Here we are again, ready for whatever the day brings. The morning dives are planned to be Santa Paz and Olly’s Wall on the other side of the bay. It should be a fairly quiet day today, the four of us, a couple from Finland, a new guest from Newcastle and possibly more. But before that we shall again be enjoying breakfast at SBSR which today, for me (according to my schedule) should be pancakes, let’s see how that goes.Here are the ubiquitous morning shots.

Looks like it’s going to be another hot one.And, as predicted, pancakes, yum.

We head out on to the boat with six guests and some hangers on. Phil (the boss) is on board today and is ready to unleash his weapon on the unsuspecting Crown Of Thorns at Olly’s Wall. Apparently they cease to be after a few shots of vinegar.

in the morning we spot a localised shower moving through.

It missed is, shame.

On the way we had a pod of many dolphins spend a few minutes with us.

During discussion on board, Barry was offered some posterior treatment with Phil’s injector, just like Botox apparently.

The first dive (Santa Paz) was in virtually zero current and excellent Vis. Out to the pinnacle then back to the wall and turn right, a most excellent bimble.

After the surface interval (during which we enjoyed coffee, biscuits and a most excellent serving of Pomelo) we jump in at Olly’s Wall only to be faced with the ferocious current fish. We elect to go with it (options were limited!) Thankfully, after 12 minutes it subsided to virtually zero and we enjoyed a lovely bimble along the reef for the rest of the hour or so.

A note about diving etiquette. We’re all generally a well behaved bunch of folk but there are those occasions when one of us may unintentionally stray into the path of another and there could be a brushing of fin tips or similar, and when that happens, polite apologetic gestures are made and we all carry on.

Now then, if a diver repeatedly comes from nowhere, barrels past like a torpedo on heat just to get to whatever there is to be seen before you do, with no apparent regard for any other divers on the same reef then this can cause frustration to mount, sometimes to the point whereby that brush with your fin mysteriously translates to a full blow with said fin with unexpected force to the offending diver, using her good leg.

What was particularly amazing about this particular incursion is that they didn’t seem to notice, taking it all in their stride, perhaps they are treated this way so regularly that they are now immune to it!

Ok, spleen vented….

Back on board for more coffee and biscuits and we make our way back to base for lunch.

Lunch was lovely now we have 45 minutes to change the camera lens, enjoy a dip and get ready for this afternoon’s dive.

Dip done, lens changed and back on board for a dive at the top of Bunga Bend, a pleasant bimble in the afternoon sun, no current fish.

Before dinner, a quick round of crib was played, the result being that the boys narrowly beat the girls by by around 35 points. During dinner however, the boys were trounced by the girls. One game all game all – hurrah.

For dinner we dared to be different and I went for noodles with everything in and it did indeed contain everything including pork, squid, liver and kidneys, sweet and sour pork for me next time! Jo had a vegetable curry and fried rice, naturally we had Lumpia to start with.

The beer bottle holders out here seem to have an Australian theme:

Well, here we are dive day #15. What to say that we haven’t already said? Not much really. I could take the same pictures as previously to show you how fabulous the weather is. No need, I think.

Today, we are headed to Bunga Bend and Voltaire’s Rock. Two sites quite close to the resort.

Yesterday, there was talk of an expedition to the other side of South Leyte. We all said we would like to go. Leaving early tomorrow morning, doing the dives on the other side. Staying in a municipal and then back the following day doing three dives on the way home. Seven of us have signed up, just need to see if the plans are changed.

I have a couple of concerns, but then again, I always do.

• It is springs, is there going to be less current on the other side, more or the same
• All dives appear to be wall dives.
• Darlene says take your bug spray, I am still suffering. Arm is no better.
• And everyone is very excited by eating in a Dutch pizzeria. Hmmm, sounds like there may be cheese involved…

Hmmm.

It would appear that as I am only half an hour early, that I am late…

Everyone else is ready. No surprise there…

Sorry, couldn’t resist..

Water is so calm…

So lovely…

And another…

Two dives done this morning.

Dive #1

Voltaire’s Rock

Out to a plateau at about 25-30 metres.

Coral outcrops.

Very little current.

Dive #2

Bunga Bend

Down to the window at 30 metres and a large patch of coral covered in nudis at about 28 metres. Then back up to slope against the current.

Excellent first 30 minutes! The rest was hard work although enjoyable.

As these dives were close to the resort we were back early for lunch, leaving a couple of hours before the afternoon’s dive.

After a little snooze, we went for a pleasant dip before the dive. Nice!

The afternoon’s dive was lovely.

Dive #3

Baluarte, by the fish cage only

We decided to stay by the fish cage as this is the only place you can almost guarantee no current.

We dropped in and gradually went down to 20 metres and back up to the shallows at about 4 metres. It was a brilliant bimble. Enjoyed by all.

… And we didn’t see the current fish!.

Back to the room now and Richard has hijacked the laptop to do some work stuff. So I can’t look at the photos. 😞

Out to Alma and Jerry’s for tea. On the way I spotted Barry’s diving suntan… Nice!

To take your mind off that…

Here are a couple of Barry’s photos of the beautiful moon.

Another…

The usual for tea, lumpia and calamari to start.

Sweet and sour pork, stir fried veg, and fried rice for main.

Just an update about our extra trip. Now being condensed to one day, Wednesday, as where we were hoping to stay is having a fiesta and fully booked. So, going the other side of the island and going to do some exploration dives. We could find something fantastic or nothing at all.

The room temperature is currently 30.9 degrees and will be trying to sleep soon.

Arm isn’t any worse but it isn’t better either.

Oh, and finally, a picture of Richard spying on other diners at Alma and Jerry’s to find out what they are having for dinner.

Inconspicuous? I think not…

Another hot and sunny day (so far) with flat seas. The plan is pancakes and eggs on toast and then a couple of dives on this side of the bay and up the coast a little, one called Pulloys Anchor and then one at Little Lembeh. Both are deemed to be muck dives where macro photography is the order of the day. It should be a little less busy today as the team from AU is on another boat and Marco and his team (of two) leave today, such nice people. Anyhow, plans can change like the weather here so hold tight and details will be confirmed as the facts unfold.
In other news, excitement is mounting as today is piglet day, celebrating Barry’s official retirement, no need to explain further, all will be revealed.
🐷🐖🐷🐖🐷🐖🐷🐖🐷
A quick look around the place:

All ready for breakfast.

I am pleased to report that this far, everything has indeed gone to plan.

Some might say that’s an eough of thefood shots, just wait until tonight!Today’s dives went well, nice and quiet on the boat we made our way to the coast to dive Puloys Anchor, a sandy slow gave way to a multitude of small outcrops, each with their own micro universe of life. Spots included Coleman shrimp, small black and white nudi’s, mantis shrimps and various other shrimps.There was a little current at the start but after a while it was quite still.After almost an hour we jump in at Little Lembeh where we saw a lot more including various cuttle fish, seahorses, seamoths and more nudi’s.

Back for a light lunch of BLT with Hellman’s and some spring rolls.

The afternoon dive? Well, there was a bit of current so we spent most of the dive moving between outcrops and pinnacles to dodge the tide.

Eventually we surface, not at our boat but the next one along as we had passed right by ours.

We decide to swim back to the shore, all of 15m in reducing current. I was a bit concerned about Barry who had not surfaced with us, I watched the water intently but nothing, after what seemed like an age and with some growing anxiety I turn around to find him standing right behind me, doh!

🐖 Minus 90 minutes and counting.

And here it is:

We ate there lot (well six of us did). Roast herb stuffed pig with sweet potatoes, rice, stir fried veg and salad

Yum, yum, yum.

Nice view from the restaurant window.

Another beautiful day.

Sun is shining.

Sea is flat.

Arm is swollen.

Got bitten last night. Didn’t scratch it. Double antihistamines. Antihistamine cream and still it looks like this. Currently about 4 inches across. Argghhhhh!

Now… I don’t think that Richard mentioned his reenactment of the opening scene of Tales of the Unexpected, at Alma and Jerry’s last night. I put it down to, the Red Horse. However, I am sure, when we get back, if you ask, he will do it again. He wouldn’t let me video. Shame! Would have made a good post.

We have a special treat today, we are headed across the bay for three dives and a BBQ on the boat. Wonderful. Only concern is the amount of people on the boat. It is going to be ultra busy. Everyone is lovely but it will be sooo busy on the boat and probably underwater too.

We are strategizing.

How to avoid everyone else under water?

Come in June they said… You will be the king and queen. No one else comes in June. Marketing ploy…?

Back to the room after breakfast and it feels so cool. A quick look at the temperature device… 28.8 degrees. It isn’t cool just cooler than outside……….

So, just got back from boat. It’s now about 4:30.

We did three dives.

Dive #1

Santa Paz

Viz was reduced to about 10-15 metres and there was current as well. We went down to about 30 metres on the pinnacle. Spent a bit of time there and then crossed to the wall where we saw a pink pygmy seahorse in a fan at 28 metres. Back up to the top of the reef where we saw a swimming turtle, close up. Good dive.

Dive #2

Marayag

A muck dive on a sandy slope. I was impressed as I spotted first a tiny black frogfish, less than a centimetre, and then a mimic octopus.

Go me!

We also saw slugs, dark purple shrimps on a cucumber worm and a wonderpus.

Great dive.

Dive #3

Napantao North and South

A very fast current on the north wall, going with it. Got to the bit where we wanted to go up to the top of the reef, down current coming off the reef, swam on a bit and then tried again, still no chance. For the next half an hour we swam against the current. Not impressed, that’s what an SMB is for. On reflection, I believe that there was a reason for this swim… Not to be discussed here.

So that was the diving, but what about the rest of the experience?

All fine. It was busy. The BBQ was delicious.

We had rolls with BBQ pork and coleslaw, made with homemade mayonnaise, BBQ chicken leg, sweet potato, sticky rice cooked in a banana leaf and half a mango.

Very nice and only repeated once or twice on the third dive.

Relaxing now.

Eating at the resort today. Saving our retirement celebration for tomorrow.

Update on my arm.

Swelling nicely now about 6 inches across. Hydrotherapy didn’t seem to cure it. Shame.

Update on the temperature in our room… 31.7 degrees. Feeling hot, hot, hot…

The crew have worked very hard today and they are still working.

The had to get 80 cylinders on and off the boat today plus kit for 25 divers, including the dive guides.

Tea at the resort. Richard had sweet and spicy pineapple pork with rice.

Barry had stir fried rice and I had BLT baggette with chips. Judy decided to go straight to a mango float.

Richard tried to beckon Ann over to order the puds, by summoning the dove from above. Didn’t work!

Richard might not realise it but he keeps singing… Baby shark de de de de. Thank you to our friend Darryl for this! Some things just go and go.

Richard wants me to give an update on crib. The boys trounced the girls by two points!

Cameras all prepared and checked, double checked today and spare battery packed.We got woken at about 4am by the most amazing downpour though not a drop off wind, how tropical! It sounded a bit like standing under a waterfall but not so quiet. 🌧️💧☔I am thinking pancakes today, a change from the usual 🍳&🥓, it’s still early and not much else has happened so I have to revert to talking about food.Today’s dives are planned to be over at Napantao in the MPA. This placed is always teeming with thousands of fish, bright orange Anthias and purple Anthias as well as some grey similar looking fish (are they also Anthias? Post will be updated when the answer arrives).Yep, pancakes it was, sorry no picture, please refer to picture in earlier post.The weather has reverted to amazing, already 31 in the shade, I suspect a repeat of yesterday’s pre-dive dip may be on the cards.Here are a few frog fish from yesterday’s dive:Faces only their mothers could love?Well, what an amazing couple of dives, absolutely fabulous along the most amazing walls all the way from 30m right up to the top. More fish than one can comprehend. All the usual suspects plus loads more more. At one point we spotted a couple of Ramoras trying to sneak up on Judy, unsuccessfully!Lots of soft coral shots for Jo to work on later. I found a ghost pipe fish too, which was nice.Lots of staff joined us today for some fun diving.Stir fried cabbage with ground pork for lunch, super spicy, super lovely.This afternoon’s dive is supposed to be a muck dive called Tambo, let’s see what happens.Tomorrow we have a boat BBQ so we go across the bay for three dives with BBQ lunch. The plan is however fluid and subject to constant review. Barry and I head of down to Alma and Jerry’s to adjust our piglet booking from Saturday to Sunday so it gets a temporary stay of execution. What with it being roasting outside, I head back to the room for a quick shower. Only 30 minutes before we are back on board for the afternoon dive.A group of about eight HAD’s has just arrived, it will be interesting to see how that turns out, hopefully good use of both boats will be made otherwise we shall be on for regular helpings of diver soup!🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣🥣So this is how it went, a few of the HAD’s take to sitting on our chairs outside of our apartment, this vexed one of us quite verily so, to the point where wasps were being chewed and lemons were being sucked. In a moment of sheer foolhardyness I elect to grow a pair (however small) and make our presence felt. I concoct an excuse to go back to the room, I grab our room key and approaching our room I plant my camera fairly and squarely on the table in front of our new guests (who until this point were blissfully unaware of their faux Pas) who, having now realized the situation, could not have been more apologetic and nice about the whole thing. They had thought that they were sat in some communal area and not in our porch.From that point on, the ones we talked to could not have been nicer.Don’t get wrong, there is an overdose of man-tour testosterone which we cannot hope to overcome but so far they have been great. The boat is however super busy and we are feeling more than a little outnumbered. Our opportunities of choosing dive sites appear to be diminished, at least for now.
It’s uber busy on the boat now, not the SBSR we’ve come to love 😪Regardless, we held back for the last dive so went in last, giving them a chance to get ahead, which they did and our dive was a group of six, having been joined by two of the China contingent.Quite a nice muck dive on broken coral with various outcrops. Highlights included a soft coral crab and a nice nudi.Now ordering dinner whilst enjoying a local beverage.

During our visits to Alma and Jerry’s they have had films on the TV and then they put on a Sogod Bay diving video, which is fine, but having visited here many times we no longer have to watch it as we know what is being shown by what music is playing on the soundtrack. We’ve had Tom Petty, now we’re on to Bob Marley, Adele is coming up soon!

Some food shots!

We are still here. Enjoying the diving, the sunshine and the food.

Aiming for just three dives today followed by tea at Alma and Jerry’s.

We are headed to Limisawa Island his morning, for the beautiful Zak’s Cove and the even more beautiful Adrian’s Cove.

Here are some more pictures from outside the resort…

What a wonderful morning.

Two fabulous dives, excellent weather and great company.

Once we got on the boat this morning, we had a delay as they were waiting for a 50% nitrox mix for a staging tank, for a group of very nice Chinese divers who are doing deep dives on air and switching to 50% at 18 metres for accelerated off gasing. We were getting hotter and hotter, so we had a little dip off the boat. Heaven! I do believe that Mr J was to, in a Tom Jones style, keep his hat on.

Dive #1

Zak’s Cove

Camera failure! Battery issue. So no picture taking for me. Still a lovely time. Very gentle current. We did the wall at about 26 metres for 30 minutes then back at about 15 metres and finally on the top for our stops.

Saw a colour changing scorpionfish. When it was swimming it was red, by the time Richard took a photograph it was pink and beige mottled colours.

Here are some shots from our surface interval…

On the boat so far, we have had chocolate and orange, Oreo type biscuits… Contain milk! On closer inspection only the biscuit, not the orange cream. So, I have been eating the centres and Richard the biscuit. Today we have frootees. No milk! Yay! I can eat the whole thing!! 😄

Dive #2

Adrian’s Cove

Super dive. Along the wall at 20 metres and back at about 10 metres. Lots of ins and outs and a swim through at 20 metres. A turtle on the top of the reef. Richard found a spoon. I scared the turtle, by mistake.

Here are some shots of Adrian’s Cove.

Some happy divers 😄😄

I am noticing that I say, wonderful this, beautiful that, a lot.

Sorry! But it is!!

Lunch was good. A BLT baggette for me, Richard and Judy had an egg plant omelette and Barry has a banana split.

It was soooo hot this afternoon. The air-conditioning in our room is shite! With it on for an hour, the temperature was 32.8! Phew! Went for a swim. Waved to Barry and Judy who were sitting on their balcony.

In fact, it was so hot when we were waiting for the tea tray to take us out to the boat, that Judy said that she would swim to it instead. Dave told her to wait a bit as she wouldn’t be able to get on the boat, as the ladder wasn’t down. Unless, of course, she was a little white monkey…?

Dive #3

From the mooring down to about 17 metres, in a circle and back to the boat.

We found the current fish.

Back on shore and only an hour to get gear washed, pictures off camera and a rest before we are heading off to Alma and Jerry’s for tea.

So, such an excellent tea. We are really trying very hard to try different things, well, some of us are.

To start… Lumpia and calamari.

For mains, spicy coconut veg with fish, chicken halang halang, chicken with pineapple and sweet and sour pork, all with special fried rice. Meant to take a photo but we dug in much too quickly.

This really is just like having the best Chinese/Philippine takeaway, every night. Fabulous!

Back in our room now, much cooler only 29.6 degrees.

We’re feeling hot, hot, hot!

Another sunny and wind free start to the day.

Napantao is the first dive, a stunning wall in an MPA with loads of fish n stuff. Wide angle for me, macro for Jo. Not sure what the other dives are yet though I expect that all will be revealed at breakfast which is where we are heading right now!

All was indeed revealed, Napantao North and South then in the afternoon, a site called Tambo which I have no knowledge of.

Oops, eggs on toast with bacon, they were lovely!

This mornings dives were lovely, for me the highlight was the second one, Napantao South which was spent traversing a wall from the bottom to the top, amazing colours and all the fish in the world!

The dive ended in a maze of narrow swim throughs, and the mother of all nudi’s, after which I then found the father of the mother of all nudi’s, mahoosive.

The weather remains insanely lovely and uber hot, sizzling of flesh.

Lunch will be BLT and stir fried Bok Choi.

Some of us pushed the boat out a little further and had a Mango Float, scrummy.

This afternoon’s dive was Santa Sofia, then back to base (via a brief whaleshark sighting) and we make our way down to Padre Burgos jetty for the famous night dive.

The journey down to the pier is quite exciting, they have a tiny flat back truck, we all sit on the back of the truck whilst the trailer is loaded with all our gear.

The journey is only five minutes or so but it’s an exciting ride to say the least.

On the dive there is no disappointment as we see octopus, ornate ghost pipe fish, squid, nudibranch and loads of other stuff.

We head back to base for dinner and drinks, login’ and bloggin’.

I have a small bowl of freshly chopped red chili just to spice things up a little which, as it turned out, it was insanely hot!

After half an hour, things calm down sufficiently and be head back to our room in order to pass out completely.

Well, not too sure what happened to last night… Sitting on the varanda, playing crib and waiting for Barry and Judy to appear, then had to rest my head on the table, then had to return to the room. 5:45pm!

Missed dinner and slept through to Richard woke me up this morning. Almost twelve hours…

Looks like a beautiful day.

We are doing two dives on Little Lembeh this morning. Nice! Shame I had to do some foot stamping, but there we are. I am kind of all walled out at the moment and I am really looking forward to a gentle bimble.

Dives #1 and #2

Little Lembeh

We saw lots!

• Two octopi
• A wonderpus
• Frogfish
• So many seahorses that you don’t bother to tell each other
• Porcelain crabs
• Upside down jellyfish
• Shaun the sheep nudis

We had lunch under the trees followed by a quick turnaround for the third dive.

Dive #3

Baluarte to the mooring

We saw:

• Huge red mantis shrimps
• Nudis, all sorts
• Turtle
• Flat fish

Time for getting the photos off camera, and now pre dinner drinks on the veranda.

Another hot one!

Just the four of us this morning, flat calm, super warm (ok it’s only 30 degrees right now but it is only 7.00am)

Today’s plan is to shoot across the bay to dive Santa Paz and Ollie’s wall, which is where we saw yellow pygmy seahorses recently. We’ll be back for lunch then pick up another guest for the afternoon dive, 5 on the boat, however shall we cope?

We are a little early for breakfast though someone has their mug of tea already!

We have retreated indoors where a fan is providing some relief from the heat whilst we eagerly await our eggs on toast.

Breakfast completed we make our way on board for the trip across the bay.

First dive, we make our way down and across to the pinnacle. We are bimbling around the north outside part when a whale shark cruises past quite close to us. We all get a good look at the thing and it heads off in to the blue. The next thing I know is Pedro tugging at my fin, I turn around and the shark is back performing a sweeping turn between Barry and Jo, nice.

The rest of the dive, lots of lovely stuff with all the usual suspects including cuttlefish and s pair of devil scorpion fish (ugly buggers). We end the dive under the boat then it’s back on board for coffee, biscuits and water melon.

The boat is moved along the coast ready for the next dive which is on Ollie’s Wall. We descend to about 27m to look for pygmy seahorses in yellow sea fan. A couple of frogfish nearby provided additional entertainment.

Other critters included Ornate Ghost Pipe fish and some more nice nudi’s.

Back on board we head back to land for a light lunch including BLT and egg mayo baguettes, clear soup with noodles and a stirfry Sayote, yum.

Now we have an hour to work up the size of said shark though our guide Pedro is thinking a baby at 5m (Baby Shark de de de de-de-de).

Thus far today’s weather has been hot hot hot with little more than a gentle breeze to cool things down a little. Much exposure of flesh has resulted in some slight soreness in various places, I have resorted to wearing a hat and tee shirt on the boat which does nothing to cool me down but has reduced the sizzling somewhat 🌞🌡️🌞🌡️🌞🌡️🌞

Back on board and it’s still hot hot hot.

About 5 minutes later we are ready to jump at Baluarte and enjoy a bimble starting at around 28m and slowly make our way through coral outcrops all the way back to the mooring about 70 minutes later.

Back to shore and within moments we have everything rinsed and hung out to dry or plugged in for charging.

And so to the Red Horse and lively discussion regarding the days events!

Back to Almar and Jerries tonight where I fully expect the old favourites will feature highly amongst our choices.

A quiet evening on the water.

Jo’s on a large gin and Sprite, night night Jo.

And as for dinner, the difference between enough Lumpia for three (what we asked for) and three portions of Lumpia (what we got) is far from subtle.

Looks like it could be a beautiful day. Here is the view from our bed…

However, the weather can change here in the blink of an eye…

Would say that it is only me that is in bed. Richard was up at his normal 4.30, had done over an hour of work and sorted the cameras before I was awake. Think he might be a keeper…?

In my defence, I had to stay up to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, parts one and two! It had to be done!

We are off to the MPA on the other side of the bay to dive Napantao North and Napantao South. Expectations are high!

The French SPOT mission leave today do the resort will feel very quiet. Just as we like it.

Breakfast was fried eggs on toast for all.

Judy has found a special mug for her morning tea (this is for you Tony Exall).

… And in the meantime, the crew are getting the kit ready.

This morning, the sea is oily calm, almost no wind, so it’s hot, hot, hot.

Dive #1

Napantao North

Beautiful wall and lovely coral garden on top.

We saw:

• Plenty of frogfish
• Hydrozoa
• Two sleeping white tip reef sharks
• Lots of Christmas tree worms

Localized current fish, but only for Dave and myself, didn’t seem to effect anyone else.

We all heard the Ghost of Napantao! At different times we each heard someone breathing behind us but when we looked there was no one there.

Between dives, we enjoyed coffee, biscuits and pineapple.Happy divers…

Dive #2

Napantao South

A coral slope, a short wall and then a coral slope.

A very enjoyable dive.

We saw:

• Lots of fish
• Frogfish
• Nudis, large and small
• Shrimps

Trip back and the sea is still oily calm.

Thinking that we might want to change this afternoon’s dive. Also, a night dive is on the cards. 😀😀😀😀

After a Tuna fish and Hellman’s sandwich with chips, it s on to the third dive of the day.

Dive #3

Max Climax Wall

Current fish when we got in. We swam against the current to the wall where there was very little current. On the wall we had a big thermocline, which made the water shimmer, still 28 degrees but the temperature change made it feel chilly. After about 30 minutes we came up over the wall to find the current again. We went with it for about 15 minutes then it stopped. Another 15 minutes bimbling around at about 6 metres. The boat came to collect us.

A break before the night dive. We had some entertainment…

Followed by a drink…

Richard’s new buddy, Wilson…

Of course we had big ones, small ones and some as big as your head.

Dive #4

Baluarte

Night dive

As Baluarte is in a slight bay it means that the shallow part of the site is sheltered from the current.

Basically, it was dark and we saw stuff.

We saw:

• Nudis
• Crabs
• Shrimps
• Bobtail squid

Now time for dinner, camera stuff and sleep.