Richard & Jo's Blog

The journey home – Richard

The day started at normal with me walking up stupidly early though by 05.35 I had had enough, kettle on, drinks made, let the day begin!

It has to be said that Jo did not quite see things the same way that I did with cries of ‘but we don’t need an earlier breakfast today’ and similar.

After boiling the kettle and opening a few blinds, Jo gave in and joined in the  fun!

We completed documenting the dive logs and it seems that we clocked up 4821 minutes underwater, that’s over 80 hours submerged!

For me, the last breakfast was a little fruit and two eggs over-easy. It was corned beef hash day today and I generally give that a wide berth and today was no exception!

After breakfast we break down the camera gear and let it dry a bit more, we go to the room and throw most of what we can find into the bags then it’s back to the camera room to pack all that sruff into its case and then the dive gear into another case and we are pretty much done.

We’ve confirmed departure time of 2.30pm, so we change for pool play and spend the next couple of hours bobbing about in the bright sunshine, I’m confident I’ve over done it, time will tell.

Back to the room for coffee on the balcony whilst we contemplate the next big event – lunch!

.. And lovely it was too!

Now just under two hours before we depart BAR, most likely dozing on the balcony, i think we are all pooled out and I certainly don’t need any more sunshine!

Ok, scratch that, back in the pool we go for another pleasant hour of bobbing around aimlessly whilst avoiding the sunshine????????????

Fortunately some other guests joined us in the pool and we were able to check the time, 20 minutes until our bags were being collected, better get out quick!!

We settled our F&B tab and said our goodbyes.

Our boat picked us up right on time for the short trip around the corner to Secret Bay where Walter is waiting for us in a shiney new Toyota van which has most excellent air-con thank goodness!

Now on our way, it takes a while to wind our way along the coast road up to Mabini and then a little while more to get to Batangas. After that we join the main road to Manila which was flowing well for a while, now, not so much, currently feeling good that we left a little earlier than planned!

There is no obvious reason for the hold up, I guess it’s done way ahead. I’ll report back in a while!

… It seems that a lorry load of eggs had overturned, I guess the driver over-egged it! Ok, that’s en-oeuf!

After that it’s a clear and swift run to the airport, painless check-in and swanky new passport control with scanners (my passport failed so had to go old school and get it stamped!)€.ß

After Jo is relieved of the tiny bottle of water that she inadvertently tried to sneak through, we are in departures with barely 2hrs to spare!

After reviewing the available dining establishments and options, we decided to go for a couple of packs of coconut macaroons, yum!

We arrived at three departure gate super early and an operative was reorganising the seating, we asked if it was ok to sit where we were with our economy tickets and he said yes, after a while it became apparent that we ended up in the business class pre boarding area, I said nothing!!

When it finally came to boarding, we held our ground until all the business class passengers had been processed we were the only two in there,  the rest of the economy passengers were held in a penn far far behind!

The guy who has said we were ok to sit there then have us the nod and we boarded – result.

Our seats on this leg were right at the back of the plane where the overhead lockers are usually stuffed full of other stuff and we are not allowed to use them, there is often a frenzy of locals trying to get all their over sized carry on items into what little space there is, we beat them all, hurrah!

Apparently the flight was around 11.5 hrs,I only saw a small part of it as before I knew it, we were descending into Istanbul!

During our 2hr 55mins stay over we were seduced by a sign that included the word Kebab so we ordered up and sat down to eat. The food was all priced in Turkish Lira so I had no idea that we just blew over £60 on a snack! To be honest, a Donner kebab from our local would have been far nicer and a third of the price. It reminded me of the time when I got some drinks and cheesy chips for 4 of us in Dubai and that was over £60 too!

I double checked Burger King when we walked past it, home of the Whopper, which you could get there for only £25!!!

We get on to the next flight, a swanky new plane, an A320, relatively small and we had booked extra leg room by the emergency exits and no third person joined us so that was nice. Two movies later we are descending into LGW. Passport control was a breeze, zero queue, baggage reclaim was quick and we were out of the airport 46 minutes after landing, result!

Dive day #17 – Buceo – Jo

Last diving day. It is sad but we are looking forward to a fun packed UK summer!

The weather is being kind once again.

New boat buddies today, Stephan and Sandra from Germany and we still have Katsuko with us.

Dive #59 – Daryl Laut

Depth 29 metres / time 70 mins / temp 29 degrees

I love this dive. Spent someone off the bottom corner and then back to the top of the wreck to look for Christmas tree worms.

We saw lots of Christmas tree worms, small black frogfish with orange spots, big pink frogfish, nudis.

We spent the surface interval in the sunshine, chatting with our new boat buddies. Sandra is the photographer and Stephan is the assistant providing backdrops and lighting as required.

Dive #60 – Minilog

Depth 23 metres / 84 minutes / temp 29 degrees

A sloping coral garden.

A lovely dive.

We saw dragon shrimp, many nudis, and shrimp in bubble coral.

We go for a dip in the pool before lunch.

Lunch was pork schnitzel and coleslaw.

Our boat buddies are blackwater diving so we are going out at 2pm rather than 3pm, for two dives, so that the boat is back to pick them up for their dive. (Update – they saw a Paper Nautilus – wow!)

Dive #61 – Mainit West

Depth / time / temp 29 degrees

A steep sloping coral garden.

Had a little current on this dive but not too much. Also, one of my strobes, which had been a little temperamental, wouldn’t turn on.

We saw fish on wire coral, various nudis.

We then head over to Mainit School where we spend the surface interval. Sorted strobe and left it on to avoid any issue.

Dive #62 – Mainit School

Fabulous last dive of the holiday. This is one of my favourite sites.

Coral garden down to about 20 metres the sandy bottom with coral outcrops.

So much to see, basically move from one critter to the next.

We saw many, many nudis, two flamboyant cuttlefish.

We say our goodbyes to Nani and Wendel, Nani if off home and Wendel is the captain for the blackwater dive. Jake, we hope to see tomorrow morning, as it is his day off.

We chat at the bar with Dave about things, various. Looks like we will be at the dive show again next year…

Dinner was chicken adobo, drop fried lumpia and fried rice.

Photo work for me while Richard sleeps.

Dive Day #16 – Buceo Anilao – Richard

Here we are on the penultimate diving day with only a few sites that we’ve not visited, one of which is Arthur’s Wall, we shall see.

Breakfast was that classic combo of eggs, hash browns and some kind of hot ham.

There is a light breeze and a mostly clear sky so when the sun creeps over the hill it’s gonna be hot hot hot ????????

It’s the last day for our boat buddies from S.A. so that might want to pick the first site of the day, in hope it’s Bubbles or Red Rock!

Cameras are prepped, they have a really good camera room here with plenty of space, power, lighting and compressed air available at each station. So it’s back to the room for a little light blogging and dive anticipation!

We head off around the corner to Secret Bay for the daily ritual of coastguard clearance and then over to Apols Point to actually dive Apol East

Dive #55 – Apol East

A moderate sandy slope down to around 27m with many coral outcrops. Highlights of this dive include the Cinderella nudis and shrimp on wire corals. Nice.

At the end of the dive we had plenty of air so Jo decided that we should practice some underwater skills so with everyone else out of the water and our guide directed elsewhere, we skulked off to a quiet section of reef where we practiced complete wetsuit removal (at depth) and it all went very well, more details available upon request.

We spend the surface interval  soaking up the sun (of which there is plenty) and taking coffee etc.

In an effort to avoid even the tiniest of current fish, we end up diving at Secret Bay where we enjoyed more shrimp on wire coral action as well as other critters.

Dive #56 – Secret Bay

Notionally a muck diving site, plenty to see, you just have to look!

We make the short  journey back to base where we make a dash for the pool (well we had been out of water for a good 10 minutes and we’re starting to dry out!).

A light lunch of BBQ pork and coleslaw and then drinks on the balcony.

The next dive is at 3.00pm and it’s just the two of us, luxury!

Dive #57 – Arthur’s Wall

A bit of a drift across a rubble area before hitting the wall which is fairly spectacular. Some nicely positioned nudis greet us along with a dragon shrimp, an excellent dive. Got picked up by the boat afterwards as we surfaced some way from it. Jo saved us by attracting Jake’s attention with a fairly loud call JJAAAKKKKEEE!!!!

Back on dry land for drinks and snacks before the last dive of the day.

Dive #58 – Mainit Corner

Another interesting tour of this site but a different route this time. Lots of nudis and other critters to keep us busy.

Then it’s bar and dinner time, tonight featuring baby back pork ribs, coleslaw and fries.

…. Whilst I remember, here is some of our room decor… We are in the Lionfish room!

Dive day #15 – Buceo

Flat calm again here although not as sunny as yesterday.

Breakfast is done early followed by camera stuff.

Got bitten over night by a mosquito, the first one of the holiday. It’s hot and swollen. Will arrange for housekeeping to spray the room today.

I have an ongoing issue. I can’t seem to put my wetsuit on before I put my boots on. This has happened almost every day since we started to use our wetsuits. I am now putting my boots out of the immediate vicinity to make sure that I don’t keep making the same mistake. It shouldn’t be this complicated!

The sun came out! That’s nice!

Dive #51 – Elmer’s Point

Depth 21 metres / time 80 mins / temp 28 degrees

Beautiful dive site. Going down in steps to about 18 metres then sandy with coral outcrops.

We saw a candy crab in soft coral, various nudis, shoals of yellow snappers, many thousands of red tooth triggerfish. We also saw an unusual nudi, one that Nani hadn’t seen before, tiny brown with white rhinophores.

We enjoyed the sunshine during the interval whilst listening to the music from Planet Dive.

Dive #52 – Twin Rocks

The twin Rocks end on the block end.

Depth 24 metres / time 78 mins / temp 28 degrees

Very relaxed dive. Bumbled along at about 18 metres until we got to the Twin Rocks where we turned round and made our way back to the boat.

We saw shrimps on wire coral, three spiky black nudis in some broken cup coral, and a flabellina.

We get back to Buceo and go for a dip in the pool before our lunch of pork schnitzel with coleslaw.

Dive #53 – Sun View

Depth 23 metres / time 76 minutes / temp 29 degrees

A slope with small coal outcrops and lots of soft corals.

We saw pygmy seahorse, numerous flabellinas, many other nudis.

We are changing boat for the next dive as our boat buddies are going off to do the mandarin fish dive.

Coffee and skyflakes to fill in the time.

Dive #54 – Heidi’s Point

Depth 22 metres / time 71 minutes / temp 28 degrees

Sandy slope in the dark.

We had a lovely dive. The highlight of which was the Shawn the sheep slugs.

We saw five Shawn the sheep slugs, soft coral crabs, hermit crabs.

We still have a resident, giant gecko in the room. I saw it scuttle under one of the spare beds. The same bed that the giant spider is under. Either there will be one over stuffed gecko or one over stuffed spider. I hope the gecko wins!

Having a Royal at the bar before dinner.

Dinner of pancit canton for me and pork sizing and fried rice for Richard.

Cameras, photos and bed.

Dive Day #14 – Buceo Anilao – Richard

It’s early O’Clock but the cockerels are quite active and waking me up, perhaps there should be more chicken in the menu ????

Our guide Nanie returns today and we should be diving the next four days with him. It’s time to start thinking a bit about the sites that we have not visited yet like Agahuta, Mainit School, Mainit West And Elmer’s point.

So fast we’ve seen lots of new stuff this trip, perhaps it’s the weather, perhaps the guides have been honing their skills, how on earth do they spot these things??? Regardless, it’s all good news for us.

It’s currently flat outside with a gentle breeze, let’s hope that stays the same!

Today at breakfast it’s Spam Day so Spam with cheese omelette it is.

We head around to Secret Bay for Coastguard inspection before heading west again to Kirby’s Rock though half way there we divert to Agahuta as there is suspected current at Kirby’s and what a cracking dive it was!

Dive #47 – Agahuta

Depth 22 metres / time 78 minutes / 29 degrees

A splendid bimble in bright sunshine around another one of our favourite sites. No current fish anywhere, some nice shrimp on wire corals and a couple of psychedelic nudis make this a fabulous dive.

We spend the surface interval drinking coffee and eating biscuits and skyflakes, yum, then we move along the coast to the next site.

Dive #48 – Olympic

Depth 25 metres / time 73 minutes / 29 degrees

Another cracking dive on this site, highlights include Coleman shrimp and zebra crab on the fire urchins, a tiger shrimp and we’ll positioned yellow ribbon eel. We also saw a huge hermit crab dining on a small puffer fish that was no more.

Back at base we take a dip in the pool before a delicious lunch of BBQ pork and coleslaw. Dave invited us to try some ‘Green’ mango juice which was a properly tasty drink.

Next up: camera refresh then coffee on the balcony. Today’s sunshine, though not critical to the success of the adventure, is a welcome alternative to the overcast skies of late!

Diving again at three, hopefully headed around the corner to knock some of the remaining sites off the to-do list.

Dive #49 – Bubbles

Depth 25 metres / time 65 minutes / 28 degrees

This time we went straight to the wall in search of the elusive flabellina and, thankfully, after a brief period of time, Nanie found some, excellent.

After that there were a plethora of Beautiful Risbecia, everywhere you looked, all posing eating ‘look at me’!

Back to shore for the surface interval, hot drinks and Skyflakes before heading out for the last dive of the day.

Dive #50 – Mainit School

Depth 18 metres / time 84 minutes / 28 degrees

Lots of Nudi  action here today on yet another of our favourite sites.

Back to the bar for Prinks where we are deep in discussion with our buddies from Oregon who lived in Alaska for many years. Extraordinarily interesting folk, life below zero and then some!

Dinner was a BLT with fries for Jo whilst I had salt and pepper grilled shrimp with vegetable chop suey, super yum!

Now we are waiting for our boat buddies from South Africa as it’s Jodie’s birthday today, 27, so young!

… And I’m told there is cake.

… But they got stuck at the bar (that happens a lot here!) so we retire!

Dive day #13 – Buceo – Jo

So, here we are. A little overcast and the sea is flat.

I am hoping for a little less excitement today… And no waves!

Yesterday, the boat crew Wendel (captain) and Jake (crew) were brilliant, as were Joy and Alvin (guides). Oh, and Richard helped too, he is pretty good at pulling a rope in a difficult situation!

The waves were very big about two metres. I was very pleased to be a bangka with outriggers.

When they said that we were going to have to enter the water and swim in to the beach, I don’t know what I thought, I just got in first and swam towards the shore and Joy met me by the bow of the boat.  The waves crashed over us a number of times. I made it to shore then watched Richard make it in with the dry bag being held over his head.

Everyone else and all our kit and cameras made it safely ashore.

A good job well done.

Oh, just one thing… It was a four horse night for Richard and he was asleep by 7pm but he has been awake since 3am. It was a two amaretto sour night for me and I slept from 9pm to 6am!

Diving with Alvin again today as Nani has a couple of days off.

Dive # 43 – Aqua Garden

Depth 23 metres / time 74 mins/ temp 29 degrees

We are here to search for a flamboyant cuttlefish so that our South Africa boat buddies can knock it off their list of things they want to see.

Sandy slope with hundreds of small soft corals and practically all of them have critters living in them.

We saw lots of soft corals crabs, small red frogfish, tint red frogfish and an emperor shrimp on a sea cucumber.

We dropped Jodie and Lauren back at Buceo as she is feeling a little unwell.

Then we head round the corner or if the wind for the next dive.

Dive #44 – Mainit Corner

Depth 23 metres/ time 74 mins/ temp 28 degrees

No current, no waves just fabulous diving. One of my favourite sites.

There is just so much to see, including a very rare butterfly nudi.

We saw many various nudis.

We got back to Buceo early, about 11.30, so we went for a swim in the pool before lunch.

Lunch was pork schnitzel with coleslaw. Nice!

After lunch we sort out the cameras then we have a couple of hours to relax before the afternoon’s dives.

Dive #45 Heidi’s Point

Depth 26 metres/ time 70 mins/ temp 26-28 degrees

Barren sandy slope (or so it appears)

We saw a white and a black ghost pipefish, batwing nudi, a hairy shrimp.

We pop back to Buceo for coffee and skyflakes.

It looks like we have broken our guide. Alvin won’t be diving with us on the next dive as he has a headache, looks like sinus issues. Joy has stepped up to the mark and said that he will accompany us.

Dive #46 Secret Bay

Depth 23 metres/ time 70 mins/ temp 26-28 degrees

A sandy slope with bits of rubble spotted around.

We saw bobbley nudis, blue nudis with red edge, a flabellina, a hairy shrimp, emperor shrimp on a cucumber worm.

At the end of the dive it was appropriate to test that my octopus was working – always good to check after having your regs serviced.

At the bar before dinner, the feeling is a little more relaxed than last night. Unlikely to be a four horse night, perhaps just the two.

Dinner is salt and pepper liempo (pork belly) with special fried rice and a fried lumpia (spring roll).

We found a stowaway in our room this evening. A huge gecko! About 12 inches long.

At least we haven’t seen that huge spider again. Not sure if Richard mentioned it in his blog a couple of days ago. A whip spider came visiting. Not the largest that we have seen but about 5 inches across. Pleased not to have seen it a second time. If it is still there, it could be the gecko’s dinner!

Dive Day #12 – Buceo Anilao – Richard

A lovely calm morning greets us today and we headed down for breakfast slightly earlier than of late, indeed we are first in! Today is Pancake day so I over do it with those (naturally)! We tend to the cameras and are back in our room and it’s still only 06.50!

Our guide Nanie is away for a few days so we have been left in the hands of Alvin who is new to us, let’s see what he finds for us.

Dive #40 – Mainit Corner

Loads of new Nudi action on this one including the Psychedelic Nudi, a great dive with our stand-in guide Alvin, he can find the small stuff for sure.

After spending the surface interval moored up at Twin Rocks, we ended up heading back to Secret Bay for the second dive.

Dive #41- Secret Bay

The current fish came both ways on this dive before finally leaving.

Red hairy Frog Fish with several others less hairy. Small nudis and shrimps.

Back on dry land nice and early (the two dives were very close to base) and an early lunch of deep fried Lumpia and BBQ Pork Skewers

After lunch, camera reset and a swift dip in the pool before retiring to our room for hot drinks on the balcony along with a bit of a snooze, all this bobbing about can really take it’s toll you know!

On our boat today it’s us two and our boat buddies Jodie and Lauren, a young couple from South Africa and a lady from Tokyo who just dubbed in the morning.

Dive #42 – Sun View

What a most excellent dive, this is a grainy sandy site with lots of small coral outcrops. Highlights include a hairy shrimp (well, we like them!) and a pygmy seahorse, which I don’t usually photo but Jo beckoned me in so I had to give it a go, and I actually got a picture, so that was all good.

Back to the line and I could tell by the way it was being jerked around that all was not calm at the surface.

.. And for sure, once I made it to the surface I could see that the wind had got up just a lot and there were rollers cruising by (not the ones made at Goodwood either!).

This made exiting the boat back at the beach somewhat exciting. They put a stern line on to a mooring buoy and then swam a bow line through the surf and fixed it ashore. Then it was (simply!) a matter of pulling as hard as we could to get the bow towards the beach. Once we had done the best we could, we had to literally jump ship and swim ashore. Jo led  the charge, hotly pursued by me. Time to see just how waterproof those waterproof bags are!

Jo was met in the surf by Joy, (the Filipino Brad Pitt)  and they made it out in one piece, despite being swamped by waves a couple of times. I followed swiftly! A while later cameras and other gear appeared ashore, all in one piece. A big thank you to our guides and crew. About an hour later, it had all calmed down again though we had already decided to change the location of the night dive:

Dive #42a – Nudi Bar

I need to document everything carefully as things may get forgotten in the forthcoming beer haze.

Ernie just arrived at the bar, I’m two Red Horse in, documenting just in case.

Sat at the bar and all the phones went off! Seems that the local volcano (Taal) just farted!

For dinner tonight we had Chicken Adobo, Vegetable Chop-suey and fried rice, yum!

Dive day #11

We say goodbye to Nina today. It has been so lovely to catch up. She is off to the Kuala Lumpur dive show representing Dive Heart, a group that helps people with disabilities to scuba dive.

Breakfast was the usual fayre followed by camera stuff.

We met our new boat buddies, a young couple from South Africa, Jodie and Lauren. So with them and Katsomo, a lady from Japan, our boat is complete. Dive guides are Nani, Joy and Jimson.

Dive #36 – Daryl Laut

Depth 29 metres / 70 mins / 29 degrees

A quick scout around the far corner of the wreck, looking for nudis. Then criss-crossing the top of the wreck. Finally the hunt for frogfish.

At the end of the dive we saw the reason why you shouldn’t have your GoPro if your buoyancy is sh*t. Every time this dive raised their GoPro to look through it, she immediately descended and the guide had to pull her back up. Don’t think it was anything to do with the stupid cat ears she was wearing but you just don’t know.

We saw three frogfish, large pink painted, small pink painted and a black one with orange spots. Also saw lots of Christmas tree worms and various nudis.

We left Daryl Laut and headed over to Agahuta, too much current so we headed to Kaban Cove, along with all of the other boats in the area. Unfortunately sometimes we have to put up with this if the current and wind direction restricts where we can go.

Dive #37 – Kaban Cove

Depth 22 metres / time 70 mins / 29 degrees

Great excitement was had at the beginning of this dive, as a blue ringed octopus was spotted. There were lots of divers but they all were considerate and everyone got a look. I initially kept out of it as I was photographing a couple of porcelain crabs in a huge anemone.

We saw a blue ringed octopus, porcelain crabs, a dragon shrimp and various nudis.

Back at Buceo, we were first to lunch and decided to add fries to our order of pork schnitzel and coleslaw. Lovely!

Now on the balcony enjoying the gentle breeze and relaxing.

Dive #38 – El Pinot

Depth 20 metres / time 80 mins / 29 degrees

A sandy slope going to a rubble area.  We were mainly looking for nudis.

We saw plenty of nudis and a couple of frogfish

The surface interval was back at Buceo. Coffee and no skyflakes! Skyflakes are arriving tomorrow.

Dive #39 – Secret Bay

Depth 22 metres / time 80 mins / 28 degrees

Sandy slope.

An amazing critters.

We saw lots of different nudis, five or six frogfish, and a wonderpus (that I found).

Chatting with a couple from Oregon/Alaska, Kirk and Shanna, lovely people. We’ve met lots of lovely people, Tim and Becca from Oz, Kelly and Jenna from Hawaii.

Dinner for three…

Richard had beef curry and fried rice and I had BLT and fries (first one of the holiday).

Camera stuff, photo stuff and bed.

Dive Day #10 – Buceo Anilao – Richard

Today was Bacon Day! Consequently I’m now suffering from bacon overload, as if there was such a thing!

Cameras are all prepped, dive gear loaded on the boats and all we have to do is to slip into something more suited to underwater operations and we’re set.

Rumour has it that the first dive of the day will be at Bethlehem which is basically along the seabed of a channel between two land masses where all sorts of strange looking critters are said to be lurking. It is of course dependent on the current when we arrive and if it’s all bad then we’ll head around the corner to Daryl Laut (the casino wreck) – let’s see what happens!

Dive #32 – Bethlehem

What a lovely dive, even if the current fish turned up half way through!

Several small nudis as well as a few larger ones, plenty for Jo to practice with the snoot torch that she added today. At one point I noticed that small clumps of coral were rolling past, this was when the current peaked!

The surface interval was spent with coffee and biscuits and a short hop over to Minilog for the second dive.

Dive #33 – Minilog

An exceptional dive with several new types of nudis, a good looking frog fish and a mostly obliging harlequin shrimp!

Back for a lunch of BBQ pork and coleslaw, a little camera prep and a bit of a rest before the next dive. Today we say goodbye to Nina (despite earlier reports of her departure) as and our boat buddies from Hawaii. This afternoon it might be just us on the boat, we shall see!

Post-lunch update, it is just us this afternoon, out at three for a couple of dives back to back is at least what is planned, let’s see how that plays out!

Dive #34 – Apologies Point East

This is a slope down to around 27m with lots of coal outcrops. The star of this particular dive was the Cinderella Nudi, or should I say Nudis as they were plentiful and all of them colourful. Right down to 27m where a pair were posing nicely for the camera. If it wasn’t for the fact that Jo was down to 2mins NCD then I’d never have prized her away getting them. I was also on 2mins NCD so nipped in for a few snaps before my NCD got zero so I chased it all back  to 18 and no deco was allocated, phew!

Other stars of this dive were various other small nudis and an obliging pink frog fish.

Back on board for coffee and snacks as we wait out the hour until the next dive.

Side note: It got down to 27 degrees on this dive Brrrrhhhh..

Dive #35 Coconut Point.

The plan here was to dive down to around 18m to the black coral area. As it turned out, as soon as we hit the water we were ini to Shaun the Sheep nudis, Emporer Shrimps and a hairy shrimp. So we spend the entire dive under or around the boat at around 7m max!

Back to the bar where a particular boat was pushed out, Jo had two (no, not just the one!) Royales and I  had a Red Horse beer followed by a Long Island Iced Tea.

Then a dinner of Tuna Sisig, fried rice and a mango and cucumber salad, awesome!

Now we are back at the room wading through todays crop!

Dive Day #9 – Buceo – Jo

Flat calm here…

Leisurely breakfast with Nina. Omelette for me and fruits for Richard.

Then off to Red Rock (the farthest east we go) via Secret Bay for our coastguard sign off.

Wind getting up and starting to rain.

Dive# 28 – Red Rock

Depth 22 metres / Time 78 mins / Temp 28 degrees

Lovely dive. Bimbled about. Safety stop at the top on the pinnacle.

We saw loads of nudis, frogfish, beautiful pinnacle, hundreds of thousands of red tooth trigger fish which surrounded us.

But of a chilly surface interval, chatting, coffee and skyflakes!! I asked to have skyflakes on the boat as the fake oreos have milk in. I eat about 2-3 skyflakes, they provided 40-50!! Plenty for everyone else.

Dive #29 – Bubbles

Richard had a face on as he didn’t get to do the dive he was hoping for. I had a lovely dive.

We saw bubbles, frogfish, nudis including two very nicely positioned beautiful risbecia and a couple of psychedelic slugs.

Lunch was a pork schnitzel and coleslaw.

It’s no longer windy or raining…

We head to Koala (the farthest north we go).

Dive #30 – Koala

Depth 25 metres / Time 82 mins / temp 29 degrees

Lovely dive, although a bit of current and surge at the end. We head towards the gorgonian fan, find the pygmy seahorse then back up the peninsula.

We saw frogfish, pygmy seahorse, schooling mackerel, various nudis including flabelinas.

Surface interval at Buceo with coffee, skyflakes and cookies.

Dive #31 Twin Rocks

Depth 24 metres / Time 80 mins /temp 29 degrees

Just us and Nani on this dive. It is so special when you have the dive site all to yourselves, especially a dive site like this.

We dropped in at the block, bimbled northwards and then bimbled back. It was dark by the time we got out.

Right near the end we came across a couple of huge lobsters. They were bright blue and pink with huge antennas measuring about five foot across. No claws like UK lobsters have.

We saw yet another frogfish, various nudis, lobsters, schooling trevallys.

A chat at the bar before dinner of pancit canton (noodles with vegetables) and Shanghai rolls.

Camera stuff, picture stuff and sleep.