Week 78 - Alona Beach, Manila, Donsol, Sorsogon (Philippines)

Tim was up again to dive near Pamilican Island and left us in the room to sleep off the previous nights rum. We finally rolled out of the room at lunchtime in search of something to eat. We had a mediocre meal at L’Elephant Bleu before wandering back to the room. Tim met us there after having an afternoon dive on the house reef and other than another BBQ dinner on the beach we had the day off, not feeling too bad about wasting the day since it was dismal and rainy.

Refreshed and with better weather forecast we woke the following day and headed down with Tim to the dive shop. As he had already planned to spend half the day diving at Balicasag we decided to join him on the dive boat to snorkel for a bargain price of £4 each. We stopped at two different sites close to the island. The first was spectacular, the coral was beautiful and there were so many fish, all so brightly coloured, that it felt like we were swimming in an aquarium. We spotted a couple of turtles swimming near the drop off before heading back to the boat to go pick up the divers. The second spot had a strong current. Being the only snorkelers, me and Rhys were dropped off and the boat continued to the pick up point. We were swept along at such a speed that it was hard to stop and appreciate how beautiful it was. By the time we got back to the boat, having seen a huge turtle chilling at the bottom being cleaned, we were shattered. Although Tim had problems equalising on his first dive, he loved the second dive and put it up there as one of his favourite spots of the last month, having been surrounded by turtles and barracuda.

Rhys enjoying the view from the front of the dive boat, Balicasag, Alona Beach.

Tim diving, Balicasag, Alona Beach.

Snorkeling, Balicasag, Alona Beach.

Back in Alona, we grabbed lunch before me and Tim headed to the beach for a very painful massage/assault. That night, after a third night of beach BBQ, we ended up back at the same bar where we’d spent our first night. One of the dive instructors from our boat ended up joining us and the night turned in to another messy one. We had Rhys posing on the bar, a permanent marker and Tim as DJ. Being at least a little sensible, me and Rhys headed off about 1am leaving Tim to continue with Barry the dive instructor until the early hours.

We all felt a little worse for wears when we woke and weren’t too happy with the early start that saw us in a taxi and headed to Tagbilaran airport, 30 minutes away. We checked in and took a seat to wait for our delayed plane to arrive - we’ve learned that domestic planes will be delayed by at least an hour here. Back in Manila we took a taxi to the hostel. Having received a text from Rhodri (Rhys’s brother) to say his plane was on time, we figured we had 2 hours to drop off our bags and grab some lunch before we had to be back at the airport. As soon as we’d checked in, we checked Rhodri’s flight just to find out he was over an hour early and had already landed. We sprinted out of the hostel and tried to hail a cab, failing and with Rhys in a slight panic we luckily managed to find a private taxi that would take us to the airport for twice the normal price. When we arrived Rhodri was already outside waiting for us. 

After taking Rhodri back to the hostel, we dropped off our bags and headed straight for MacDonalds before walking down Bonifacio High Street. Tim drooled over some expensive shoes before we wandered to Market! Market! (again). By the time we walked back to the hostel we were all pretty tired. We had a beer on the roof terrace, ate some BBQ pork skewers and went to bed in our 12 bed dorm. We had the most inconsiderate room mates, a guy eating hot noodles in his bed and doing his washing in the laundry room, letting out all the aircon cold air and people rolling in at all hours and turning on the light positioned directly over my top bunk bed.

We all woke up tired still from the bad nights sleep but had an early flight. We arrived at the airport and were happy to find out we were in Terminal 3, the newest terminal. We were only happy though until we saw the queue to check in, it took over an hour and it was last call by the time we got to the front of the queue. As always the flight was delayed by an hour and we spent 20 minutes sitting on the runway waiting to take off. The flight was short and by the time we reached altitude we were on our way back down. 

On landing we saw the Pili Nut Hills from the plane (very similar to the Chocolate Hills in Bohol but smaller) and Mount Mayon. Even from the plane, Mayon was breathtaking, it’s the most perfect conical volcano and rises 2,463 metres, towering over the city of Legazpi. It’s one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, last erupting in May 2013. We’d hoped to hike to the top but found out that that the sulphur levels meant you could only climb to camp 1, barely a third of the way up. We didn’t have time to stop and admire it for long and jumped in a tricycle to the bus station. We hid under the cover waiting for a minivan to Donsol while a tropical rainstorm bucketed down around us.

Despite Rhodri and Tim being squashed into the front seats with all the bags the trip was quick and painless. Once in Donsol, we jumped in a tricycle to the waterfront and the visitor centre where we piled up the bags. Me and Tim stood guard while Rhys and Rhodri headed off to find accommodation. They came back having found a beachside resort with little bungalows and we found another tricycle to take us to the reception. Other than a walk along the beach (I walked, the boys swam), and a beer at a beach bar, we had a quiet afternoon. We had arranged with our tricycle driver from earlier to pick us up just after dark to take us to a bridge in town where we could see fireflies. We were assigned a boat and headed out. It was a little different to Palawan, we motored out a long way and then stopped by one tree. It was so so beautiful, imagine being out on a really dark night and stumbling across a tree strewn with more Christmas lights than you could ever imagine, mixed with a fire with sparks floating off into the sky. On the way back we stopped and our guide caught one firefly for Rhys to hold so we could see it up close and then the rain started and we headed back. We ate at our resort and turned in for an early night, Tim had come down with a bad chest infection and Rhodri was yet to recover from the flight.

How to fit four western sized people on a tricycle, Rhodri and Tim on our way back from the fireflies, Donsol.

The next morning we were up and ready to head out on the boat to see the whale sharks, Tim was feeling really under the weather and stayed in the room. We got to the visitor centre just to find out that the coast guard wasn’t permitting any boats to go out that day. We had a coffee on the sea wall while watching the rain come in and ducked into a restaurant on the beach for a breakfast pancake. Rhys spoke to our favourite tricycle driver and arranged for him and Rhodri to be picked up at 11am to go to the cockfighting. I didn’t want to go along as I really don’t agree with blood sports but Rhys was intrigued because it plays such a big part of their lives out here. Everywhere you go you see men raising their cockerels and preparing for their fights. Not only do they stand to earn a lot of money but it’s a massive social event, like spending an afternoon watching the football in the pub. They ended up paying for the tricycle driver, Yang, to go in with them and he took them around and explained what was going on. They were only there for an hour before heading back to the room. Leaving Tim to snooze in the room we ate at a local restaurant across the road and spent the afternoon chilling. 

The cockerel doctor at the cock fighting, Donsol.

We were up with the alarms again the next day for another chance of seeing whale sharks. We were all a bit done with the early starts but nevertheless, we walked to the visitor centre by 7am, leaving Tim in bed, and were told the boats were going out. Excited, we paid our registration, watched the orientation video and waited for the other people assigned to our boat to turn up. We boarded and within 5 minutes our guide was telling us to get ready, we put on our fins and snorkels, stripped down to our swim wear and sat on the front of the boat. Three hours later and a couple of sightings and we’d not had the call to get into the water once. We were cold from the rain and a little deflated and thought we were heading back to the pier. I even put my snorkel away. Then, 5 minutes before we would have been back on shore we got the shout. We took our positions and before we knew what was happening were jumping off the moving boat. 

After orientating and untangling ourselves we all swam towards the shadow. Visibility was very poor and before I realised what was happening the shark passed underneath, about a metre from the surface. We were all so happy to have finally seen one and got back into the boat with adrenaline pumping. Then we got the call again. This time we were a little better prepared and when the shout came we swam towards the shadow and found the shark (Rhodri actually had to shout to Rhys and pull him out of the sharks path), sprinting to keep up with it for a short while. Another two sharks later (or another two sightings of the same shark) and we were shattered, it really takes it out of you with the chaos of getting to the shark, the swim to keep up and then the swim back to the boat. A much better experience than Oslob all up,

Back on land we walked back to the room and had 20 minutes to shower and check out. We ate lunch at our resort before grabbing tricycles into Donsol town. We found a jeepney that took us back to the main road (sitting on the roof), and then a bus to take us the rest of the way to Sorsogon. Leaving Rhys and Rhodri with the bags at the bus station, me and Tim headed in to town to find out information on hiking up Bulusan Volcano. The tourist information office was a tiny desk in a back room and although we met the officer for Bulusan, and Tim had a phone conversation with some woman called Debbie, we realised that we just didn’t have enough time to organise a hike with the severe lack of information. We walked along the main street and found a decent room and went back to pick up the boys. The weather was terrible and we ended up paddling to dinner at a posh pizza restaurant.

We woke the next day with the weather slightly improved. Me and Rhys walked back to the tourist office to see if we could find information on renting a car for the day. Another random phone call and we gave up. Next we tried another hotel, Fernandos. Although the rooms were too expensive for us the lady who runs it was incredibly friendly and helpful and she managed to arrange a car with a driver to pick us up in half an hour. Back at the room we collected Rhodri and Tim, played with the loopy dogs (nicknamed Rhys and Rhodri and no Rhodri, that’s not their real names but that was real rain last night...) and walked back to meet our driver. Johnny wasn’t particularly chatty but he did know the area and we spent the next 7 hours driving around stopping at beaches, churches, the Bulusan National Park and hot springs. Although we couldn’t see the actual volcano, the lake in the national park was pretty and with a completely unnecessary guide, we walked around the concrete path (no Rhodri, it’s not a bat, it’s a butterfly..!) to complete a 45 minute loop. The hot springs were one of the highlights of the day. We drove up a rocky track and came to a resort in the forest with three pools, we ate a simple lunch in the canteen then spent an hour swimming in the springs. 

The 'guided' hike around Bulusan Lake.

Church in Barcelona, on our day trip from Sorsogon.

Enjoying the hot springs, near Irosin, Sorsogon.

After a stop in Bacon for a beer on the beach, we drove back in to town. Rhys skipped dinner and I wandered out with Tim and Rhodri just as the rain started. We ended up ducking into a sports bar and ordering food there which turned out to be a great choice. Rhodri’s flight and hectic work schedule at home had finally caught up with him and he decided to leave our four person room with the jet engine aircon and flooded bathroom and checked into a posher hotel down the road.

Bacon beach, Sorsogon.