PHILIPPINES - Manila, Negros, Siquijor

The Philippines was our last country to visit before we would return home to Canada. We thought visiting the Philippines would be a good way to end our trip because of all the island hopping, beach bumming and diving available. 

We flew into Manila early morning of June 23^rd (2:10am to be exact) and despite the taxi scams at the airport we read about we soon arrived safe and sound at our hostel. After our quick check-in we went straight to bed and slept for a good five hours or so. When we woke it was planning time because we wanted to spend as little time as possible in the capital and the most time possible near or on the beach. According to the Lonely Planet, the island of Negros is the island that “has it all” so we bought cheap plane tickets and booked accommodation for the next day.

After a sleep-in and killing some time in the morning we were off to the airport then flying into Dumaguete, Negros.

DUMAGUETE, NEGROS (June 24-28, 2013)

We arrived in Dumaguete in the afternoon of our second day in the Philippines. We were a bit disappointed to find our hostel more in the city as opposed to walking distance from the beach but as a compromise we soon learned there was a dive shop right beside us that offered the cheapest rates around. A few weeks prior to this we had decided we would like upgrade from our Scuba Diver certification to Open Water so we stayed in Dumaguete for a few days in order to do this. 

There wasn’t too much more involved in order to do our upgrade. Our first day was actually just an afternoon of two module quizzes, a final review and the final exam. We both passed the first time so no worries about re-writing! 

Our second day we were grouped with a Swedish couple who were also going for their Open Water certification but hadn’t done any training for it yet. So it was more review for us than anything but it was good to do as we hadn’t been diving for nearly two months. We went over the set-up of our equipment and buddy checks, and practised skills like losing and replacing our regulator (breathing apparatus) and flooding and clearing our masks. After lunch we went over some new skills like taking off and replacing our weight belts and BCDs. By the end of our second day we were Open Water Diver certified!

Our dive site in Dauin for the Open Water Dive certification
Apo Island in the distance

BBQ at the hostel - tuna and seaweed salad

Live entertainment at the hostel

The next day we were booked in for a couple of fun dives around the nearby Apo Island, a marine reserve with a vast array of marine life. Although the weather was overcast and waters a bit choppy, underwater we had great visibility. Most of what we saw we had also seen in Thailand but it was still a great time.

Apo Island

By the end of the day we were hoping to catch a late afternoon ferry to Siquijor island nearby. Now that we had finished our upgraded certification we wanted to move closer to a beach and had read good things about this island. It was also rumoured to have witches and healers on the island so that was an additional intriguing draw for us. Unfortunately by the time we got to the ferry terminal, it was too late to check in for the ferry we wanted to catch. We were able to book a later ferry, it just meant a few hours of waiting around. BUT we were getting pretty good at that now so we booked it and would be setting off by 7:30pm.

Well 7:30pm rolled around and we were informed the departure was going to be delayed an hour because of some rough water. Eventually we left Dumaguete around 9:15pm then soon arrived in Siquijor Town after a short 30 minute ferry ride.

SIQUIJOR (June 28 – July 3, 2013)

With the next few days being our last in both the Philippines and abroad we decided to treat ourselves to some luxury by staying at a resort. Having booked this ahead of time, a van from the resort came to pick us up from the terminal and drive us to the resort. We got a welcome drink, a late supper and were then escorted to our room up in a garden area.

We had an amazing stay here! I had never been to a resort before so I absolutely loved it and Adrian thought it was really nice. All the staff was so friendly and always addressed you by name. The food was a bit expensive compared to the prices we were paying but still affordable and tasty. Breakfast was included in the cost of our room and it was a very substantial breakfast compared to the toast and coffee/tea we had been getting. We got upgraded to a massive room with a balcony for no extra cost after the plumbing wasn’t working properly our first room. The beach was a short walk from our room and there were also two pools to lounge around.

Our upgraded room

Breakfast beach view

Fresh sturgeon

 

Adrian in one of the swimming pools

Swim-up bar

A surprise last night supper on the beach from Adrian and the staff

The weather wasn’t that great but we made the most of it. When we arrived in the Philippines we learned the summer had recently ended and we were now in typhoon season (which lasts until December!). There was actually a typhoon that hit the northern islands and caused some flooding in areas including some in Manila but thankfully we were further south and not that affected. It’s actually probably a good thing the weather was overcast at times because it allowed me to chill out all day without getting severely burnt! Adrian doesn’t have as much an issue with this but he didn’t mind it either.

On one of the days there we booked a couple of fun dives through the dive shop on site. Our first dive was out in the Tubod Sanctuary just in front of the resort. The visibility wasn’t great but we had a great dive master that showed us some cool stuff including clown fish, crocodile needle fish, juvenile sweetlips, trumpet fish, a pink squat lobster and a mantis anemone shrimp. We postponed our next dive until the next morning so we could have better visibility and during that dive we saw a hairy squad lobster, nudibranchs, a lion fish, a mushroom coral pipefish, a turtle, a spotted porcelain crab and puffer and lizard fish.

We have now gone for a total of ten dives and we are loving it! With every dive we are getting more confident and comfortable and can actual enjoy taking in our surroundings and keep an eye out for marine life without worrying so much about our breathing or the equipment. Although it will be some time before we can go diving again we are already looking forward to it!

After a couple more days of chilling out it was sadly time to head back to Manila. Siquijor is a small island and therefore does not have an airport so we took a ferry back to Dumaguete and then flew out from there back to Manila. 

MANILA TO HOME

Once again, we wanted to spend as little time possible in Manila so we had just over a day and a half before we would be flying home. So we spent this time doing some last-minute souvenir shopping and packing. Before we knew it 2:30am on July 5^th was upon us and we were getting up to go to the airport. 

We had a hard time comprehending the fact that we were flying back home to Calgary. After being away for so long and having been on so many flights before, it just felt like another flight going to see another country.

It was definitely the earliest flight we had to catch. We arrived at the airport around 4am to check-in for our flight at 6am. But we ran into yet another delay and we didn’t start boarding the plane until 7:10am. Our flight was from Manila to Tokyo and took 4.5-5 hours. We may have dosed off a bit but nothing substantial.

Once in Tokyo we had five hours to kill. It was such a tease because we would both like to see Japan at some point but we didn’t have enough time in between flights to leave the airport and go exploring for a little while. So instead we spent some time visiting with a guy from Montreal we met on our first flight, did some duty-free shopping and did some things on the laptop.

When we started boarding and we saw the Air Canada plane it started sinking in more that we were going home. And once we were on and heard the Canadian accent telling us we were en route to Calgary it sunk in even more so. The flight was ten hours long and we spent most of it attached to our entertainment units, watching tv shows and movies and listening to the radio. We both attempted to sleep a couple times but it was a lost cause. Adrian got maybe one hour and me two. Oddly enough we didn’t feel that tired. Or maybe we were overtired? I think we were also pretty excited and anxious to be going home so that would be a contributing factor as well.

What seemed like before-long our eaten breakfasts were taken away from us and we were preparing for the landing in Calgary. Flying in, the city looked gorgeous! So green, so clean, so much space and well-organized. Then we landed and the announcement came on “Thank you for choosing Air Canada and we hope you have an enjoyable stay in Calgary”. We will, we’re HOME!