The ‘tour’ was over and the boat was ready to leave. I got my 2 bags together and was loaded into a very TINY boat like this one, for a trip to shore.
The waves were really rolling in by this time; and i was skeptical. Honestly, i was worried that my bag would not stay dry, but it did! Those guys know what they are doing !
Apo is a volcanic island, and Liberty Lodge is built right into the side of the hill.
You have quite a few steps just to get to the Lobby. Then more steps up to my room. And there were rooms above mine too with more steps. It was really cool; the steps reminded me of an old castle, all made of stone.
My room was great !
With a little balcony and a great view of the sea
View from the balcony, restaurant below
But as i looked around i realized i did not have a private bathroom, which i thought i had booked. Back down at the desk i was told it was private, but it was down the hall. It was just a short distance and that was fine. But when i opened the door this is what i saw. A toilet and a ‘tub’.
The toilet was no surprise, many of the toilets here do not have a water tank on the back of them. After you ‘finish’ there is usually a bucket and a ‘ladel’ somewhere. Hopefully the bucket has water in it. So you use the ladel to scoop water into the bowl until it ‘flushes’. In this case the bucket was in the corner and contained salt water from the sea
This island has limited water, so this is what they have designed.
The tub does contain ‘fresh’ water for bathing… gathered from the rain
You will notice that the sink does not have any faucets on it either.
There is no running water. They also only have generator electricity, so it operates from 9-11am, 1-3pm, and 6:30-10pm. And, WiFi was available in the restaurant only, starting at 6pm. They said the first 10 people could get on…there must have been 75 people staying there. I tried the entire time to get on line, i even went before 6pm; but was never successful.
It’s pretty much like ‘comfort’ camping :) I knew most of this before i booked. Probably if you book at the ‘resort’ on the island for more $$$, it might be a bit different, but not much. There are only 3 places on the island to stay unless you want to do a ‘home stay’.
i was anxious to get the salt water off me and get some dry clothes on. The tub wasn’t very large, i could barely fit in it; but i got washed, rinsed, put cream rinse in my hair. It was kind of a messy process, but it worked.
It was time for dinner. 3 meals were included with my stay. Usually, i would prefer to go ‘out’…. but this was really convenient and the food was VERY good! I had a couple rum and cokes and ordered from the menu. Watched the sunset on my new little island. It was very quiet once all the tour boats left
There was a nice breeze so the fact that there was no electricity to run a fan was not a problem. Some people on trip advisor suggested you bring a battery operated fan, which would be helpful if it was really hot and no breeze (just in case you are thinking about visiting).
The walls between these rooms are nothing more than split bamboo; so you can hear EVERYTHING on both sides of you, plus down the hall. i woke up in the middle of the night because i swore someone was walking around my bed. It took me awhile to calm myself and go back to sleep :)
I know most of you are horrified at this point and this is not your kind of ‘vacation paradise’ …. but i loved it.
In the morning, i had a great breakfast, they call these pancakes, but are really delicious crepes loaded with fruit. The mangos here are so sweet and tasty !
i took a walk down the beach where the locals are waiting for tourists to arrive for the day
and watched more ‘tours’ and orange clad Chinese invade my paradise
i am glad that the locals understand this sign…. if you kill and eat all the fishes in the sea, and destroy the reef where the turtles live, no one will come to your island, and your income will disappear.
My room is the third little brown one up there :)
I scheduled a dive for 11am…. we went out in one of those little boats again, sitting on the edge of the boat, with our legs and fins dangling over the side. We entered the water with a 'side-roll' … this is something they have developed, because it was never taught nor mentioned in any of my PADI diving courses :) …you have to be flexible and improvise !
It was a nice wall dive. Again, disappointment with my camera :(
This is a Big Long Nose ButterFly Fish, aptly named ... he does have a BIG LONG nose !
a Christmas Tree worm that appears to have an Angel on the Top
This is a pretty little fish called ThreadFin Anthias. They are all over the reef wall in deeper waters than snorkeling.
It ended with a nice slow drift over top of the most healthy and beautiful soft corals i have ever seen ! Yes, this is a photo of a turtle, but please notice how plentiful and healthy the coral is !
After lunch and a rest, i was in the water again back to the same area where we saw the Dancer. Of course, i won’t see another one; but it was a good place to snorkel.
This is a volcanic island, so there are a lot of uneven cliffs falling into the water, lots of recesses to go back in and explore.
It was inside one of these areas where i looked down and saw ANOTHER Spanish Dancer among the coral of the same color !!!!
It is rare to see this Nudibranch and now i’ve seen THREE !
Are you kidding me …. how lucky i am ! i took tons of photos again, and i think she finally decided that i was never going to leave if she didn’t dance for me first. And dance she did …
If you missed the ‘Dumaguete to Apo Island Snorkel’ blog, you can learn more about Spanish Dancer there; i won’t repeat it here. And you can watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aBADZ3hF2CU
i spent a lot of time with the Dancer and it was time to move on.
i’ve had a glimpse of this Titan TriggerFish several times since i’ve been here, but have never been able to get close enough for a photo. This guy was a little bit more tolerant of my chasing him through the rocks and reef.
They are the largest of the TriggerFishes, up to 2.5 feet. This one was probably 1.5 feet
i didn’t get into the water until after 3pm, and i spent so much time with the Dancer and chasing the Titan, it was time for dinner
Early the next morning i walked up to the LightHouse…seemed like a good thing to do. Many many concrete steps, plus trail walking.
On the way up i saw many young, and not so young, men walking down. i assumed they were going to work with the tourists on the beach, …. until i heard someone behind me walking UP with a HUGE sack full of sand/gravel, then another one carrying 2 cement blocks, and another one carrying 10ft boards ! And i was huffing and puffing just carrying myself up there !
Finally at the top i saw piles and piles of bags and other construction supplies.
They were building a new LightHouse and of course, had to carry EVERYTHING from the bottom up there. WoW Those guys were strong and in shape! I asked one of the guys at the top; he said they make 6 trips a day. There was a little ‘camp’ up here, i assume where they all were living.
There really wasn’t anything to see from up there, only a view of the same side of the island you can see from down below. So other than the knowledge of what was going on up there, it was only exercise.
When i got back i heard the girls in the room next to me talking about the proper use of the bath tub. i found out i was doing it wrong ! The floor for the toilet was elevated, and the other lower floor had 2 drains in it. i was NOT supposed to get IN the tub. i was to stand on the floor where the drains are, and use the ladel to pour water over my head and wash. It is important not to get soap or cream rinse in the tub. Whoops !
Before i checked out, i apologized to the nice lady at the desk and explained what i had done (she looked horrified). i suggested that maybe she should tell people when they check in, or there could be a sign, or a picture of the proper use of the tub; because how are people supposed to know. She looked right at me and kind of laughed and said i was the FIRST person ever to not know ! I am such an American girl ! I still stand by my suggestion, but she thought it was foolish. Maybe no one else ever admitted what they had done
Another snorkel before i left. I started back out to the same place. Last evening the waves were picking up, but… it was morning and i thought it would be calmer. i was wrong, the waves were brutal. i swam back to shore and walked down the beach to the other end where it wasn’t so rough and explored that area again
Another turtle that i saw eating
Finally a photo of a Parrot Fish, that i could actually identify ! This is a Bower’s Parrot Fish
Time to return to eat some lunch and get ready to leave. i might have enjoyed staying one more night, but time to move on.
Even with all the possible ‘negatives’, i enjoyed it and would return.
I had received a text from Harold’s that they would pick me up at 2pm. I was ready and went to the shore and looked at the waves. They were way bigger than yesterday. I asked that he make 2 trips for me, one with my bags, and one with me. On the way in, we were sitting pretty low in the water, and i was nervous then, this would be worse. He agreed and took my bags and returned for me. On the way out there with me, we got hit with a couple big waves that crashed over our little boat and soaked me. My bags certainly would have been drenched if they had been in there with us. When i got into the big boat i checked my bags… they were dry :)
It was a rather wet ride back to Dauin, but there were places in the boat where you could stay dry. Most of them already snatched up… but i stayed dry and so did my bags.
Back in the truck-van, and to Harold’s for a shower and dinner… and WiFi. There was an older guy playing nice guitar music on the RoofTop tonight. Lots of old favorites. He started playing ‘The More I See You’ by Chris Montez ! Any of you remember that song or him? i still have one of his vinyl albums. i made some comments after the song, and asked how a Philippino man knows Chris Montez. He said he was old and from that generation. How cool was that !
Tomorrow i return by Ocean Jet Ferry at 7:30am to my temporary home at Kevin and Nadia’s. I was gone 12 days and visited 3 islands.
Signing off from Nemo :)
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