Today’s covert news is that it is Jo’s Birthday but I am not supposed to tell anyone over here, so I’ll just tell the rest of the planet instead! For a special treat I have arranged muck diving at Little Lembeh!

A little overcast this morning but no wind and the sea is flat.

The boat is loaded and breakfast is on it’s way.

We headed off to Little Lembeh, so called because it is known as a muck dive site like most of the sites in Lembeh, Indonesia.

On our way there we were treated to a spectacular display of a very large (1.5m+) sword fish repeatedly jumping out of the water. It’s sword looked extremely pointy and all together not the sort of thing you would want to face under water.

The dive failed to disappoint. Several Ghost Pipe Fish and a Flamboyant Cuttlefish were some of the larger sightings. Smaller cuttle fish and nudibranches were also seen in some abundance.

We moved down the coast a little and did a second muck dive by a small village. More cuttle fish and nudibranches amongst a plethora of coal outcrops, each with their own microcosm of sea life.

Back for a swift lunch, a salad roll for Jo and extra spicy fried rice with chicken for me then out on to the boat for the afternoon dive which will almost certainly be something ‘local’.

And local it was! Voltaire’s Rock, just off the moorings, a pleasant bimble amongst coral outcrops, mahoosive frog fish and other such marine life.

Back on dry land for the Red Horse and Calamansi juice.

There is a general order of things once diving has completed. Once we have made the precarious journey shore on the aluminium tea tray, we have to dunk the cameras then dunk ourselves. The first one out of the shower had to disassemble the cameras and commence battery charging, then it’s logging and blogging before heading over too Almers and Jerry’s for crib, more beer and tea. We can usually get one or two games in whilst tea is being made. After that I mostly tend to pass out whilst Jo downloads the photos and deletes all the rubbish (and I do take a lot of rubbish).

Then we both tend to pass out completely before doing it all again!

The weather is much improved. There is more blue in the sky than white or grey, which is nice.

Today’s pictures are mostly about cuttlefish, flamboyant and non-flamboyant though there may be other contenders in the nudi department, time will tell.

Several folk here are off to Moal Boal next, we have met divers from: Canada, USA, Belgium and Germany, all very sociable. The group of 5 Canadians booked this through Tony (actually their second trip with him) and the two Belgians bumped in to Tony at Malapascua last week, he sent then here!

Tomorrow we are assured that we shall be visiting Limasol island (3rd time lucky) for a couple of dives at least.

Birthday dinner and crib tournament was a great success with Jo winning the first game. New menu items were tried, tonight we had deep fried Lumpia

followed by Pork Sinigang along with sweet and sour chicken, garlic rice and pickled papaya,

One of the restaurant staff is always on hand and they constantly like to check that everything is OK

This the the same cat that was recently on the receiving end of Jo’s foot when she thought it was me.

I have be advised that, before I was awake, one or two dark clouds came over, the other side of the bay disappeared and the reasonable amount of precipitation moved in a horizontal direction. I was also advised that Richard was heroic in his rescue of the shorts and bikini which had been drying outside.

Hmmm…. This is my current view from our bed.

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…

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As it turns out…

It has poured all morning. Really poured!

Within minutes of leaving the mooring, the shore was out of sight. The visibility was dreadful. We did, however, make the trip across with no issues.

We did two muck dives this morning.

Dive 1 – Marayag

Sandy bottom, max depth of about 13 metres.

Dive 2 – Marayag

Sandy slope, max depth about 17 metres.

This morning, we saw lots of stuff.

• A Wonderpus – found by Richard (He was very excited, Richard that is, not the Wonderpus – the Wonderpus was more, OMG what is that!)
• Mantis shrimps
• Skeleton shrimps
• Cuttlefish, medium and small
• Juvenile box fish, tiny
• Lots of Juvenile lionfish, about 1cm long

Still pouring on the way back, so very poor viz. Lots of arm waving and gesticulating from the crew to the captain (standard Philippines navigation), allowed us to make our wiggly way back to SBSR, for lunch. 😊😊

Guess what… Still pouring…

Dive 3 – Max Climax 2

This site is just the left of the dive centre looking from the boat. Sand and coral outcrops.

This afternoon it was just Richard and myself with Pedro.

We saw…

• Large grey frogfish, which had its mouth open
• Shrimps and stripy crab on red anemone
• Slugs

An excellent dive.

Current picked up at the end, so came up under an SMB. Turned out we were next to the boat, so we swam back.

It really has been a bad weather day, although we have thoroughly enjoyed the diving.

We are currently thinking about food. What delights shall we be ordering from Alma and Jerry’s tonight?

And a rematch in the crib tournament… Just as well, at the beginning, when I was winning, Richard said we shouldn’t keep count.

Phew!!

One thing I shall try not to do tonight is kick the cat! During our evening meal on the last couple of nights, the resident cat has joined us, under the table (that’s the cat, not us). Unbeknownst to me, thinking my husband was playing footsie with me, I extended my foot in a sharp manner, to suddenly find it being licked. No! Not by Richard!

So anyway, we had a lovely tea and played a game of crib. It was level pegging…

… at the beginning…

Nuff said!

Oh, and I only kicked the cat once. Shame, it’s really very sweet (what I mean is that it is a shame that I kicked that cat at all, NOT that I only kicked it once – blimey, this is getting complicated!). The cat just chooses the wrong table to sit under.

Slept through the night, Hurrah! The first deliberation, what to have for breakfast? I decided to try a local delicacy today, eggs on toast!🍳

Today’s diving: Napantao, North and South, this is a marine reservation site and (from memory) is full of life. A really impressive wall around a corner with a resident frog fish 🐸🐟 and loads of amazing soft corals, well that’s how I remember it anyway!

With regard to any news about last nights crib, I can confirm that the results are actually of significant consequence, two excellent games with excellent outcomes, both were very close but ultimately, one of us prevailed.

This mornings dive consisted of two dives on Napantao, one from North to South, no prizes for guessing which way we went on the second one.

There was almost no current at the start as we made our way down the reef towards the wall.

The wall was as spectacular as ever with outcrops of hydrozoa and soft corals. The place is festoon with fish (including 🐸🐟) in all sizes.

As we went around the point the current picked up a bit, at one point, all the fish swimming upwards and making little progress was a clue, then it eased off again as we rejoined the reef for the rest of the dive. We spotted a couple of small white tip reef sharks doing their best to hide under some table corals. At the end of the dive we were surrounded by thousands of anthius and other species as well as a few jellyfish.

The second dive was similar but in reverse. Scorpion fish must be extremely rare here as there is much excitement when they are spotted.

There were turtles at the end of the dive.

After a light lunch it was back on board for dive three. The site (Tamos?) Is mostly known for the pygmy seahorses, it did not disappoint, also seen: ornate ghost pipe fish and various nudis.

Side note: the new dive boat is massive, it easily copes with the number of divers here with space for more. It has a newly fitted Mitsubishi engine and great ladders for exit. Because it is so big there is quite some delay between leaving it and hitting the water, and when you do eventually hit it, returning to the surface also seems to take a moment or two.

Back on land now, logging and blogging before dining and cribbing. Some of us maybe hoping to improve on their recent performance.

… And despite their efforts, the winning streak prevailed! Food arrived during the second game which halted proceedings, then a couple from Belgium that we had been chatting to turned up and joined us so it was quite some time before play resumed and when it did Jo fought back spectacularly to win the second game by a considerable margin!

In other news, upon our return to the room we discovered a cockroach. The cockroach put up a brave fight but is sadly no more.

Sleep wasn’t as solid as we would have liked. Richard swears blind that he has been awake since 1am. I can assure you that he hasn’t! I, however, was awake for a couple of hours in the night and they seem very long hours when you can’t be sure that you are going to fall asleep again.

Alarm went off at 6.15 and that was very shortly followed by a cup of coffee being brought up. The sun is up and the sky is blue…

Then on to breakfast and a quick chat with Pedro about today’s diving. Starting with Richard’s favourite dive site in all the world… SANTA PAZ!!!

Oh, saw this and thought of…

… Answers on a postcard.

Sogod Bay Dive Resort has a new boat. The previous two (Kermit and Baby Kermit) were smashed to pieces during a huge storm over the new year, when a boat from a little further up the coast broke free from it’s mooring (poor maintenance I believe).

Anyway, the new boat, is huge and incredibly sturdy. Ten of us on the boat today, with oodles for space spare. Nice and easy to get out of too, using a low rise stair case. In fact, easier to get out of the water than it is to climb the stairs at Ron’s House.

So to the dives…

In the morning, Santa Paz/Ghost Town followed by Olly’s Wall.

DIVE 1

Santa Paz is Richard’s favourite dive site in all the world. We did it in a more gentle style than usual. Just popped in and with the current followed the wall round to Ghost Town, finishing the dive off as a muck dive on the sand in the shallows.

Saw a blue frogfish, shrimps in anemones.

DIVE 2

Olly’s Wall was a steep slope. Prefer this to wall diving as other divers bubbles don’t mess up the water quality whilst trying to take pictures.

We saw a couple of turtles, slugs, a ray.

Most interesting was the baby whaleshark that swam past as we were getting ready to go in. Unfortunately, it had scarpered by the time we made in in the water.

Lunch – on the terrace

We are trying to get our food ordering under control.

Tuna and Coleslaw Baggette for Richard and a salad Baggette for me with sweet chilli sauce (the mayonnaise has milk in ☹️)

DIVE 3

Baluarte – just north of SBDR (Sogod Bay Dive Resort)

Relaxed dive

Coral outcrops on a sandy slope.

Got lost at one point.

We saw a large brown frogfish.
Shrimps.
Slugs.

A very lovely dive.

Dinner was a trip out to Alma and Jerry’s. Lumpia for starter (spring rolls). Sweet and sour pork, vegetables and shrimps in coconut milk with garlic rice.

A couple of games of crib were played but the results are of no consequence, although Richard might disagree.. 🤔

In bed by 8.30,still on the wrong time zone.

After one of those sleepless nights like you get when you move around the planet, I awoke to be told I had to sleep for another 6 hours.

After 5 of those we resorted to an hour of telly before finally getting up.

Down to reception to collect our travel breakfast and coffee then a short taxi ride to the ferry terminal.

The terminal seemed almost as busy as ever despite it only being 5.00 in the morning. Dispensed with the luggage (when shall I see you again?) And then into a holding area to enjoy our breakfast and be entertained by the blind entertainers.

Only one of then so far, others are still tuning up!

The ferry departed on time. We found ourselves sharing the entire business class section with probably 4 or 5 other travelers.

The crossing was smooth.

We were treated to most of one film (all apart from the last 10 mins) and some of another, the sound was fairly quiet so you had to make up your own dialogue most of the time!

Arrival at Ormoc was uneventful, we managed to secure the release of our baggage from the ever so hopeful porters, one of which put it upon himself to escort us all the way to our transport. He was of course handsomely rewarded with a smile and a thank you though I was clutching a twenty peso note just in case things turned nasty.

We met our taxi driver, Bambi, and got into his old but very comfortable car which had been bedecked in tasteful brown corduroy with a few scatter cushions thrown in. Lovely! Perhaps time for a snooze…? Just to go with the 70s theme we have The BeeGee’s Tragedy on the wireless…

Ormoc is a hustle bustle sort of place. A riot of colour hits your senses as you leave the port. Market stalls line the roads selling every type of exotic fruit you could wish for and the roads are full of brightly coloured tuk-tuks. But within five minutes you have left the town behind.

The scenery is beautiful. We are driving through paddy fields, which are being tended by farmers and dotted with the odd water Buffalo, in the distance are mountains and between the two is rain forest. The sun is shining as a few puffy white clouds go past. The paddy fields are broken up by small clusters of homes, ranging from brick buildings to shacks all with their own beautifully tended gardens. It is all so very different from home.

Our day started with a deep dive on the Akitsushima which was a sea plane recovery ship another great dive.

Our day continued with a two hour trip to Black Island (on the edge of the China Sea – next stop Vietnam) where we dived a large steel trawler very close to the shore.

The Resort had prepared lunch on the beach before visiting a cave and swimming in the cave pool – great fun.

Once we packed up headed back towards Sangat where we dived the Morazan which was a nice way to end a fantastic day.

Knowing we were flying early tomorrow, any diving would need to be undertaken at dawns crack (not the name of the dive site btw). So 6am it was then…

Entering the water from the jetty, we dived the Kasi house reef, finning south along the wall before reaching the half way point, shallowing up and drifting north back to base. Mantis shrimp, lion fish, a couple of turtles, clown fish, scorpion fish, crabs, grouper and a frog fish. Beautiful hard and soft coral everywhere. A wonderful relaxing last dive at Kasi.

From there, a quick change and a tuk tuk ride into Moal Boal to explore. Well the ride into town was more eventful than planned. Two small motorcycle sidecar combinations were provided for 8 of us. The Phillipinos are clearly little people, so this arrangement was both cramped and underpowered. At the first incline we (in TT-2) had to get out and run along side or it wouldn’t have made it! Getting back on/in (Keith opting for sidesaddle, just like the Queen 👑) things got worse. The next bump in the road was accompanied with a crack, and the one after. The third saw my seat collapse completely, sending my backside plummeting to the footwell of the side car with my knees up round my ears. Sympathy was sparse, especially from Mrs B. who was unable to communicate for laughter.

On arival, Mrs. B leaping from TT-2 smacked her head on the roof, drawing blood and seeing stars. I was sympathetic. (Karma perhaps?). The Mall (Tesco with armed bouncers basically) held much promise however the diminutive nature of the locals was again made clear as all the clothing appeared to be in child sizes. Except the children’s clothing which was smaller still.

Fizzy pop and ice cream in McDonald’s enabled us to regroup.

Returning to the dive centre however, thing took a more serious turn. We found this…

We could only fear the worst…

 

Fortunately, our beloved mascot was quickly located with another note…

It seems some newly made American chums were pranksters. No harm, no foul, and our yellow buddy back in the fold.

Conscious of our early departure, things were quite quite for the rest of the day. Some pool time, some food, some beer and some sleep. Well, a little of the latter anyway.

Wow what a great day and as malcolm would say us “girlies did very well “.

First we dived the Akitsushima which is a massive wreak with lots of big cranes (derrecks as i was informed later) . There was a lovely swim through that was a little dark in places but great we saw the boilers and lots of other machinery but being a girl i couldn’t tell you its use ! Ask malcolm for more details 😀

Zippy enjoying himself! 

Jojo team ‘B’s’ superb dive guide!

The top of the wreak was beautiful with loads of life and nudibrancs galore. 🐠

We all really loved this dive.

Dive 2 Ukikawa Maru, we entered this large wreak via the prop sharft 😬 the prop has been removed but this is like diving a long dark tight tunnel, it felt like pot holeing ….. once through it was a maze type exit with lots of twists and turns into the storage holds with large oil cans, we had a lovely dive inside and then out again to a beautiful top covered in great life and lots to spot. We never thought we would have done this as its a deep, dark and tight wreck to negotiate but it was fantastic. So proud of us all.

Dive 3 Cacyaren reef after lunch, the wind had got up so it was decided that we went on the speed boats to this dive site, that was fun but a little hard on the bottom when you wave crashed 😊it was a lovely reef to potter around on taking photos and looking at the life. 

Back to base for beer, supper and a few games of pool.

Another fantastic day……. don’t want this fortnight to end.

Our second day of diving on this paradise island.

We are all now getting into the routine, early morning swim, breakfast, meet at the dive centre and a short boat trip out to the dive vessel.

Our first dive was The Irako, a bit deeper at 33 metres.  It was on this wreck that the island owner found two Navy hard hats replicas of which are in the bar area.  

Our next dive was on The Rock round to the North of the Island, a nice gentle drift round the reef, turtles and lots of pretty stuff including Nudibranchs and Clown Fish, in the shallows you could see the hot springs coming up through the reef. 

After lunch back at The Resort our third dive of the day was the Kugyo, a deep penetration dive which saw us in and out the cargo holds and engine room – what a great dive. 

Oh look it’s time to go back for a beer, pool, beer and crib.

Early one this morning! Very early in fact. 

 

Bus left the resort at 2.01am. One minute late, not  actually due to Jo and Richard’s tardiness at getting the bags to the bus, but due to saying the goodbyes to the staff that got uo to make our breakfast and say goodbye.

 
The trip to Cebu Airport was not uneventful… Three sick stops for  Keith, one loo break for Jo and Carol, two stops for the driver to check his vehicle. 

 
All checked in now sitting in the terminal waiting for the 7.35 flight. Total excess baggage was 46kgs totalling 11500 pesos. 

 
Currently having coffee and snacks. Keith has just had a very horrible bacon roll (from Dunkin’ Donuts of all places?). Fingers crossed!!