I reluctantly left Aivy Maes, the people, the water, and the diving behind me. As always i returned to my Philippino Home, to smiling faces and greetings. I am fortunate to have 2 homes and 2 families. Pat, Nadia's niece, also returned, so the 'family' was complete once again.
Kevin took me into Tagbilaran to renew my visa for another 30 days. I will not spend 30 more days here, but i needed another week or so. We did a little shopping in their huge mall and big supermarket, BQ. It is fun looking at all the foods and items that are different, and some are the same. The vegetables and fruit sections are amazing to look at, and compare prices ... some higher and some lower than ours.
Pat took me on the motorbike (slowly) to a snorkel spot that she found for me. It was a nice place with tables and fresh water showers. Up on a rock cliff, steps down to the water.
I went to a very popular place several years ago, Moalboal (don't even try to pronounce it, someone will always correct you). Anyway, they are famous for their millions of Sardines that live on their coast. This place now also has Sardines, and it is helping their tourist trade also. I expected just a few, but here were thousands of Sardines here !
They are also taking steps to start coral reproduction. The Dive Shop guy said they area seeing healthier water, more fish, and even reports of sharks. This is a good thing since they are the top predator, which means there must be enough for them to eat to be there.
We spent quite a bit of time snorkeling, and saw these unusual looking Reef PipeFish, Corythoichthys flavofasciatus. I've never seen them with red markings ! The one on the bottom looks pregnant
And this Pink Tail TriggerFish! I LOVE these fish and haven't been able to get a photo of one in a long time. This one is living up to it's name, some are not so colorful, and she matches the coral in the background.
This is a Black Spot PufferFish, they also can be yellow or white. Some people call them Dog Face PufferFish. But ... i'd call them PuppyFace PufferFish, it sounds nicer !
A school of these fishes with a yellow stripe passed by me. Yes, there are a lot of fishes here!
I saw this Nudibranch Egg 'rose', isn't it beautiful? Proof that there are nudibranchs in these waters.... and maybe more some day.
It was a fun afternoon !
It was time to head to Camiguin Island. It is off the coast of Bohol. The Ferry leaves from the town of Jagna, pronounced Hagna :)
Kevin dropped me off around 7:30am to catch a 2hr bus to Jagna. I was early, the way i like it, the Ferry didn’t leave until 1pm. It was hot, and there was an new (modern) grocery store in town with A/C, so i spent an hour cooling down, walking the aisles :)
The Ferry is a RORO, ‘roll on roll off’, which means you can take your car, bike, on board too. That means it’s a big stable ship. It was a 3hr trip, and uneventful; except for the ‘fried bananas’ they served… battered, fried, and rolled in sugar :)
As you near the island you can see that the volcano is usually covered in clouds.
I visited here last year and was escorted around the island for days by Glen, who i met diving 2 yrs ago in Moalboal. He is now married to Apple and they built a home on Camiguin. Last year was not a ‘diving’ visit, but after returning home; i saw on Facebook that it was a GREAT Muck Diving location. So, i vowed that i would return this year to check out the Muck Diving.
If you are interested in what there is to do while on Camiguin other than diving, (waterfalls, soda baths, volcanos, hiking), check out last year's Blog at:
http://dp-newadventures.blogspot.com/2019/03/camiguin-island.html
When i arrived i was surprised at the entrance procedure, which was not in place last year. The boat held 200 passengers, and there were 4 people taking the info, which required about 10min each !!!!!!! It was a long wait. They wanted to see Passport and ask questions about where you had been…. Coronavirus precautions. Then they took your temperature. I am happy they are being responsible.
I passed all the tests, :) ... got a tricycle, and i had a map of where i needed to go. When i contacted Glen, he offered me a room in their newly built home ‘up the mountain’.
Unfortunately, when we got to the road to go ‘up the mountain’, the tricycle driver said he could not go up there (too steep, not enough power on his ride), and i needed to get a Habal-Habal … that’s a motorbike. Apple was waiting for me, and sent Roy, their ‘Habal-Habal’ driver to pick me up :)
I had seen their home last year in the beginning stages of being built. WoW, it’s beautiful ! Mahogany wood floors, cabinets and tables, i guess i didn't get any photos of the wood :(
It’s a grand home and location; cooler than down on the street, lots of nature, green, quiet, and very peaceful, with a great view of the sea. Apple showed me around their vegetable gardens; and they have many pineapple, banana, papaya, mango, hundreds of coconut, and other fruit trees that i don’t recall the names of.
And i love this idea of Coconut Shells as a mulch !
Their dog, Lucky, was grateful to have me rub his ears; and gave me some 'fur time'. He was a sweet dog with wiry hair. It was nice to see a healthy dog !
Several ponds and an impressively engineered, complicated water collection, retention, and distribution system for watering the garden. Glen has really put a lot of thought, expertise, and experience into this property.
They also have a few ducks, a beautiful Rooster and a few hens.
The hens do lay eggs, but are too lazy to sit on them. Huh? So this one duck, is their surrogate mother … and sits on the eggs! Here she is sitting on eggs, with one of ‘her’ little ‘chicks’ beside her! Crazy ! Glen said he just hopes she doesn't try to take them for a swim !!!!!!!! Their feathers are not waterproof, they do not secrete the oil that ducks do – once they get sodden wet the chicken will sink like a stone. :(
My Philippino family tells me that i am the 'Rain Whisperer'. Ever since i started coming here, they say i bring the rain. It followed me to Camiguin, and we had torrential downpours. So i'm sure i contributed to the supply of water for their gardens, ... the tanks were overflowing !
Glen and Apple took me out to several great local restaurants. CasaRoca on the sea where they were married. We actually had steak there, and it was tasty and tender.
At another place we had these Martini's which were like a health drink, thick and very green ! I can't remember what they were called, but they were good.
I was happy to see this visitor in my room one night. It was the largest Gecko i've ever seen !
Speaking of nights in my room.... one night i woke up and saw 2 lights in the corner, i didn't remember lights there, and looked outside to see if it came from there; which was crazy since i knew nothing was out there. When i looked back, the lights were gone. Hummmm... then i saw them again, and a third one ... white lights about the size of a tennis ball moving around my room. I started to wonder if i was having hallucinations, or dreaming. I grabbed my camera and even tried to take a video. They were off and on, moving around everywhere! There are no screens in their house, and they were FireFlies, as Glen explained in the morning. He said they are in their rooms most nights. I asked him how big they were, and he said just tiny. But they were white and not yellow like ours, and they were a much bigger light! It was so cool ! I saw them another night too !
We had a couple nice sunsets, this one at Kurma's
I had planned on doing 2 dives a day, and leaving after 4-5 days. But, the odds were against me. We had lots and lots of rain, and poor sea conditions for diving. i was not interested in diving in rains and clouds. Although, my first dive was in the clouds with threatening rains. But it was a good dive and we saw lots of critters. We were supposed to do two dives, but i was so cold and couldn’t get warm without any sun. I hate to be a ‘woosie’, but i cancelled; took a hot shower and got in bed! Then it rained for 2 days, with the seas so rough we couldn't get the boat out.
I did a dive the next sunny day and was planning on doing another one, when my Dive Guide said he was not feeling well and couldn’t dive :( He was also sick the next day; but made arrangements for me to do a dive with another Guide and group.
Camiguin IS a GREAT diving location for Muck Diving and i’d go back without hesitation. Don-Don was my Dive Guide and was recommended to me by the person that posted all the great photos on FaceBook last year. He is amazing at seeing things i would never have seen. All in all i only did 6 dives, and was there 9 days. I would have liked to do more; but my time here is a month shorter than usual, and it was time to move on.
I might also mention that i had trouble with my camera! On two days the underwater housing fogged up, which has never happened before; making photos blurry and unrecognizable. And on another day, my camera refused to acknowledge my battery. I took absolutely no photos; that entire dive was for my eyes only and in my memories.
But, i saw lots of fun creatures, some i'd never seen before, and got lots of photos.
To be presented in the next blog.
dp
Very nice blog Donna specially because I have my face there .hahaha
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