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Dive Day #4

Back on track today, set an alarm, no more waking in a panic and realising that we should be at breakfast.

“Set an alarm” she said.

“As early as you like” she said.

Alarm set, 05.45, worked well. Now I’ve got plenty of time to sort out batteries, beverages and general Relaxation before the onslaught of breakfast.

I had some gear failure Yesterday explained the issues I was having with one of my strobes. The end dropped off one of my fibre optic sync cables. Or, to be more precise, being that the end was firmly plugged into the strobe, the cable actually fell off the end.

It can be pushed back on and works just fine but it does need attention.

Disappointingly, I do not carry a spare (blunder #1) and equally dissappointingly, I did not pack superglue (blunder #2).

Good news however, Dave Santos (resort manager at Buceo, our home for the last two weeks of our trip) has picked me up a spare from Manilla and all will be good. For now I’ll just manage my pushing the thing back in if I see it dangling under water!

After an awesome breakfast which included fresh fruit, doughnuts, pancake and bacon we went diving.

Dive #10 Boulders.

Does what it says on the tin, lots of massive boulders in the first 15m giving way to fewer and fewer in the 15m to 30m area and culminating in a visit to a sea fan where the usually elusive pygmy sea horse hangs out.

This time it was captured!

Upon entry, Jo managed to find herself sufficiently distant from the boat (Windage on the boat) that one of the guides went and fetched her camera (which is normally handed down after entry)

After the dive we head back to the cove for the surface interval before a muck dive.

Dive #11????

A most excellent dive over the sea bed where many critters were lurking including many nudi’s, shrimps and an ornate ghost pipe fish.

We head back to base for a quick dip in the pool and a lunch of Grilled fish steak, rice and salad, yum!

Wet have arranged to dive this afternoon at 2.30pm, it’s just gone 1.33pm and I’ve not ordered dessert yet!!!

Dive #12 White Beach

We head back to the room for a quick rest before turning up nice and early due the 2.30pm.dive turns out to be a 3.00pm dive as Matt and Bennie are joining us.

We head off for a dive at White Beach such turns out to be another corker.

Towards the end of the dive, I’m busy taking pictures of an oculate blue ring octopus whilst Jo had discovered a whole family of flamboyant cuttlefish, what a result!

A long bob in the pool follows, chased down with a mango daquiri and a negrone, yum.

A short trip to the room to offload pictures and hang up the wet stuff and it’s back out to dinner which tonight consisted of:

Breads with olive oil and balsamic, spaghetti carbonara/bolognase and super tender steak with salad and mash, very nice indeed.

There is a slight risk that this will be followed by mango and ice cream!

… Which turned out to be fruit salad, lovely.

We head back to the room, full of good intentuons of editing photos etc.

ZZzz……

Slept well. Another nine and a half hours!

Breakfast was fruits followed by scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for me and fruits followed by eggs and bacon for Richard.

Diving at 9am but of course we are early. On the smaller boat today. We have been spoilt as it has only been us on the boat each day. Lovely.

We are diving with Joseph who is very knowledgeable and off course very good at finding critters.

Dive #7

White Beach

Coral dive. Where we got in it was a little bland but improved as the dive went along, ending at a lovely pinnacle.

We saw various slugs, lots of featherworms, which I love.

A very enjoyable dive.

The surface interval was taken in the bay, watching jet skis tow huge doughnuts that seat about eight people.

I also learnt that something I thought could only be done in the bathroom could also be done when bobbing on the surface of the sea… Needs must!

Dive #8

White Beach

This was a very different dive

Muck dive. Sandy slope.

We saw three frogfish, cuttefish, tiny mantis shrimps, nudis and a very excited blue ring octopus protecting its eggs.

Once we got back to the resort we had a dip in the pool before lunch.

Lunch was BBQ seafood kebabs, with a delicious red (?) rice and lettuce. Richard followed that with a huge bowl of mango ice cream and chopped banana.

Dive #9

White Beach

A different part again. The problem with muck diving is that often photos end up looking a bit drab. So, I set myself a mission, to only take colourful pictures. Did pretty well actually.

We saw a tiny orange frogfish, nudis that looks a bit like marshmallow, shrimps in soft coral, mimic octopus,  a teeny tiny yellow spotted unicorn nudi which could only have been about 2-3mm.

A very enjoyable dive.

We went for a swim as soon as we got back. Had drinks in the pool. Richard had a negroni and I had a mango and banana juice.

Afterwards, we looked at photos. Sorted Richard’s that we were going to keep. Deleted the ones we didn’t… Then realised that I had deleted them all… Oops! Luckily, I realised and told him just before he formatted his SD card. Obviously had to redo it, which took extra time.

Dinner was prawn pasta (pasta shaped like earlobes – orecchiette) followed by fish in a caper sauce with vegetables (similar to ratatouille). Richard had a tiramisu for pudding. Made him happy, me?  not so much. Insert a very sad face here… VERY SAD!!!! Should have taken a picture but I couldn’t bring myself to… VERY, VERY SAD!!!!!!!!!!

Dive Day #2

What will today bring?

Well, chocolate croissants, fresh fruit, banana pancake, scrambled eggs and bacon for a start (because we ordered them last night). No skimping on the food here!

Dive gear and cameras all prepped, the new BCD did what it needed to though I have to say that wearing only a rash vest, it did feel a little large on me. No worries about that when diving at home then!

I started with 8 kilos (which they converted to 16lbs!) and immediately dropped it to 6 kilos (well, 12lbs) and today I might drop more, we shall see.

On dive 3 yesterday I did get hit with cramp. This caused me to immediately up my water consumption (I know I dont drink enough and apparently, it has to be water, Red Horse and coffee don’t count) so, non stop water for me from now on.

I’ve also taken to drinking the beer in a glass full of ice in an attempt to increase water consumption whilst simultaniously enjoying really cold beer, it’s a win-win situation!

We’ve been diving!

There was a slight shenanigan before we set out as, because of boat swap arrangements, our weights were on the “other” boat.

It’s all because the others were going to Verde island but then they were not because the island had become ‘closed’. Anyhow, the twin 140’s on the back of our boat meant that we soon rejoined our weights and headed off for our diving.

Dive #4, Sabang Wrecks

Various wrecks just off shore from the main resort area.

A sandy bottom with bits of broken boats! One of which still had the twin engines standing proud of the seabed along with various bits of stainless which had not quite been completely consumed by the wild life.

Jo saw a Peacock Mantis Shrimp, I saw various nudi’s and some frog fish.

For the second dive we headed back to Coral Gardens?

This was a slightly deeper dive on as sandy slope with many critters including hairy shrimp, frog fish, nudi’s, pipe fish and cuttlefish.

Disappointingly no biscuits on the surface interval. Then again, it’s Pizza for lunch day and they are massive!!

Well that’s all dealt with, we have 70 minutes until the next dive, hopefully it’s enough!!!!

Back on board for the afternoon dive. We head out of the bay and turn west.

Dive #6 White Beach

This was a muck dive and what a corker it was!

We saw plenty including hairy frog fish, lots of octopus (hiding in lots of places) nudi’s, scorpion fish, bob tailed squid, pulsating jelly fish and ambon scorpion fish.

I was an excellent muck dive.

We head back to base. I have no idea what speed we do but the twin 140’s were set to max, the water was flat and we held on tight!

We get back and head straight for the pool.

Now then, the pool is situated in a garden and is surrounded on all sides by grass and flower beds. There we are, bobbing about as you do when I spot the mother of all crabs scurrying around at the bottom of the pool like it knows ot should not be there!

After searching around for a suitable stick, we arm ourselves with a collection of sandals and Crocs and proceed to encourage this thing to the surface in an attempt to return it to land.

It’s having none of it and puts up quite a fight.

Eventually we got it moved to a higher level and finally out on to the grass where it proceeds to skulk off without a single word of thanks!

After servicing cameras and hanging up we stuff we head out for dinner which tonight featured:

Toasted breads with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, tagiatelli bolognase and a carpaccio of beef with salad and chips!

Shortly after that we retired and fell almost immediately to sleep!

Dive day #1

Woke up about 5.45. Not too bad. Nine hours, off and on.

Setting up camera stuff before breakfast, always a little stressful on the first day. All went well, unlike the devastation that happened on our first morning, last time we came to Fishermen’s Cove. The look on Richard’s face when he had to tell me that a large proportion of our camera kit had stayed at home. A never to be repeated experience!

Oh no! Fluffy socks! No where to be seen, probably because I forgot to pack them. Anyway, Darryl and Dianne to the rescue, socks will be available at Buceo when we get there.

Breakfast was great. Fruits (half a mango, quarter of a pineapple and a banana) followed by crisp bacon, scrambled eggs and toast.

Meeting at 8.30 to do the paperwork followed by a check dive. Let’s hope I can remember what to do.

Check in at 8.30 to do the paperwork then diving.

We are with Joseph again.

Dive #1 Sinandigan Wall

Right around the other side. We never got to dive this last time as it was too rough.

30 degrees in the water – lovely!

We had plenty of current fish and nudis (flabelinas and a beautiful risbecia). Also we saw a Napoleon wrasse and a large grouper.

Back round to Sabang bay for the surface interval. Tea and kalamansi for me and coffee for Richard. Bonus, biscuits that I can eat!

Dive #2 Not sure where we dived, will find out

Spent most of the five at about 20-23 metres. Quite a lot of shimmering water – thermocline! Brrrr! Water temperature went all the way down to 29 degrees!!

We saw Coleman shrimp on a fire urchin, yellow leaf fish, banded sea krait (snake) which took a liking to Richard’s fins.

Back to the resort, a quick dip in the pool before a delicious lunch of BBQ chicken with the most amazing rice and salad greens. Food here is fantastic! Richard had a pannecotta for dessert.

I have fluffy socks! Thanks to Darryl and Dianne. They are not here yet but will be next Friday!

Dive #3 Not sure where we dived, will find out

Muck dive on a sandy slope. A most excellent dive. We saw lots.

We saw three seahorses, four cuttlefish, two robust pipefish, nudis, frogfish, porcelain crab and a green turtle.

Followed by a relaxing dip in the pool where the water temperature was 33 degrees. Chatted with other guests.

After a little camera work we had a drink and dinner.

Dinner was fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, homemade pasta pesto then prawns with potatoes. Another pannecotta for Richard for dessert.

Time for an early night…

Off we go again on what turned out to be a most leisurely travel experience.

We were picked up about 20 minutes before the allotted time (always nice) and we had an uneventful trip to Heathrow though it was not without the usual (and expected) abuse from our favourite driver!

A short walk into Terminal 4 and we joined the swiftly moving queue at the Bag Drop.

We were quizzed in some detail regarding the quantity of batteries that we had stashed in our carry on baggage and were told in no uncertain terms that we had exceeded our limit several times over (I checked this later and it was absolutely true) but they suggested we just shared them between us and to be prepared for rejection at security.

We put on a brave face, passsed through security, nothing mentioned, go figure?

Anyhow, nice seats, plenty of room, A380!.

Good food/drink and movies. Dont ask me what I watched, can’t remember!!

Before long we arrive at Abu Dhabi for a 3 hour rest (about 2.5hrs too long IMHO).

Next up, a plane load of residents heading back to Manilla. On older plane but still plenty of room. This was the 8.5hr stretch so I dozed through several more movies and then we were descending in to Manilla, clear skies and plenty of sunshine.

Passport control and baggage reclaim took an hour and a half and it seemed that they had just one luggage belt running for several flights.

Regardless, we left the airport and entered the furnace (thank goodness our van had good A/C).

More dozing bought us quickly to the ferry terminal at Batangas. We were met by our appointed representative who organised our bags and escorted us in to the terminal. Despite everything being organised for us (and paid) both Jo and I were asked for more money for transporting our baggage, local scammers trying their hardest!

Inside the terminal we get our tickets and make the 3.00pm ferry (which did not leave until 3.30pm!).

Chatting to some locals on the way, all very convivial!

We arrive at PG, pay our visitors entry fee (jobs for the boys?) and were presented with our transport.

Last time we came here we had a massive Jeepney. This time, another example of local transport;

We are whisked (as much as a tuktuk can whisk) away on our 5 minute transfer to Fishermen’s Cove where are are made most welcome.

We have the same Garden room as last time, super lovely, all bags emptied then straight in to the pool where we meet the other guests (all three of them!) Maggie from North Wales (BSAC diver) Bennie and Matt (both from Australia).

To say the resort is quiet would be an under statement!

Dinner was most excellent (pre set menu here) and consisted of pasta with clams (so very tasty!) followed by carpaccio of fish (they must have super sharp knives here), oh, and I had a panna cotta, lovely.

All washed down with mango and banana smoothie and a Red Horse.

Then sleep, 9hrs! ZZZzzz…

Brace yourself for another round of the same food pictures, same resort pictures and same boat pictures as last time, interspersed with anecdotes and observations on everything that was expected and more interestingly – everything that was not expected!

May 21st 2025 – the journey begins!

We find ourselves near the end of our adventure. All kit is washed and drying, bags are open and ready for the stuffing. We are well under our 80kg total allowance so plenty left for the two bottles of Dom Pappa (Google it) that we have secured during our stay.

Breakfast done, now chatting with boat buddies from Austria that we have dived with during our adventure. Next up, camera room for some packing prep, then packing the other stuff before we hit the pool for a bit of a bob.

So we bobbed, first in one pool and then in another, it must have been for the best part of an hour then we headed back to the room (which is a good 20 seconds away) to complete packing (didn’t take long) have a rinse (took even less time) then we sat on the balcony soaking up the warmth and the view as we knew that it would be quite some while before we would be able to do it again.

We decide to head down for our early lunch which is the usual B.L.T and Kinilaw na Tanigue and as it’s the last chance we go big and drink something other than water, a Royale for Jo and for me, no surprises, a Red Horse Beer.

Lunch done we nip into the office to settle our tab then it’s a few last goodbyes as our bags are loaded on to the boat to whisk us around the corner for the van pickup. We are joined in this short trip by Ernie, our driver and before long we are sat in a new Toyota van, heading north with the A/C set to max!

It’s Saturday and the traffic was surprisingly light and we arrive at the airport in just over 2hrs.

Not only that, we walk right up to the checkin desk, drop our bags, all in under 5 minutes.

We enter the queue for passport control where, all of a sudden, a group of us are redirected to the ‘crew’ section so we are through there in record time too.

The result of all this efficiency is that we are now in the departure area, it’s 15:45 and our boarding is around 18:15, so we have  two and a half hours to kill. My turn on the blog so blogging I am.

Currently, flights are on time, we have plenty of time to transfer in Abu Dabi so fingers are crossed for a timely arrival in the UK on Sunday morning.

Excitement mounts as it is now less than 60 minutes to boarding (in so easily excited). Our plane is in view and nothing unexpected had been announced, yet…

After what appeared to be a late departure we are fairly much on time for arrival which is handy as we have a little under two hours to transfer. An uneventful flight. Watched a few movies including the Barbie movie for the second time, ordinary angels and the new Wonka movie. I must had some sleep in there somewhere, 9hrs has just Kind of melted away.

We are scheduled to land at 11.48pm local time which is in about 44 minutes. Our second visit to Abu Dhabi this month!

As before I don’t think we’ll be taking in many of the cities highlights!

It’s been another epic adventure, 60 dives, over 70hrs under water (detailed statistics will follow obs.)

Old friendships rekindled, new friends made, met lots of interesting folk and a return trip already booked.

Oh, and we tried really really hard not too eat too much and most of the time, we succeeded. Bacon breakfast days were the exception to this ????

Everything unpacked, all washing done, kit dried, some kit maintenance performed, all tested and ready for the next outing.

Our last diving day. It is always sad but we have done lots of diving and taken lots of pictures.

Calm but slightly hazy.

We both opted for fried eggs this morning.

Dive #57

Sombrero

Wow! What a site! This is the most beautiful coral garden we have dived. Just beautiful.

I spent quite a while with an octopus whilst it was trying to eat its lunch.

We also saw, amazing corals, candy crab, a very nicely positioned nudi, shrimps on wire coral.

Bit of a swim back to the boat which allowed us to overlook the garden. Again wow!!

Dive #58

Elmas Point

A coral peninsula. A bit of current but not too much. Very relaxing.

We saw shrimps on wire coral, a couple of the bright pink nudis. A monster turtle having a nap. A very large banded sea snake out on the hunt.

Back at the resort for battery change and shared a portion of fries for lunch.

Doing a one o’clock dive then the three o’clock dive. That will then be it. ?

Dive #59

Bubbles

Had a bit of a bimble about. We went out to the wall but there was quite a bit of current there so we headed back in. Lovely relaxing dive. The bubbles at the end were amazing. Like diving in a glass of lemonade.

Had a dip in the pool between dives.

Dive #60

Coconut Point

A muck dive on a sandy slope. We were shallow, in warm water, the sun was shining and we had nowhere to go in a hurry. A very relaxed dive

We saw a two blue and yellow Shaun the sheep slugs on a leaf (about 5mm each), a red hairy shrimp (about 2mm). Such excitement!

A really great last dive of a really great holiday.

Fabulous.

So that is it. No more.??

We are so thankful to Nanny for diving with us and the boat crew for looking after us so well. Joey, as captain, with Tobi, as crew, and also Kelvin who was with us in the first week.

Went to the bar to see the sun go down.  Joanne made me a mango margarita, boy the was strong, heavy on the alcohol whilst Brian’s were heavy on the fruit. Chatted with Jorge and Katerina, a lovely German/Swiss couple, whilst the rest of our boat buddies went for a night dive. Nanny too.

It would appear that two lumpia plus tuna sisig, fried rice and mango and cucumber salad was way too much food!

Another Maganda (beautiful) morning here in diving paradise, marred only by the fact that it is our penultimate diving day ?

The sun is out, it’s already scorchio and the sea is so flat that the occasional white fluffy clouds are reflected in the mirror like surface.

Egg on toast for breakfast with fresh fruit juice cocktail of mango and banana (which explains why there are no bananas on offer, we usually liberate a couple for morning boat snacks so today we shall rely on the Oreo to do that!)

No idea where we are going today though I am confident that wherever it is, it will be great. Let’s sea (see what I did there?)

Dive #53 Dari Laut

What a most excellent dive. There is a new mooring right next to the wreck so as soon as we jumped, there it was. I headed down to the deepest part of the wreck site where a lot of nudi action is to be found.

There are bat fish that swim around that section and before long (thanks Nani) there was a perfect specimin presenting itself to be photographed.

After that, a colourful flatworm and other nudies as well as a colourful frog fish all gagging to be photographed.

An Anilao Sea Dragon was also spotted. It all sounds very grand but I think the use of the term “dragon” is enthusiastic to say the very least. I did get a picture though I’m sure Jo’s will be better, she was pleased that she got the eye in focus. Me “It had an eye?!?”

We’ve moved over to Minilog for the surface interval where coffee and Oreos have been consumed.

Now, we still have 30 minutes to wait until the next dive…..

Dive #54 Minilog

Lots to see here, that big pink nudi with yellow gills, albeit not so well positioned this time. The orange “criss cross” nudi, a pair of the darker orange and black “criss cross” nudi’s. Some shrimp and other stuff.

Back at base it’s time for lunch. Whilst Jo sticks with tradition, I went for a bit of a treat abs had the salt and pepper prawns and they were absolutely lovely, so good, heads, tails and all, served on a bed of onion and chilli with boiled rice on the side, I totally recommend this combo. I made the whole lot disappear, yum.

Dive #56 Apols Point

Dived this slightly differently this time by heading east first and then turning west to circle the point before heading back up.

Some nudi and crab action to keep us busy and then we are at the sea fan with the pygmy seahorse.

Nani and Jo had just started working on this picture, getting everything set right before taking the money shot when a guide from another boat turns up and asks our guide to point out said creature, at which point everything falls apart and the seahorse goes and hides.

Jo showed me some new signs, most of which I’d not seen underwater before. Back at the surface she reveals that she was that vexed that she could not pee underwater, something which we are both accomplished at as we both drink at least half litre of water just before the dive.

Does anyone know I.P. Freely?

After a break for coffee and Oreos (and off gassing) we head out for the night dive. We were heading towards secret bay then this happened:

Dive #56 Red Rock Night Dive

After failing to do this dive several times we finally get to do it and at night, awesome.

Back on dry land Jo celebrates this with a banana margareta, I stick with the ice cold Red Horse.

Dinner is a sticky affair involving ribs, fries and coleslaw and then it’s camera prep before we finally pass out!

Well, it looks like another beautiful day!

Sun and flat seas.

The day started with breakfast and camera stuff.

We headed out to Red Rock again but alas the current stopped play.

Dive #49

Manit school

Lovely relaxing dive. We moved very little. Lots to take pictures of.

We saw shrimp on wire coral, a spattering of nudis.

Dive #50

Chatting with Raute, our lovely German night diving buddy, and I find that she lives in Vienna, as she is Austrian! Oops!

Manit West

We did this dive more on the wall to the north of the site. Lots to see including huge anemones with anemone fish, eggs and porcelain crabs. Small white painted frogfish which was walking about whilst fishing.

Lunch- BLT and carbonara

Nap then diving again

Dive #51

Twin Rocks

Awesome dive. Shortly after we got in we were surrounded by schooling Jacks. So amazing.

Further into the dive I was surrounded by Barracuda. So much fish life on the dive.

We also saw many white anemones, some huge some small, all with Nemo hiding in them. A pink nudi and different shrimps on wire corals.

And of course, we saw the Twin Rocks. Two pinnacles with a gap of about 1 and 2 metres. Festooned with life.

On a surface interval now, discussing all that we have seen. We write about the stuff we take pictures of, but there is so much more. All the reefs are festooned with life. There are so many different dive sites, all with so much life on it. The rocks are encrusted with different colours, then the life on top of that, and the life that lives within that life. Amazing!

Surface interval, back at the resort, was very international. Chatting to two German couples (we think) and Ivan from the Czech Republic.

The view from the boat just before we went in was beautiful and a photo will follow.

Dive #52

El Pinoy night dive

Well they can’t all be your favourite dives can they?

This is a lovely site, large coral outcrops at the top, then sand, then rubble. Not so lovely in the dark, at 18 metres, in a particularly fast current when you are out on the rubble. Would say there wasn’t any current when we went in.

Fastest current of the holiday.

I feel that I have earned my tea.

Dinner is Shanghai rolls, chop suey and fried rice.

Camera stuff and bed.