Week 76 - Dumaguete, Apo Island, Oslob, Siquijor (Philippines)

Tim was up early again for a dive trip to Apo Island. Me and Rhys had a lay in before heading in to town to find a laptop repair shop to see if the netbook could be brought back from the dead. With no luck we decided to jump on a bus and head along the coast to Malatapay, as it was Wednesday the weekly market was in town and we thought it would be worth a look. It really wasn’t, it was one little track with a few small stalls and a field where they were selling cows and driving off with them stuffed into their tricycles. We stopped for lechon (hog roast) and wandered back to the main road for a bus back into Dumaguete. While we were waiting we were adopted by a chatty policeman, one of the five standing at the junction, each holding a pistol and a machine gun, bewildering considering how safe it feels here. 

Taking the cows home in the tricycle, Malatapay market.

Back in town we found another laptop repair shop upstairs in a dusty little wooden house. After waiting 30 minutes while he tried to unscrew the screen we left him to it only to return after an hour to sit and wait for another 2 hours with more and more people crowding into the tiny little room. A bit of solder, some masking tape and a new screen and the netbook was usable again, Rhys was over the moon, after 18 months together that netbook is his baby. Back at the hostel Tim came back from diving having had a great day with a good bunch of people exploring some of the best coral in the world. We had a couple of drinks in the hostel bar before heading out to a Filipino restaurant for cheap dinner.

Laptop repair, Dumaguete.

Tim had another dive day planned and left us in bed to head out to Dauin, just up the coast. We had a very lazy morning, watching TV in bed and drinking coffee on the roof terrace. When Tim came back at lunch time he was hyper having seen a flamboyant cuttlefish, among other things, while he was muck diving just off shore. We had lunch at the hostel before wandering into town to the department store that sells a bizarre mix of fakes and genuine branded clothes. We stopped at a coffee shop for cake and coffee before walking back. 

The next day we were headed to Apo Island. As the cheapest and easiest way for us to get there was to join a snorkel trip from the hostel we all booked on to the boat. Although Tim had dived at Apo already he decided he’d dive again and hope they went to some different sites. The first stop was just off of the main beach. We jumped in and within minutes we’d found our first turtle chomping away on the seaweed. We spent the next hour surrounded by green sea turtles who couldn’t care less that we were there floating about next to them in knee deep water. Back at the boat we stopped at another two spots, hindered a bit by the wind, snorkeling above some of the most beautiful coral we’ve ever seen. With a delicious lunch on the boat, despite the weird crowd and lack of atmosphere, we were all pretty content by the time we were dropped off at the island. We propped Tim up on a bench and went off to find rooms. Although very basic our find was dirt cheap and perfect, until we saw the four cockerels lined up along the back fence and the wind blew and made the tree the house was built around creak so loud it sounded like gunshots. 

Rhys swimming with turtles, Apo Island.

We were all pretty tired from our day on the boat so after a drink on our terrace and another on the beach we wandered around and found a little guesthouse serving delicious food cooked by the kindest lady ever. 

We were awoken early by the cockerels, the tree creaking and the heat (the electric only ran from 6:30pm to 9:30pm so no fans) having had a pretty terrible nights sleep. As we’d been recommended to hold off on swimming with turtles until noon when it was high tide we packed a bag and headed off for a walk. A lap of the lagoon and a sweaty climb up and down hundreds of concrete steps and we found another village on the other side of the island. We were back in the main village before lunch and grabbed our snorkels to head out in to the bay. Although not as many turtles as the day before we still saw a few before drying off and heading to one of the two resorts on Apo for lunch with views out over the sea. A lazy stroll to another cove and we chilled by the second resort, snorkeled in the bay and relaxed on the coral beach. Back at our guesthouse we had a drink on the balcony before walking the 100 metres to the beach to watch the sunset. Another couple of drinks at the beach bar (literally a table on the beach with a cool box) and we wandered back to Ronors again for dinner cooked by the lovely lady from the previous night.

Tim and Rhys watching the sunset at the Apo beach bar, Apo Island.

The wind had dropped and although that meant a hotter night’s sleep it also meant the creaky tree was a lot quieter. Me and Rhys left Tim in bed and wandered out for coffee before heading to the beach for a snorkel and to swim out to the dive boat to arrange a pick up. We saw so many turtles and as the wind had dropped visibility was better and the water was calmer. Back on shore we came across a group of locals cleaning and eating sea urchins straight out of the sea, they offered us some to try, very salty and fresh. All up, we had a great morning. Tim joined us on the beach where we left him snorkeling while we walked up to the view deck at the tip of the island with views out across the sea. Back on the beach we had time for a cool down swim before a quick bucket shower. We collected our bags and went back to the Liberty’s Resort for lunch while we waited for the dive boat to pick us up for our trip back to Dumaguete. After a very uncomfortable short trip in a tiny boat to the main boat we motored back to the mainland. 

Eating fresh sea urchins on the beach, Apo Island.

View of the lagoon from the view deck, Apo Island.

View of Apo Island from the boat.

Rhys and Tim relaxing on the boat back to Dauin, Apo Island in the background.

We had a short wait for a truck to take us back from Dauin to Dumaguete and were dropped at the bus terminal where we thought we could easily get a bus to Oslob. We were wrong. We had missed the 14:15 and the next direct bus didn’t leave until 22:30. Feeling adventurous we jumped on the next bus north and headed to Tampi, the port from which the buses catch a ferry over to Bato in Cebu. When we got there a ferry had been loaded and we were waved on, thinking it must be due to leave immediately. Other than asking if the ferry went to Cebu (the name of the island and the name of the main town) we didn’t stop to ask any further questions. Only when we were onboard did we start to wander where we were actually headed. Surrounded by truck drivers, the boat pulled away and it wasn’t until we got halfway across and the ticket guy came around that we worked out where we were going. 

View from the ferry from Tampi to Bato.

The ferry pulled in to Bato and we jumped on a tricycle, keen to get to Oslob before sundown. 20 minutes down the road and the tricycle pulled over to say there was a problem with his bike and he couldn’t take us any further. We waited in a a random little village for a bus to take us the rest of the way and ended up catching another tricycle. We reached Oslob just as it started getting dark. After viewing a few rooms we accepted that it was more expensive there than in other parts of the island due to the flock of tourists to see the whale sharks and settled in a resort on the beach. After dropping off our bags we headed to the cluster of stalls surrounding the car park for a delicious BBQ dinner while watching the Philippine version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We turned in early with the alarm set for 5:50am.

We bounced out of bed the next morning, dressed in our swimwear and grabbed our snorkels. On the beach we were herded into a small boat and rowed the short distance to the briefing centre. Although we missed the bulk of the briefing, they didn’t seem to mind and took our ticket money, issued us life jackets and took us back to the boat to head out, about 75m from shore where the spotters were sitting in their boats, pouring bag after bag of krill into the water, straight in to the mouths of the waiting whale sharks. We jumped in and spent the next 30 minutes swimming with (and dodging) the whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, they can grow up to 12m long and can weigh up to 21 tonnes! We had very mixed feelings about the whole experience, it’s very unnatural and really not something that should be condoned, the sharks are just being hand fed so they don’t have any need to go elsewhere and it’s already disrupting their migration patterns and they’re no longer going to Donsol in the north. When we should have been on a high we came out of the water, smelling of krill, feeling a bit deflated, our desire to see them had made us put our morals to one side but saying that they were amazing, incredible creatures. 

Me swimming with the whale sharks, Oslob.

We ate an expensive breakfast at a little shack in the car park before grabbing our bags and flagging a bus to take us back to Lilo-An where we caught a ferry back over to Negros. After a very cramped bus ride we were back in Dumaguete where we checked back in to our aircon room, excited for a hot shower and a change of clothes. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, shopping, watching TV and playing pool. For dinner, Tim headed out to MacDonalds and brought us back a feast to eat sneakily in the room.

We rolled out of bed the next morning and jumped on a tricycle to the port. We thought there was a 9am ferry but found out the next boat didn’t leave until 10:30am. We filled in the waiting time walking to a coffee shop for take out lattes. Finally on the boat we left Negros and headed over to Siquijor. Once there we caught a tricycle to San Juan where we’d read about a decent hostel, as it was fully booked we propped Tim up with the bags, a beer and the rugby on the TV and wandered out to find a room. After walking for about 3km we found a great place, right on the beach. Although it was over budget, the room was incredible, a huge private veranda overlooking the beach, a kitchen, high ceilings and dark wood. As we’d spent so little on accommodation in Apo we decided to treat ourselves. 

After a couple of drinks in the bar we walked to the centre of San Juan a few kilometres away, stopping in a weird bar on route and to play a little basketball with the local kids, in search of a dive shop. Tim arranged his trip for the next day and we jumped in a tricycle back to our room. After watching sunset on the beach, trying some coconut wine a guy shimmied up the tree and brought down for us, and a drink on the verranda, Tim cooked us pork sandwiches in our room before we wandered over to the bar. A few people (including two Welshies) were drinking at ours and we ended up sitting up with them drinking and chatting.