Richard & Jo's Blog

Dive Day #1 – Fishermen’s Cove  – Jo

Another sunny day!

We slept well. Richard even went back to sleep after he was pretty wide awake at 2am. If only he could do this at home…

Whilst waiting for breakfast, we got talking to a nice American lady. She asked us if we were “advanced”… “Urm… Advanced? As in PADI?” It was as if there was only one dive organisation. “No, we have been diving for twenty years, we’re BSAC Dive Leader and BSAC Advanced Diver”. “Oh” she said “I don’t know what that is”, although she seemed reassured that Richard was “Advance”. She also didn’t know what a blue ringed octopus was… Newbie!

On the boat today are us, Johanni and Minna, from Italy, it is our first day but their last.

Dive #1 – Mountain

Time 98 mins / Depth 9 metres / Temp 29

Brilliant first dive

This is a very shallow sandy area. So much to see.

I did get viciously attacked towards the end of the dive, by a very aggressive orange clownfish. I hadn’t even provoked it!

We saw a, very rare here, butterfly nudi, flamboyant cuttlefish, flabelinas, two tiny black frogfish, cuttlefish, two hairy shrimps.

Equipment failure #1! My band keeping my close up glasses attached to my mask broke, so that needs fixing.

Equipment failure #2! The dial on Richard’s camera housing that adjusts the shutter speed is locked. Had a quick look but couldn’t get it working, so Richard set it to 200 and left it at that. Contacting Alex Tattersall will be done at lunch.

Between dives it was coffee and biscuits. It was hot,35 degrees.

Dive #2 – lighthouse

Time 62 mins / Depth 17 metres / Temp 29

A sandy area, more barren than the previous dive although still lots to see.

Wonderpus, pretty white seahorse, flamboyant cuttlefish, two tiny cuttlefish together, four large orange stripey nudis, lots of different types of feather worms.

Equipment failure #3! Bubbles coming from his join between his contents gauge and the hose. Looks like a couple of new o-rings are required.

Back to the resort for lunch, BBQ fish steaks, olive rice and salad. Skipped pudding.

Mask fixed and contents gauge dealt with…

Dive #3 – White Bay

Time 90 mins / Depth 10 metres / Temp 29

Sandy area, festooned with cucumber worms.

We saw many cucumber worms, some of which had pairs of emperor shrimps. There were more than 10 ornate ghost pipefish in one place, mimic octopus, hairy scorpionfish and another, different type of butterfly nudi.

Straight back into the pool for relaxation and drinks.

Then to the restaurant, where we had two games of rummikub, which I won.

Dinner was vegetable pasta, followed by whole fish and tater.

We spoke with Alexia this evening. It turns out that all the other guests are leaving tomorrow. After that, it will just be us here. The weather is currently perfect, such a shame for them, just because it is coming into the wet season. All that means is that it will rain heavier here, when it rains. Oh and I suppose more chance of a typhoon, but they can come at any time.

Back in our room now, camera and photographic stuff being done before bed.

Ate too much today! Feeling quite uncomfortable now and that was with me leaving some of the food that came. Can hardly move! Must eat less tomorrow!

Trip Out – Richard

Here we are in Istanbul at midnight having just invested in some light refreshment whilst we wait for our gate to be announced for the next leg.

An uneventful flight during which I managed to sleep through most of the first film (something to do with our visit to Wetherspoons perhaps????).

Then I decided to treat myself to a quality movie staring Olivia Coleman and Sir Anthony Hopkins, well, that was all very dismal but it kept me awake!

We enjoyed extra leg room by the emergency exits though the seats were all boney as can be, not the padded loveliness I’m used to, perhaps in didn’t bring enough padding with me this time????

The airport here is massive and like most airports there is a constant stream of people moving in every direction. Not us though, we’re just sat here, watching it all go by!

After sitting at the departure gate for half an hour or so the queue magically comes into existence as it does so often in this part of the world, we sit tight but successfully merge with it when the official call comes.

It’s a bit of a scramble getting on these flights as so many people have so many bags that they want to get into the overhead storage, get in quick to avoid disappointment!

Jo and I bagged the naughty seats right at the back where there are just two and not three together however these have the added disadvantage of having the overhead lockers filled with O2 delivery systems for the plane so we have to store our stuff elsewhere. Fortunately we get sorted but afterwards about 100 other passengers all fight for the remaining zero space!

All tucked in, Captain, you may commence airborne operations!

Ten and a half hours to run on the second leg, a leisurely arrival and a short transit to The Belmont for overnight stopover before 07.30 pickup for the trip down to Batangas Ferry Terminal.

We landed at Manila, almost last off the plane, straight through passport control, baggage took an age then we pick up a mobile phone SIM before making our way the The Belmont.

After dealing with a reservation issue we get to the room, order room service and watch the last Downton movie before passing out!

After what seemed not quite long enough we are up and heading to breakfast. I took advantage of the shower facilities and realised that they had the same feature as those at the Henry hotel in Cebu, if you know, you know!

Breakfast was an almighty buffet which I struggled to avoid and now we are headed south in our transport to the ferry port at Batangas.

Once at the terminal, we are met by a helpful chap that wrangles the porters and all our gear is taken through for us and ultimately put on the ferry. We take our allocated seats and brace ourselves for departure. Fortunately the weather is fine, sunshine and a moderate breeze so sea conditions are favourable, or at least that is how they look right now.

Doors have been closed and hatches battened, hopefully departure is imminent (due 9.45, currently 9.56) let’s hope that porter was pleased with his tip and he had loaded our baggage instead of tipping it into the sea!

Right now we are somewhere just east of Verde island, still nice and flat, probably just over half way to PG. Some Vin diesel movie is playing but you can’t hear anything! Then again I don’t expect there is  any complex story line, just a lot of car chases through the jungle from what I can see.

I’d expect us to arrive at PG at around 11.30, just in time for lunch, oh good, more food ???? though I’m confident it will be something super delicious and very tasty. After that I expect we’ll be prepping cameras, sorting dive kit and bobbing in the pool, let’s see what actually happens!

… And it all happened  like clockwork!

After unpacking we took a dip in the pool and then had lunch (BBQ fish, salad and rice, all beautifully cooked and washed down with Red Horse and Coke Zero) then it’s off to prep cameras.

We have a meeting with our supplier later this afternoon, apart from that, nothing to do but generally just holiday.

.. And that’s how it went, a thoroughly relaxing rest of the day spent in and out of the pool. Our visitor arrived later in the afternoon so we spend a few hours in conversation on all things dive holiday related which was great, after that, dinner!!

Another feast consisting of pasta Bolognese followed by grilled chicken in a lemon sauce with mashed p’tata! All topped off with fresh fruit and cheesecake (i’m going to need some serious dietary therapy when in get home).

I just remembered, the day did not pass entirely without incident! When prepping my dive gear I thought I would just check my pocket where the smb lives. Upon opening the zip it was like a scene from a horror film as gazillions (and I really do mean gazillions) of very tiny insects emerged and ran everywhere! Perhaps some kind of ant? No idea, and it’s not like the thing hadn’t been used recently, I dived in it only last week. It took a thoroughly good hosing out to get rid of them all, very spooky indeed.

Jo had also discovered a small shell that had got packed in with my jacket, the shell was still occupied by a very recently deceased creature and it’s aroma was really quite something!

We had a round of Rummicub after dinner but concentration levels were waning so we retired!

The journey home

Well, unsurprisingly we still wake up early and are down to breakfast at the usual time despite their pressing need to do absolutely nothing!!

After the usual breakfast we spring our wetsuits from the changing rooms and hang them out in the hope that we are not visited by any passing monsoons (like we did get yesterday).

Our jackets are already out and have so far enjoyed a rain free overnight experience. If it does look like it’s going to rain then a hasty dash to the dive center will be required!

We return to our room carrying some of the dive kit ready for a day of further drying before packing.

Our flight is not until 23.50 so we don’t leave the resort until about 5.00pm, plenty of time for drying, swimming, packing, a light lunch and more pool time.

Next up, packing the camera gear which, given than it’s all for to be unpacked and cleaned when we get home, is not quite the complex task or was on the way out. That being said, we have the added twist of sneaking a bottle of Don Pappa Masskarra rum into the camera case, resulting in certain items being downgraded to other baggage!

Before long it’s all packed away with a few tee shirts thrown in for good measure then it’s off to the pool for a quick dip and we are now taking coffee on the balcony!

So we had our coffee on the balcony and very lovely it was too, now  time to relax in the sun…

Now then, some time at about 3.00am, the internet connection failed here. Not usually a problem as we try to escape it most of the time when we are on holiday but right now it’s definitely one of those ‘you don’t know how much you’ll miss it until it’s gone’ kind of things! Perhaps the whole world has gone quiet and we just don’t know it!!! Time will tell.

We took an early lunch of B.L.T. And Fried Lunpia and headed back to the room with our dried jackets and wet suits. We got to the room and quickly identified that I had left the boots behind. Jo swiftly suggested that she would go and get them, for which she will get a special medal!

Bags get mostly packed and we decide to head back to the pool for a final dip (the pool is right outside our room!).

We stay in and around the pool for a good hour or so, spending time soaking up the sun which was lovely.

I did just check the UK weather forecast, it seems it might not be quite so hot at  home, very sorry to hear that….

We head down to the office to settle our bill and then to an early dinner, another B.L.T and for me, spag-bol, yum.

We see our gear get loaded into a boat so it’s time to say our goodbyes and head off around the corner where the van waits to whisk us away.

Our driver (Richard) wastes no time weaving his way along the route up to Batangas which is a little busier as it’s the holiday season. From Batangas up to Manilla was a far more  brisk affair and the total journey time was about 3hrs from the beach to the airport.

Check-in was reasonably quick, all the staff are quite jolly and become even more interested in you when you greet them in Tagalilog!

Passport control and security were flowing quite smoothly and before long we find ourselves in the departure area and boarding is now  in just over an hour so we are sitting, snacking and writing this!

Boarded, flew, slept a little, watched more movies, don’t ask me what and before long (or so it seemed!) descended into Doha.

Now relaxing with coffee and biscuits, boarding in about 3 hours. The airport here is amazing, as are the prices, two coffees for under £12, bargain! We gave Gordon Ramsey’s burger and pizza outlets a suitably wide berth!

The second leg was uneventful though there was someone sitting on Jo’s seat when we boarded, soon sorted that, the interloper then sat surrounded by her three bags, apparently not capable of putting them in the overhead!!!

Anyhow, we watched some films, ate some food and drank drinks. Lovely and blue at altitude…

Baggage arrived swiftly and our driver was there to us so now we are lurching our way around the M25 in the rain, yuk!

Dive Day #15

Last diving day…

Rudely awoken today at 4.20… but I did manage to get back to sleep. Richard knows it’s best to let me sleep.

Breakfast was eggs… Again. Nice with the extras sprinkled on top.

Dive #57

Bethlehem, the other side.

19.2 metres / 65 mins / 28 degrees

Spent the dive in the rubble at about 18 metres. The beginning of the dive was a bit slow but picked up with the sightings of all sorts of nudis. Nice to have a Coleman shrimp on a fire coral at the end of the dive, unusually, only one.

We saw, various nudis of various sizes, lots of fire urchins and a Coleman shrimp.

We moved to Aguhuta for our surface interval, where we chatted with Mirko and Babett, from Germany. We have met them in the restaurant at breakfast, next to the toaster but not really spoken to them. They were very entertaining.

Dive #58

Aguhuta

23.2 metres / 80 mins / 28 degrees

I love this site. The diving here is so relaxing. The top of the reef is at 5 metres and a gentle coral slope with a sandy bottom at about 20 metres.

We saw a red hairy shrimp, three bright red slugs on Spanish dancer eggs, a large cuttlefish, shrimps, nudis, a very close, very large batfish and thousands of red toothed triggerfish.

On the way back across to Buceo, we saw the rain coming in. Buceo disappeared. Then the rain arrived. Very heavy, sharp like needles. It lasted about 15 minutes.

By the time we arrived at Buceo, it was sunshine again and clouds all gone.

Lunch was BLT and carbonara.

Back out diving at 2:30.

Dive #59

Bubbles

27.4 metres / 66 mins / 28 degrees

Richard wanted to go to the end of the wall, which we did then bimbled around where the nudis hang out.

The current picked up and it was quite fierce on the safety stop.

We saw bubbles, flabellinas, slugs

Back at Buceo for coffee and skyflakes. A quick turn around and back out.

Dive #60

Twin Rocks

22.9 metres / 71 mins / 28 degrees

Our last dive is the holiday. Just us and Nanni. A lovely dive.

We saw a huge shoal of Jacks around the Twin Rocks and crabs and shrimps on wire coral, a coffee and cream nudi laying eggs, many other slugs.

So that is it. 60 dives. Done.

It’s always sad after the last dive but we have dived a lot and are looking forward to returning in June.

We said our thanks to Nanni, our trusty guide, Ay-Yeck, our captain, and Saldy, our crew. They have all been fantastic.

We had a drink at the bar, chatted with Dave,and Mirko and Babett. Mirko sent the rain video.

For dinner we had chicken adobo, chop suey and fried rice. Delicious.

After dinner we broke down our cameras and left them to dry overnight. They will need a proper soak when we get home. A couple of weeks in deionized water should sort then out.

Struggling to stay awake whilst doing photos…

Dive day #14

Well, here we are on the penultimate dive day ????.

We have got to the point where we have dived almost all the regular dive sites at least once, some twice, a few even more. So we are fairly ok with whatever they choose for us today. That being said, as we reach the end of our current tenure here, they tend to ask us where we would like to go. Yesterday afternoon I got to choose, so Red Rock then Mainit School Wall it was, both excellent dives.

For breakfast today I went out in a limb and chose fried eggs a la Jo, that’s two fried eggs, over-easy with the trimmings that are normally reserved for fancy omelette production (ham, mushroom, onion etc) and jolly nice they were too. On had these on top of toast on which I liberally spread cream cheese (the triangular type) – a little twisted I know but I like it!

The tables here are arranged to fit the various group sizes, so we have our table for our group of two and (sometimes embarrassingly) they put a reserved sign on our table, just for us it seems. Yesterday someone got to breakfast before us and moved it ???????????????? what, our favourite table taken already. We had to choose from one of the remaining 10 tables, oh the embarrassment!!

Today however, order has been restored!

Dive #53

30 metres / 59 minutes / 27 degrees

Daryl Laut -the sunken floating casino wreck!

We arrive on site just a few minutes ahead of another boat from Buceo so we waste no time, get kitted and in and down to the nudi area in a blink of an eye.

Disappointingly, I set a switch on  one strobe in the wrong position. I just could not work out what was up until I stepped back and checked, bugger!

All set right I get back in to things and move on. All the usual suspects are seen but I think  my most memorable photo from. The dive was of a red frog fish that was trying to remain hidden near the top of the wreck.

At about 30m I hit a thermoclyne and it went from 28 degrees down to about 26 degrees, chilly!

Back on board for coffee and Oreos!

Am interesting chat with someone who works for apple specialising in software to enhance pictures, lots of AI involved. Very interesting indeed.

Dive #54

22.6  metres / 66 minutes / 28 degrees

Olympic

Another nice cruise around this site looking for all things curious but this time finding not so much but an enjoyable dive none the less. I probably had lunch on my mind!

After the dive at return to base where we dine on B.L.T. and Kinilaw Na Taniguie (raw white fish cured in ginger and vinegar, nice!

Before we know it we are heading out for an earlier two dives in the afternoon. Just before this, the heavens opened and it was like a monsoon so we got well wet even before we got to put our wetsuits on (wet, as that had been left outside drying in the monsoon!)

Dive #55

23.5 metres / 66 minutes / 28 degrees

Arthur’s Wall

We are now choosing the sites so we choose Arthur’s Wall which is a nice wall dive down to about 24 metres in places. We head along the wall in one direction and then turn back as the current fish had arrived, we go back towards where we started and then head up over the top of the wall where we see all sorts but especially a really big (2m long) banded sea snake going about is business.

Back to the boat for coffee, Oreos and chatting to our new boat buddies before we head off to Mainit Corner for the second dive of the afternoon.

Dive #56

22 metres / 68 minutes / 28 degrees

Mainit Corner

One of our firm favourites, a rocky outcrop on the Peninsular where some of the rocks stick out above the surface and then go all the way down to 24 metres, always a lot to see, all the usual suspects are out to entertain us at Nani leads us through corridors between the rocks, always so very colourful, a lovely dive, a definite ‘must do’ if you ever visit here.

Back to base for a quick rinse and Prinks which tonight include Red Horse beer, Royale (Fanta orange) and a couple of Amaretto Sours,yum.

Dive Day #13

So it is flat again this morning. We say that every morning, but it doesn’t always remain like that. Maybe today it will.

We woke up, today, of news that Richard’s daughter, Sarah, was admitted to hospital with severe food poisoning.  She has been on a drip and is now recovering at home, so that is good news.

We went down to breakfast this morning to find someone at our table! The cheek of it! We sat somewhere else. I got bitten four times by mosquitoes in a matter of a minute or two. ????

We chatted to Zainib, she is going home today. It was lovely to meet her. She is very knowledgeable about critters.

After breakfast we go to the camera room where we have the ongoing issue with one of Richard’s strobes. We test, we clean, we test,we clean. The symptoms don’t make sense but he has two working strobes for today’s diving.

So we had Mark (Canadian) and Chris (Netherlands) on the boat with us this morning. Mark is certified and Chris was doing discover scuba.

Dive #49

Aguhuta

23.2 metres / 65 mins / 28 degrees

Coral on top then on a slope to about 20 metres, then sandy bottom

A beautiful relaxing dive.

So many red toothed triggerfish which surrounded us.

We saw pink frogfish, shrimps on wire coral, various nudis including beautiful risbecia, and the red nudi with white edge.

As Richard takes off his mask he is made aware of quite a lot of blood. Eh-chek transformed into a first responder and fixed the problem…

Surface interval talking corporate bollocks…!

Mark told us that when he gets serious about diving he will get himself a computer. I didn’t mention that we always dive with two computers…

I remembered to take the pictures of my fins…

Dive #50

Minilog

25.0 metres / 72 mins / 28 degrees

Corals on top and a slope with corals.

Even more red toothed triggerfish on this dive. Amazing!

We also saw a cardinal fish with eggs in its mouth, a tiny red nudi, more beautiful risbecia, and some beautiful Christmas tree worms.

Back at Buceo, Richard had salt and pepper shrimps and a BLT for me.

As we are the only one on the boat this afternoon we have chosen to go out and do two dives “back to back” leaving at 2pm rather than 3pm. This allows us more evening time, and also allows Nanni, Eh-chek and Saldy to go home early. Winner all round!

Dive #51

Red Rock

25.0 metres / 61 mins / 28 degrees

Large pinnacle, top at 5 metres and the bottom at 20 metres.

Amazing dive. Last time we dived here there were lots of divers, today, only three!

Peacock mantis shrimp with eggs, three banded sea snakes, nudis, shrimps, and loads of red toothed triggerfish.

During the surface interval we move to Manit School. More coffee and oreos whilst chatting with Nanni about different dive sites that we can visit next time we are here… ????

Dive #52

Manit School and wall

21.3 metres / 75 mins / 28 degrees

Coral garden at the top, going down to a sandy bottom at 20 metres. We work our way to the wall and bimble along the top edge (bottom goes down to 40 metres at the deepest.

We saw two banded sea snakes, various nudis including a Cinderella nudi, orangutan crab, shrimps on wire coral.

Back to Buceo by 5.30, which is the time we normally go out. Nice!

In the bar, for drinks and in the restaurant by 18:40, that is the earliest of the holiday.

Dive day #12

Another flat day in Anilao!

I confuse everyone at breakfast by changing my egg order to omelette with cheese as the number of opportunities for trying different food is fast running out. I was not tempted by the corned beef with rice, one of the things that I tend to avoid on these trips, that and the little sausages you used to get (and probably still do) on the Egyptian live aboards.

We must have had a big changeover of guests yesterday as breakfast in uncharacteristically under attended though as we eat, the rest of the guests slowly drift in.

Being here for a little over two weeks we see a lot of guests come and go as well as big groups from Spain and the  U.S. the bigger groups do tend to make themselves heard a little more than just couples or individuals. Perhaps they are simply trying to communicate with those at the other end of their table, or perhaps they are too busy talking when they should be eating!

.. And taking of changes, today for lunch I just ordered a B.L.T. (Jo had been suggesting I do this for days and I could do with a change from the pasta, lovely though it is).

Tonight I intend to push the boat out further still by ordering the salt and pepper shrimp that come with shells on, crunchy!

Dive #45

22.5 metres / 76 minutes / 27 degrees

Apolls Point

Another favourite site with so much going on and so much colour. Highlights include crabs in corals, a pair of beautiful risbeccia nudis, a swimming frog fish and more well positioned nudis. A glorious dive on this amazing site

We spend the surface interval moving back towards the resort and we moor up at Mainit Corner with four other boats though by the time we get in, they have all gone, which is nice.

Dive #46

23.5 metres / 80 minutes / 28 degrees

Lots to see again! More nudis including something very orange!

Other highlights include white shrimp on a white feather star and some flabbelinas!

Back to lunch, BLT as mentioned earlier and then, the wait for the afternoon dive at three.

Dive #47

  24.1 metres / 65 minutes / 28 degrees

Elmers Point

It’s a bit of a cloudy afternoon so underwater things are a little on the dark side but fear not, we bought plenty of light with us. Mostly Nudi and Shrimp action on this dive which is ledges of coals down to a sandy slope, also full of corals. There are giant sea fans / Gorgonians though sadly, none of them were playing host to any pygmy seahorses.

Back to dry land for hot drinks before we head out for the night dive which, as it happens will be Jo’s dive No. 1900.

Dive #48

23.5 metres / 69 minutes / 28 degrees

House reef night dive.

Important to note that, after you have been here for a good while, you get to choose what dives you do and when and it is vital to know, with some confidence, that you are well equipped with the skills and knowledge to choose any dive site that suits the conditions and your desires.

So, with that in mind, when I’m asked, I redirect the question to Jo, what with it being her dive No. 1900 and all.

So instead of going with her instincts and desires, she chooses to fit with our guides recommendation, the house reef it is then!

After the dive I’m awarded a special dispensation to slap her around the head a few times if she ever gives in so easily ever again!

All that being said, it was a fine dive with nudis, skeleton shrimp and a wonderpus out to entertain us.

Entry for this dive was from the boat (which pulls out around 15m from the beach, exit is on foot though as soon as you clear the water, willing helpers remove your camera and weights and we are left to walk into the dive center for cylinder removal etc.

The staff at the centre really do look after us and are adept at providing various gear dipping solutions so we are assured that we smell of roses (as opposed to well used neoprene) on every dive!

Tonight we dine on Tuna Sisig, mango and cucumber salad and fried rice.

.. And very lovely it was too!

Dive Day #11

Looking good out there today…

So, Ronnie, from the dive centre is my Tagilog teacher, and now I can say good morning, good noon, good afternoon, good evening, how are you and I am good. I am a bit of a slow learner as he is teaching me for three holidays now. In his spare time, although he doesn’t seem to have much spare time, he paints fins. So, I thought I would have mine done…

Pictures here of fins

We say goodbye to Nicole and Christian today, as they return home to Switzerland. We have had fun.

On our boat today, there is us and Zainib with Nanni and Hu with Jimson. We head off to Kirby’s Rock.

Dive #41

26.5 metres / 57 minutes / 28 degrees

Kirby’s Rock

Metres / mins / degrees

We spent time on the bottom at the base of the wall, then over to the pinnacle, then back to the base of the wall.

Coming to the surface, the boat had moved. It appeared that Jimson and Hu came up on the other side of the wall.

We saw nudis of various shape, colour and size, a leaf fish and of course the amazing scenery.

We moved further along the coast to Kaban Cove for our surface interval. We chatted to Nanni about all sorts of things, including children’s expectations of Christmas, which of the sites were his favourite (Mainit Corner even though the typhoons have done some damage and PADI versus BSAC decompression views.

Dive #42

22.9 metres / 70 minutes / 28 degrees

Kaban Cove

Metres / mins / degrees

Very relaxed dive. In the cove the bottom was at about four metres then a rubble covered slope.

We saw a grey frogfish, a stonefish, a pretty pipefish, nudis and some bright orange snails.

Back at Buceo for lunch, BLT and carbonara, followed by camera stuff, blogging and sitting on our balcony relaxing.

Dive #43

23.5 metres / 67 minutes / 28 degrees

Koala

Metres / mins / degrees

At the beginning of the dive we had a little stress. One of my strobes wouldn’t turn on,  even though I had it checked twice. Richard wasn’t happy with how I was dealing with it, so he took over. He passed me his camera (very heavy underwater), took mine and gave the strobe a bit of a bash. Hey presto! All fixed. This was followed by Richard passing me back my camera and I passed him his… Or so I thought… It descended to the reef with a crash! Oops!!

A beautiful reef. Basically, we bimbled along to the point we found current and then bimbled back.

We saw a grey frogfish, feeding mackerel, various nudis, emporer shrimps on a sea cucumber and tiny orange sea squirt.

Surface interval back at Buceo, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits.

We even saw the sunset…

A little bumpy on the trip round to Secret Bay.

Dive #44

22.5 metres / 66 minutes / 28 degrees

Secret Bay

Metres / mins / degrees

Sandy slope.

The first 15 minutes of the dive were a bit dull, but after that we saw lots of stuff. Everywhere you looked, you could see the reflection of shrimp eyes.

The best bit was a tiny yawning red frogfish. Got a picture!

We saw  lots of shrimps and nudis.

Even bumpier (some would say rough) when we got out.

At the bar before dinner.

Dinner tonight was salt and pepper deep fried pork belly, coleslaw and fries.

Dive day #10

Another bright and flat calm day here, we head down for breakfast where today is spam day. I’m not a huge fan of spam but it adds a certain something to my fried eggs on toast (which I seem to default to these days, despite being profoundly aware that un oeuf is un oeuf! ???????????????? )

Buceo have three of their own boats and when there are more guests, they hire in more. The guides are still from Buceo though and are all very excellent.

Dive #37

19.5 metres / 80.minutes / 28 degrees

Siam SIM

A lot of sand on this one and then it all kicks off after 40 minutes with Skelton shrimp, other shrimps and at the end, a hairy frog fish, nice!

That photo is after the dive, here’s one of our guide Nani, that’s the effect we have on him!

Next dive, Bubbles!

Dive #38

23.2 metres / 72 minutes / 28 degrees

Bubbles

Another excellent tour around one of my favourite sites here, dark and mysterious!

Some flabbelina action as well as a huge octopus, nudis and shrimp, and of course, bubbles!

Back at base Jo has BLT and I have the Pancit Canton with vegetables which I spice up a little with the chilli and garlic sauce that Dave Santos kindly gave us shortly after we had arrived. I think I might just have over done it a little!

.. And now, the long wait (ok, only 2 hours) until the next dive at three pm.

As an aside, we are diving in our skinny wet suits as the water temp is around 27-28 degrees and we like to be toasty so to keep them in tip top and sweet smelling condition there is a special treatment that we apply to them twice daily:

One particular thing to note about today is that it is 25 years ago today that Jo and I went out on our first date.

We had met already earlier in the year but we were both in other relationships at the time.

When we get back to our room at lunch…

Dive #39

29 metres / 62 minutes / 28 degrees

Mainit West

This is the western side of the corner, not far from the resort. Lots to see, all the regular suspects though I’m trying not to take more nudi shots but instead I’m focusing (!) on shrimps and crabs and a little more super macro for the tiniest of things, let’s see how that goes!

Back on dry land it seems that Jo and I are the only two on our boat wanting to do a night dive so we bring it forward to allow just enough surface interval and we dive at 5.00pm.

Dive #40

23.5 metres / 66 minutes / 28 degrees

Twin rocks (the twin rocks end!)

It’s still light as we jump in (well, it’s more like a controlled fall as many of you will know). Our guide Nani suggests that he can find us a dragon shrimp so we filled him down to about 24m and sure enough, he finds us a dragon shrimp (we like dragon shrimps).

It’s not in the best position for photography but we get our shots.

Then we start to make our way back up and encounter a couple of other well positioned shrimps on whip corals, nice!

We then head back up to around 14m for the rest of the dive, right next to the twin rocks which give the site its name.

Lots to see. By now it’s mostly dark and there are schools of thousands of red tooth trigger fish which don’t really like my swanky new dive torch so they can be herded around quite easily by appropriate direction of the beam (much fun!)

After a dive to 24m lasting almost 70 minutes, I decid to surface leaving Jo with Nani for another 5 Minutes or so. Another awesome dive.

Back to base for Prinks then a dinner of vegetable chop suey, sweet and sour chicken and rice, yum!

Dive Day #9

Tired today. When we do the black water diving in the evening, I don’t get to sleep until about 11 o’clock, so only seven hours of sleep. I need more than that.

Another calm day, and we are starting with sunshine, which is nice. Every day Christian has said tomorrow will be sunny. It appears that yesterday he was correct. Nice!

I have been struggling with an outer ear infection, doesn’t stop me equalizing but it has been very painful. The other divers on our boat have been extremely helpful. The first offer of medicine I received was from Nicole, although Zainib also offered, as did a lovely Egyptian man from a different boat. Anyway, this is the medication that I am using and my ear is on the mend.

At the dive centre, the camera housings are predominantly black, as Nauticam takes over the world.

Dive #33

Gasang Pink House

20.4 metres/ 66 mins / 27 degrees

Sandy slope.

For all the bad things we say about this site, we had a lovely dive. This site is good as long as there is no current.

We saw flamboyant cuttlefish, tiny red frogfish, various flabellinas, arrow crab and shrimps on coral.

We also saw lots of divers, looking for the flamboyant cuttlefish.

Surface interval entertainment was supplied by Christian and his drone. Sun was still shining. Nice!

So since Han-Peter left, we have Hu on the boat. Hu has previously dived with Jimson and wanted to again. Jimson looks after him. He is quiet, possibly doesn’t speak much English.

Dive #34

Manit School

25.0 metres/ 70 mins / 27 degrees

Love this dive site.

Corals down to about 20 metres then Sandy bottom.

We saw some tiny white with yellow edge nudis, Donald Duck shrimp, red shrimp on the red wire coral.

Back to Buceo for lunch. BLT for me and carbonara for Richard. Nice!

Photo work that didn’t get done last night.

Dive #35

Arthur’s Wall

22.5 metres/ 67 mins / 28 degrees

We had a lovely dive. The wall is beautiful and lots of corals and soft corals on top

We saw a dragon shrimp on the bottom of the wall, various nudis and Christmas tree worms.

The surface interval was spent in the patio area drinking coffee, hot chocolate and eating biscuits.

Dive #36

Secret Bay night dive

21.6 metres/ 71 mins / 28 degrees

Sandy slope.

We saw a single blue ring octopus, a coconut octopus, beautiful risbecia, a tiny red frogfish and various other critters.

We meet at the bar for a cocktail before we have dinner of aubergine omelette thing that was delicious, with fried rice and a deep fried lumpia (vegetable spring roll).

Fell asleep before nine o’clock, leaving Richard to do some photos work. Result!