Dumaguete, Negros

All the guide books said this was a nice place. And we have to agree. Our standards are questionable after Siquijor though. In any case, compared to other towns we saw on Philippines Dumagette was nice. Not too small, not too big and with the nice promenade next to the harbour. And a proper ice-cream parlour! First frozen yoghurt after Bangkok. Deadly!

We also hooked up with the local who took us diving around Dauin the local way. Pretty much the same around the world – grab some tanks and weights and drive to a nice location and just plunge from the beach. It was good, some nice coral, but again fish life is just... well... fished out. We also did a trip to Apo Island, one of the prime spots. It is better, more fish, turtles, sea-snakes, but again no big stuff. And it is in Dumagette, out of shear desperation and after a few beers that we took the credit card out and bought tickets to Palau – one of the prime world shark destinations. Yes baby, here we come!!! Reality may strike back in Europe, we are on hype now...

After 5 nights (we initially planned to spend only one) we are on our way to Cebu again. This time with a bus.

Some more pictures here.

Siquijor

That we even can’t put a town’s name where we stayed next to the island’s one says it all. Not our thing. You can call it unspoiled, real Philippines or just dump. We chose the last one. A little piece of info about the island – you can’t buy milk anywhere! Had to work really hard to get some beer.

Also, no diving there – we did a bit of snorkelling, but biggest fish we say was one on the plate in the restaurant. Felt like Adriatic. It wasn’t all bad though – we saw a harlequin shrimp snorkelling off the beach. Now, that was amazing!

After 4 days here (couldn’t leave earlier – no ferries) and one of the weirdest New Years Eve’s ever (resort bar closed at 9:30! Thank God we stocked on booze ourselves...) we bought a ticket for first available ferry in 2009 to Dumagette on Negros.

Some more pictures here.

Alona Beach, Bohol

Next stop is one of the best known dive sites in Philippines – Balicasag, a small island off the Alona Beach. This place was a runner-up on our first trip 8 years ago, and now here we are. Diving is good, nice coral and fish, but still feeling is that this country is overfishing. No big stuff at all.

But Balicasag has much more to offer. We rented a scooter for a day and went for Chocolate hills in the island interior. No, we’re not losing it from good cocoa deficiency. These small hills are results of erosion and at the end of the dry season reminded someone of chocolate (our kind of soul).

Also saw smallest primates – tarsiers. Now, imaging something unbelievably cute and the size of your palm. Just amazing. And as usual, endangered. Felt really, really sad...After an eventful week on Bohol it was time to move on. A jeepney, tricycle and a bumpy boat ride away was Siquijor.

Some more pictures here.

Moalboal, Cebu

Our first Visayas stop. Moalboal is one of the first dive destinations on Philippines. And was it a surprise! We were expecting Philippines of 8 years ago on Coron, but this was completely different. Nice resorts, restaurants, zillions of dive shops... nice surprise. We dove Pescador, small island off Moalboal. Nice walls, solid coral and fish life and even a shark. Yes, a shark. Well, we liked it anyways. Our stay was not long, only 3 nights.

Next stop Bohol, Alona Beach.

Some more (few) pictures here.