LOCAL COLOR 7: Philippines - Padre Burgos to Donsol

Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte, Philippines Day 80-82 (April 20-22)

We spend three days diving around Sogo Bay; two days with Sogo Bay Scuba Resort, and one day for a whale shark trip with Peter’s Dive Resort, next door. Unfortunately, we don’t have any luck on the whale shark trip. It seems we just missed the whale shark season in Southern Leyte. We are kind of whale shark crazy now, because all the divers have been talking about it since Thailand. They say seeing a Whale Shark is like a dream come true.

We find out that Sogo Bay Scuba Resort flipped their big Bangka boat on Good Friday, a week back. They were packed with Chinese tourists, and after mooring in front of the resort, everyone went to one side to get out. Once the boat started going over, the staff couldn’t stop it. Fortunately, no one was hurt, as there was enough time to jump in the water and swim away. It must have looked funny going over with the staff hanging on the opposite outrigger trying to stop the boat from flipping. The owner said they reported the accident to the Coast Guard, who didn’t know there were three dive operators in Southern Leyte.

Morning sun shower

can I go dive with you guys? Sure, hop on the Bangka!

hmm...I wonder what kind of dog food they have down there

See you underwater

lots of fish to see

the longest Sea Cucumber I've ever seen

camouflage Goby

mama puffer fish - she is due anytime now!

Tose Commenssal Shrimps

Scorpion fish hiding in a coral leaf

Chasing the snake for a priceless shoot

Sea Star

White-eye Eel

Nudibranch

Nudibranch egg

look, underwater Micky Mouse, it's like a Disney down here

red Anemone

White scorpion fish

Schooling fish

Clown fish

Pipefish

pink scorpion fish hiding underneath the coral

he's got his jail outfit on again

Cigar Wrasse

Orange brain coral

Clown fish

Nudibranch

Video - clown fish

Video - pink skunk anemone fish

Video - Pregnant puffer fish

Peace out

Our divemaster Pedro - Good times!

Click Below to see more diving pictures:

Day 1 - Zack's Cove and Adrian's Cove
Day 2 - Napantao S. & Lar's Hole, Panaon
Day 3 - Whale Shark dive

While Kevin naps in the afternoon, I took my camera out to play with local kids next to our resort.

Hello there!

What are you guys looking for?

Sand crab?

What is it?

a pregnant crab

fun!

fog bank coming in the late afternoon

CLICK HERE to see more Padre Burgos picture.

Padre Burgos to Donsol, Philippines Day 83-5 (April 23-25)

Philippine Map - We traveled from Padre Burgos to Donsol. It took 2.5 days

Since we missed the whale sharks in Southern Leyte, we take the two and a half day trip to Donsol, in Southern Luzon. Donsol is famous for consistent whale shark viewing. The visibility is poor from all the plankton in the water, but the whale sharks consistently hang around for feeding from January to May. We travel with Eric, who was on our whale shark trip boat in Leyte. Eric is from the south of France, but currently teaches Spanish in Hong Kong.

Eric - our travel buddy for the next 3 days. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French. Once a while, he will speak to me in Chinese, which caught me off guard.

It’s a long adventurous journey; tricycle > public bus > air con van > medium distance bus > tri-cycle > Fortune Hotel in Catbaloganon Sumar > tricycle > 11 hour long distance air con bus with ferry to Southern Luzon > Jeepnie > Legaspy Tourist Hotel > tricycle > air con van > tricycle, and finally arrive at the Casa Bianca resort in Donsol.

In two days of travel, we don’t see any foreigners. We now realize that before the Philippines, our entire trip through Southeast Asia has been on the gringo trail.

Anyways, we have a good experience because the Filipino people are helpful, friendly, polite, and pleasant. You see families of five or six traveling together, and nobody complains. The kids seem really well behaved. They love to look, smile, giggle, and have their picture taken. The kids don't have a lot of material things, but they are super happy to have so many young friends to play with.

The food is the major downer. We buy something to take along after breakfast, because there is nothing to eat on the road. The food in the Philippines seems universally terrible. Catbaloganon (where we stayed the first night) is the provincial capital of western Sumar, but there are only a few hotels, and almost nowhere to eat.

None of the hotels in town include a toilet seat, so I ask the nice fellow at the Fortune Hotel for instructions; do you sit, squat, or hover? I suggest that he should give us a demonstration. He laughed and smiled after my request. In the Philippines, it’s kind of funny, because instead of water closet, bathroom, or toilet, they call it the comfort room. I didn’t see too many that were comfortable, but I did feel more comfortable after using them.

We stayed in Legaspy the second night. Legaspy is the provincial capital of Southern Luzon, and we have access to ATM, internet café, pharmacy, and cell phone refill for the first time in a week. We are glad to make it because the long distance air con bus stalled several times, pulling over to restart the engine. Also, in the evening the driver had a hell of a time getting it into second gear. I don’t know how they are going to make the remaining 10.5 hours to Manila.

The big bus drops us in Daraga around 8PM, and we take Jeepnie into Legaspy. With the mood lighting and groovy tunes blasting, you almost think they would be serving cocktails on the Jeepnie.

We are sitting in the back near the driver, so we pass him the money and pass back the change as people load and unload over the next 20 minutes. We have a productive and quick stop in Legaspy; booking air tickets back to Manila, and searching chat rooms for hotels in Donsol, since most of the Lonely Planet numbers don’t work. All the hotels use mobile phones, and I book our second night in Donsol by text message. The hotel clerk doesn’t want to answer the phone and pay cell phone minutes; since texting is much cheaper.

Calling ahead, we are lucky to find an available room at Casa Bianca Beach Resort, as everywhere near the Visitor’s Center is full. The place is strip down basic, and the food is terrible; although the flaming chicken looks pretty cool. The second night we stay at Villa Joli, which has better rooms and an interesting village behind the hotel.

Here some pics from the road:

crossing street

Motorbike fits three size small

house next to the road

Catbaloganon city, where we stayed the first night

Kids dive for coins if you throw them from the ferry

On the air-con bus, this little cute girl keeps looking back at Kevin. It's love at first sight! can you blame her?

This 11 year old boy at the bus stop shop followed us around smiling. He says he is top of his class and plans to be a doctor. We told him to practice his handwriting.