Ok, so much for trying to write a blog on my phone, here it goes for real:
On Saturday morning, we took a taxi through mostly deserted streets to the South China International Hotel, where we were picked up in a nice little van. We took about a 40 minute ride to Hojie Town, where we had to get out and wait for a van with dual license plates for the trip to Hong Kong. Since we were in a small vehicle, we were able to cross the border without getting out to go through customs. Since traffic was so light, and we had planned pretty well, we got to the Hong Kong airport with a ridiculous amount of time to kill before our flight. We sampled what the restaurants had to offer, did a little shopping, made fun of crazy people, and finally got through and on our way to Manila. The plane was easy, and we were met at the airport by a Filipino driver, who took us on a long, bumpy ride to the coast. At the end of a dirt track, past an oil refinery and a flour plant, we got to a crumbling cement dock, and waited as our driver yelled out into the darkness. Eventually, there were some grumbles and splashes, and a boat slowly reeled itself in. We loaded up in a boat that seemed very big for just the two of us, and started a choppy roller coaster trip across the bay to the island of Mindoro. When we got away from the lights, the stars were stunning; we enjoyed them for awhile, but were also very ready to reach our destination at this point. We pulled in to a little bay at around 2am, and were greeted by 4 or 5 locals who helped us carry bags to our room, where we crashed for the night.
I'm only writing this down because this day was interesting to me. We were traveling from 9:30 am until 2 am, and it was never really stressful. Everything happened the way it was supposed to, most things were even easier than we expected, and we got where we were going with very little hassle. It felt like there was a small army of Chinese and Filipino people there just to get us to our hotel room. People we didn't know were ready for us at every leg of the trip to carry us forward. We paid a bit extra for the luxury, but it was definitely worth it. Public transportation (at least in a country like the Philippines) is for suckers!
The next day, we took just to get our bearings. We didn't sleep very well, but got up, and met all the dive people, including Armand, who was a sort of fixer for the dive shop. He would turn out to be a truly amazing resource for the rest of our stay - the kind of guy who could figure anything out in about five minutes. The shop was on a small beach with room for about 20 boats; Armand seemed to know what each one was doing at all times, and could arrange anything you needed by yelling a few words out over the water in his high-pitched voice. We walked around the town, and in the afternoon Armand arranged a boat to a small beach nearby. Our skipper, Christopher, grilled up some delicious chicken bbq, with salad and fresh pineapple, and told us about his daughter Chrisabel (also the name of his boat) and his pregnannt wife. We sat there until the sun set, then got back and had a nice Filipino meal at the restaurant in front of the apartment where we're staying, then called it a night.
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| View from our apartment on the first morning. |
Slept in a bit the next morning, and missed the first dive, but then went out at 1130, and again at 3. The visibility here is better than it was at El Nido. We saw some lionfish, jellyfish, lots of colorful little things, and some eels and sea snakes, too.
I'm going to post this just to post it, and save the rest of the trip for later. More soon, with pictures (we rented an underwater camera!).
Peace All,
Jon
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