would arrive.

Discussing where to go over lunch.

Sara, Martine, and Erich’s flight was delayed so I had some extra time to hang out in my room and journal; I took full advantage of the air conditioning. By 11:30 AM, they arrived at the lobby of where I was staying. After two months of not seeing them since in Bohol, it was great to see them and catch up a little. They were hungry so we left all our bags at my place and walked around town looking for a place to eat. We ended up eating at a restaurant that had slow service and okay food. Afterwards we needed to find a place to stay since my place was booked for the night.

Looking for recommended places to stay. We stayed next door from here.

We went back towards my place and looked at an inn next to where I was staying. The only room they had available was a smelly, dirty, run down room with trash all over the ground for 1100 pesos. I was shocked they actually showed us the room. Moving on, we visited another resort on the other side of where I was staying. The room we were shown was royally luxurious compared to the last place. Without hesitation, we told the receptionist we would stay there. We went back to my place to get our bags and move in.

Sara: "Erich, what time is it?"
Erich: "Ah, I think its time for coffee."

We hung out at our new room for only a little while. Everyone felt like going out, finding a place with Internet, and getting a cup of coffee. I know the perfect place! We all walked downtown to Itoy’s for some Internet and coffee.

Coffee. Yum.

Jason—the Geek

Erich—the Money

Sara—the Brain

Martine—the Charm

I ordered a regular latte to try something new but ended up with a large cappuccino; Erich wanted a regular cappuccino but ended up with a regular latte. Oh well. For two and a half hours we hung out at Itoy’s checking email and browsing the Internet. At around 5 PM, we walked to Kinabuchs bar and grill. There, we got lots of drinks, shot some pool, and ate dinner. A fun night out.

Martine shooting it up.

Back in our room, we opened up and drank some 12 year old Tanduay rum with Coke. It was delicious. Then, I fell asleep.


- jason

In Palawan...

Hey!

Yesterday I just left Puerto Galera and now for a week I'm in Palawan with some Dutch friends. I'm not sure how Internet will be so updates may be delayed. I'm already behind in updates and I'm trying to catch up but there's so much to write!

I'm excited about Palawan as its supposed to be quite different than the rest of the Philippines; not that the rest is bad. From pictures and other people's experiences, it looks beautifully remote.

Here's a place I'm thinking about going to, thanks for the reference Caro! =)

Tao Expeditions

Thanks for following along...


- jason

Friends and Adventures to Palawan

Packed and ready to go except for my dive gear.

Today was the day I was moving out of my house in Puerto Galera to go to Puerto Princesa, Palawan where I was meeting some friends from Bohol—Sara, Martine, and Erich. Sara texted me previously telling me that their flight was cancelled and couldn’t meet up until the next day. I guess the first night will be by myself. I wasn’t familiar with Puerto Princesa and was hoping to use their guide books when we met up. I texted Sara what place the guide book recommended to stay at and she replied with a few places. Okay, well, at least I have an idea where to stay.

I woke up around 7 AM to do some final last minute packing and to make sure I had everything around the house. By 7:30 AM I was ready to leave my home and go to the dive shop to pack my dive gear. My boat ferry was scheduled to leave by 8:15 AM.

When I went to the El Galleon one of the staff there said that Grace was looking for me. Really? I went to the dive shop to pack my bags because I was running a little late. At the dive shop, Grace, Maziar, and even Lee visited me to say their final goodbyes. I was touched to have such good friends wake up early to say goodbye; true friends. I thought my last time seeing them would be the night before.

Unfortunately some of my dive gear was still damp and I couldn’t find my booties at first. I seem to always stress myself out by rushing to get things ready before I leave somewhere despite prior preparation. I found my booties in some box, packed them into my bag, and said my goodbyes. To my surprise, Grace, Lee, and Maziar offered to help carry my bags and walk me down the beach to the ferry. I was very touched by this and soon realized their help was much needed.

Good friends from Puerto Galera—Lee, Grace, and Maziar. Good to know friends will be there even when you leave.

After a few minutes of walking and going down some stairs, my dive bag handle snapped in half because the metal rusted away. Just my luck! The broken handle made it difficult to drag the bag. Because my friends were with me though, they helped me carry my bags through sand, stairs and any other obstacles. Its good to have great friends. At the ferry we waited around for a few minutes before saying our final goodbyes. It was sad to see them go, I was tired from dragging my bags, and now it was time to move on to another chapter in my adventure.

The ferry I was taking went to Batangas Pier as scheduled. At Batangas, I was meeting a private driver I booked beforehand to drive me up to Manila airport. I booked a private van because I didn’t want to worry about not making it to the airport on time, worry about bags getting stolen, and it’s a lot more comfortable. My driver, Richard, took about 2 hours to drive to Manila and along the way we stopped at a Starbucks for coffee and a travel agent to see if I could reschedule my return ticket to the US for a later date.

My return ticket to the US is scheduled for July 29, 2008, which I for sure won’t be able to take. I wanted to see what it would take to reschedule it before I went to Palawan so I wouldn’t worry about it. The travel agent called Cathay Pacific and they said that it would cost me $400 USD to reschedule the ticket to sometime in December. The problem is that I’m not sure what day I would go back because it depends on getting a job and a few other things out here. I think I may go back to the US to visit friends and family but not sure what I will do after that.

At the airport I checked in my bags to find out that I was 20 kilos overweight. Just my check-in baggage totaled to 40 kilos. Why was I so overweight? Damp scuba gear? Unfortunately, my airline—Cebu Pacific, just increased their overweight pricing to 100 pesos/kilo from 50 pesos/kilo. I paid 2000 pesos in overweight charges for a 1400 peso ticket. Damn, that sucks. At least my flight went well.

When I arrived at Puerto Princesa airport and got my bags, I immediately visited the Tourist Info booth. There I managed to get a map of the area and some information about what’s around and where to stay. The lodge Sara recommended from her guidebook was close and was my first stop. I refused to take one of the overpriced tricycles at the airport for 40 pesos and instead walked out of the airport to find a tricycle for 15 pesos. It was a long walk in the hot sun with all my bags and I’m not sure if it was worth the walk but it’s more for the principle.

My nicely furnished room in Puerto Princesa.

The lodge I stayed in was very nice; in fact, one of the nicest places I’ve seen out in the Philippines. The room I rented was the only one available which had a nice dark wood floor and matching wooden furniture. Even the bed sheets matched in style. This is a contrast to the usual rooms I’ve stayed in that were just the basics with little concern for looking good. Additionally, my room also had a clean bathroom and air conditioning. I don’t normally care for air conditioning but if it’s available, why not?

Water jug in my room.

After unpacking, settling in a little, and cooling off next to the air conditioning, I set off to explore the city of Puerto Princesa. I wasn’t sure how it would be so I brought my backpack in case I needed to hide my camera. The main part of town is all walking distance from where I was staying. This made me like my choice of stay even more.

Chicken attached with a rope to a motorbike. Dinner to go.

Biochemist Drug—Jesus heals by selling drugs.

Puerto Princesa is a blend of traditional Filipino establishments, Westernized chain stores, and family owned foreign establishments. There’s street venders, lechon minok stands (BBQ chicken), Jollibee, coffee shops, major banks, and Vietnamese restaurants. There are several stores with funny names like “Biochemist Drug —Jesus Heals.” Jesus heals with drugs? I kept an eye open for interesting restaurants to eat at because I was getting hungry and it was dinner time. I ended up eating at a place with BBQ chicken and all you can eat rice. I only had one serving of rice.

After dinner I was disparate to find a good bar to hang out at and get a beer. I sound alcoholic but after a long day of traveling and walking around, I think I deserved it. I just wanted to relax and maybe meet some other people, hear stories, etc. I asked a hip looking group of Filipinos—a guy in a motorcycle jacket with two young educated looking girls—where I could find a good bar. They told me of a bar that I could only phonetically understand and which I eventually forgot the name of. I went in the general direction they pointed but didn’t find anything so I had to ask someone else—who was less hip looking—for a bar.

I didn’t find the bar that person suggested but eventually ended up at Kinabuchs Bar and Grill because it was the last place before where I was staying. The place was crowded, mostly with foreigners, and looked quite hip and happening. There are two nice pool tables, a well stocked bar, and a generally good vibe. I found a nice seat in the middle of the bar with empty seats next to me in case someone wanted to sit next to me and talk.

Delicious 130 peso tuna sashimi.

A Taiwanese guy was sitting two seats away from me eating tuna sashimi. Since I had no one else to talk to but myself, and the sashimi looked good, I asked him how it was. In broken English he implied it was good and told me to have some. The sashimi was extremely fresh and tasty which is not what I was expecting. The guy introduced himself as Peter who was a regular at the bar and only really spoke Taiwanese and Filipino. Since our bartender understood both Filipino and English, he helped translate the conversation between Peter and I. Peter ordered another dish which was a grilled tuna jaw which was very tasty also. I was surprised to eat such good food at such a trendy establishment.

After Peter left an American couple from Valencia, California sat next to me at the bar. The guy’s name was Ken and I forgot the girl’s name. They’re an interesting couple that I actually saw at the local bank several hours beforehand. They just traveled around Palawan and were leaving the next day. We talked a lot about why its better living and working abroad, what is success, and traveling.

By midnight, things were getting slow at the bar so I started walking back to my room. I was confronted by a tricycle driver in front of my lodge and casually struck up a conversation with him. I decided I didn’t want to end the night just yet and asked him where I can see more Palawan nightlife. He drove me to Phoenix bar.

The bar was sadly desolate. When I walked in I was the only customer, the place was brightly lit, and the bar girls danced lethargically on the dance floor. After getting a drink, I looked for a place to sit down. A few guys came in and invited me to sit with them instead of sitting by myself. I sat with them, they bought some drinks, and even paid for a few girls to sit with us. The guys were all special forces soldiers in the Philippine Army which are equivalent to the US Marine Recon special forces; that was interesting.

One of the Philippine soldiers with a hired girl.

The guys were really friendly and even invited me to join them at the beach the next day. I couldn’t though since I was to meet Sara, Martine, and Erich. After a few drinks, I took a tricycle back to my lodge. They shared the tricycle with me to save money and make sure I didn’t get ripped off by the tricycle driver.


- jason

Packing Up

That's a boat not going anywhere.

For breakfast I finished off the little spaghetti and coffee I had left. Today I had to just pay all my bills with Asia Divers and El Galleon resort, pack, and clean up my room because I was leaving Sabang early the next morning. After breakfast I did a little laundry on the few clothes I had that weren’t clean. I didn’t want to wash too much in case my clothes wouldn’t be able to dry in time. I wanted to travel as light as possible.

After laundry, I cleaned up my room a bit and packed. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what to pack except for whether I should keep my IDC Candidate Workbook and EFR Instructor Manual. Both manuals are large binders filled with paper that weigh several pounds each. Since I didn’t use my Candidate Workbook much for my IE I decided to leave it behind with Grace. I decided to take the EFR Instructor Manual with me in case I might need it plus I paid good money for it. Why don’t they come out with a digital version of the manual?

Lunch with Dave.

I wanted to see Dave before I left so I scheduled lunch with him at Full Moon restaurant. I’ve only eaten pad thai at Full Moon and was excited to try their “Country Style Fried Chicken” they advertised. My friend Jacob previously said that the food at Full Moon was the best around and the chef was trained in Europe as a pastry chef. I wonder if there will be cream puffs on my fried chicken? The chicken was better than I thought and came in a generous portion. Talking with Dave during lunch was great as we got to catch up on a few things and talk about our future plans.

After lunch I went back to my room to finish up cleaning up and packing. I wanted to finish it all before I went out in the evening to the Point bar because I didn’t want to worry about going back to pack.

Lee, Me, Vergie, and Maziar at the Point.

Superstitious and camera shy Eva.

Kjell and I have a draft beer.

Maziar, the new light beer and Grace.

At around 7:30 PM I went to Point bar for the last time. Several Asia Divers staff were there as usual as well as Lee, Grace, Maziar, and Vergie. We had some drinks and had a good time. Afterwards we walked down to Sabang to hang out at Hammerhead dance club. Rum and Cokes, beer and dancing. Good times.


- jason

The Best Last Dive Steak

Sea blur—the underwater world as a blur.

While making just coffee for breakfast because that’s all I have left, I realized I’m perfectly content living the simple life I’m living. I don’t miss any of the luxuries I had back in the US. I’m living a much more carefree life with little stress with the exception of the IDC/IE. Simple is good with a lot less to worry about. Today, I planned on doing a few fun dives at Asia Divers which would be my last dives while out here in Puerto Galera.

Giant clams at the "Hills."

Gorgonian sea fan.

Colorful tunicate.

I didn’t want to go on any of the 9 AM dives so Grace and I settled on diving at 11:30 AM with Alli and a few others at the “Hills” dive site. We didn’t see too many new things but I did see a waspfish, devil scorpionfish, several nudibranchs, boxer shrimp, and a family of clownfish who were so defensive one of them bit me. Grace and I got separated from the rest of the group so we just explored at our own pace. We ended up taking a little too long underwater and surfaced 20 minutes after the rest of the group. Oops.

For my last dive in Puerto Galera, I dived with Alli, Grace and Lee who is revisiting Puerto Galera from a business trip to Taiwan. It was my first time diving with Lee even though I’ve hung around him for at least a month. Our dive group was quite experienced—three instructors and a Divemaster candidate. We decided to do the dive at 2:30 PM at the “Boulders” dive site which I’ve never dived before. Alli said she would try to find the pygmy sea horse and ribbon eel that are sometimes found in the area. I was excited to see a new site and potentially an eel I’ve never seen before.

Shortly after our descent, the water temperature got a little chilly. After looking around the large round rock formations, Alli found the small pygmy sea horse on a sea fan. The sea horse was in a hard to reach position on the sea fan which made it difficult to take a good picture of it. This always happens to me with pygmy sea horses.

Shortly after seeing the pygmy sea horse and while swimming along the reef, Lee found a medium sized octopus in a hole. I was hoping it would come out of its hole but it never did. I heard Alli scream underwater as she pointed at a ribbon eel in a hole. It was amazing to see but was also hard to photograph because it would go back in its hole when I tried taking a picture of it. Sometime later, Alli screamed again out of excitement as she was pointing at a turtle eating something in the sand underwater.

It was truly amazing to be able to swim up to and lay within a few feet of a turtle on the sea floor. It noticed me taking pictures but ignored me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get into the best position to take a picture of it because I didn’t want to get in the way of Grace taking pictures nor did I want to scare it away. After some chewing and swallowing, it calmly raised up, turned, and swam away. In addition to the amazing things we saw underwater, we also saw some anemone shrimp, a black lionfish next to another lionfish with colorful fan-like fins, and nudibranchs. The dive ended as my last but best dive in Puerto Galera; a truly amazing experience.

After cleaning up and leaving my dive gear out to dry, I went back to my room to journal a little bit. In the evening, I went to Point bar to meet up with Grace, Maziar, and Vergie because we planned on going out for a nice steak dinner at La Laguna Beach Club Resort. After some drinks, we walked over to the resort to have dinner.

At the resort, we ordered some drinks and food. I ordered a rump steak cooked “rare” but had to make sure they cooked it even less than last time. I told them “More blood please!” Last time I ordered steaks with Warren and Greg they were all overcooked where my “rare” steak was cooked well done. The girl I ordered from said the reason why they were overcooked was because they cooked more on the sizzling platter they’re served on. I told her, “well, compensate!”

The best damn steak I've had in Philippines.

Thankfully, my steak arrived what I would call “medium rare“ with a slight hint of blood. Despite being slightly overcooked, I enjoyed my steak tremendously; it was the best steak I’ve eaten in the Philippines and reminded me of the steaks I used to grill at home in the US. An excellent last dinner with my good friends in Puerto Galera. After dinner, we went back to the Point bar for a few more drinks and then I went home.


- jason