Fully Certified and Shipwreck Diving

Sorry about the radio silence everyone. We didn't have a solid internet connection all day yesterday and most of today. I just checked my stats and I've gotten past 1,000 hits, thanks everyone for following along with my blog. I hope you've been enjoying it so far ^_^ . Also, happy Mother's Day Mom, love you.

Today was our shipwreck diving excursion. We got on the boat at 8am and headed out. I have to say that I've always had awesome boat drivers during all my travels.

We visited two Japanese WWII ships today that were sunk by the US in 1944. 'MERICA!

Also we had another coral reef dive as well. You can check out the diagrams of the ships below

Both were equally awesome, and huge. Once we arrived on site, there was a black buoy that our boat would latch on to, we'd jump into the water wearing our scuba gear and basically pull ourselves down to the ship below. It's seriously freaky how deep the ocean can get. You can't see the bottom and when you get low enough, you really can't see where the water ends above you.

I think the maximum  depth that we reached was about 18 meters and there were just fish everywhere just like in the reefs. It's pretty cool how the coral has overtaken the hull of both of the ships that it's just become a new home for all these fish. 

I think each dive averaged about 45 minutes each and the time really rushed by. I don't think there's any other way to describe scuba diving other than flying. Once you manage your buoyancy, you're effortlessly floating about these fish and coral going along with the current, a very addictive feeling which I must feed in the near future with more diving trips. 

So we did one shipwreck and then one coral reef dive which marked Alex and my official completion of our recreational diving certification. Woot! Now that we were officially completed with our training, Phillip took us through the body of the 2nd ship. It was crazy how dark and deep it was. There really weren't any fish inside that I could see either.

I'm really glad I was able to do my open water dives in the Phillippines, doing it in Lake Calhoun just wouldn't measure up if I were to do it back home. Phillip was an awesome instructor and I would love to come back here to dive again.

Tomorrow is the day we head out to Singapore. We have to take the ferry out to Coron Town at 9am, fly to Manila at 4:30, fly to Singapore at 8:30 and arrive at midnight. So it's going to be a long day of travel.

I hope people have enjoyed the diving pictures so far, they just aren't the same thing as actually being there. I'll see if we have any faster internet at the next place for me to post a few videos of us diving.

Another great day in paradise

For whatever reason, I woke up at 5:30 just to see the sun rise. I was awake already so I figured I'd take some nice pics of the island while the sun was coming up. The internet here gets me hopeful, a webpage will half load and then the router will crap out leading me to mash the F5 key more than I have to. Phillip jokes that the wind isn't good enough today to bring the internet signal to the island.

Alex and I were told to meet Phillip in the dive shop at 8am to get started bright and early. The plan was to check out the nearest shipwreck in the bay. When we got there, I was suprised by a huge school of jackfish, just hundreds of them swimming by.

After that dive, Alex and Phillip did their certification lessons and messed around too.

I had a huge lunch and took a nap promptly afterwards because why not? At 3:30 it was time for Alex to continue his diving lessons and I jumped in and did some snorkeling. It's really unbelievable how shallow the reef is here, I stood up and the water was only up to my knees. I was happy to see a clownfish in it's natural habitat. Just like in the movie!

Tomorrow I think we'll have to take a boat to the shipwreck area we'll be doing 3 dives at. It'll be a full day thing from 8am to 3 which should be fun. I asked Alex if he missed being at work and he responded with an immediate "NOPE!". MAN I am really enjoying this leg of the trip, it's just so ridiculously peaceful here.

First day of diving

Ahh, last night I got the first full uninterrupted night’s sleep since we arrived in Asia. No stupid chickens crowing at 3am and the room doesn’t have AC so don’t have to worry about noise which has its good and bad side.

I’m really in love with this place. There are a total of 6 guests on the entire island and it’s absolutely relaxing and quiet. One of my favorite things to do so far is sit in the restaurant at night and watch the gekos hang on the lanterns to chase down bugs.

I woke up at 7, had breakfast, and met our diving instructor Phillip who moved from Poland 5 years ago to be a diving instructor, at the dive shop at 9am. Alex didn’t do any scuba education before we came but he was invited to join us anyway, in the end he decided to get certified here because of how much fun it looked. I had a lot of issues with my mask leaking water, I had it too tight and too high up on my face so I was concentrated more on getting that resolved under the water than everything else that was going on :/

I’m really glad I chose Coral bay to do my open water certification. Phillip was very patient and a good teacher. They have their own private coral reef that is just exploding with life. I’m frustrated I don’t have good internet speed here to share all the great footage and pictures I took while underwater. I was told that the owner of the resort has made the reef a sanctuary and it’s not allowed to go fishing in the waters therefore there are a ton of different fish and they are not afraid of people. Some even approach you under water.

We wrapped up an hour dive in the morning and Alex spent the rest of the day doing his video and textbook courses to get officially certified. I couldn’t get enough of the marine life so I went snorkeling in the afternoon. I saw sea urchins, an eel, a sea turtle, lion fish, clown fish, and a bunch of other fish I’ve never seen before.

Tomorrow we’ll do another dive in the coral reef and the day after we’ll do 2 dives in the shipwreck area. I’m really excited to continue diving, it’s just such a different experience that I would recommend to everyone.

Guest Post by Chris Brady

My new friend posted a blog post about his experience in Boracay and he mentioned me in it, I thought it was really cool how our random encounter made such a huge impact on his life.

Labour day weekend in Boracay. Perhaps the craziest party the Philippines has to offer. They even flew in famous American DJs for the event.

After the first weekend there, I'd already strayed from the path. Much further than I'd ever imagine I'd go.

I met a friend who stayed in our hostel. We spent a day on the beach together and really got to know one another.

He seemed to have everything I ever wanted. Good job, outlandish hobbies, frequent traveller, gym rat, super hot Asian girlfriend, nerdy interests and a healthy Christian life.

The 18 hour journey to Shipalay was arduous and consisted of a tricycle, ferry, bus, trike, ferry, trike, bus, trike.

On the long journey l had plenty of time to reflect on the past couple of days, my journey and my life. Before I left Hong Kong, the pastor advised me to make a list of everything I liked about my life, everything I disliked and what I wanted my life to look like when I returned. Before, I had only completed the two lists, which unfortunately were bottom heavy.

I realized that on the beach, Andrew had shown me exactly what I wanted and It was all covered in God.

Seemingly on queue, the old lady behind me in the back row burst into a song of worship. It's funny how worship songs have such a profound emotional affect on me.

On the bus, in the middle of nowhere at 11pm in the Philippines the lady sang in perfect English 'How i want to jump for joy and sing his praises'

My eyes filled with years and I began to weep.

Even on this amazing journey of discovery and adventure I had never recalled a time when I had jumped for joy. I realized it was not true happiness I had been experiencing.

I felt the profound urge to turn from my life of emptiness and on toward the life I wanted so dearly

I find that no matter how far I stray, he always finds me to pull me back.

Full Travel Day

Travel today was crazy. Checked out of our hostel at 8am and this was our vehicles of transportation: Tricycle, boat, tricycle, plane to manila, plane to Boracay delayed for 3 hours, bus, bus, boat.

We’re staying at coral bay resort which is on its own private island and we had to be at the main town by 4pm to take the ferry to Popototan island. We didn’t take off from Manila until 3pm and arrived at the airport at 4:30 so we were SOL. I was really worried we wouldn’t have any way to get to the resort but when we walked out of the airport, there was a guy with a sign with my name on it. I felt very important.

We got on a bus and drove for about 15 minutes. There was a group of people on the bus that I was having a good conversation with when the bus pulled to the side of the road and told Alex and me to get off because we were parting ways.

The landscape on Busuanga is really beautiful just tons of rolling hills which looked even better in the setting sun. The roads were half paved and half rocky dusty road which were in the process of being paved. Some bridges were just wooden planks that we had to drive over.

The driver pulled up to a river and told us to get out. I felt like this was out of Rambo or something because a few minutes later, a guy drove up in a speedboat to take us to the island.

At this point, I’m actually glad that we were delayed because we watched the sun set behind the islands, it was breathtaking.

The bouys you see in the water are pearl farms. There were tons along the water while we drove the half hour to Popototan Island.

About 15 min into driving in the boat, the driver said something’s wrong and had to take the cover off the motor. I was a little nervous that we might have to row the rest of the way but he was able to fix the issue.

We got to the island and I couldn’t help but be SO excited for this leg of the trip. The environment is completely the opposite of Boracay. I think there are only 8 guests staying here including us so it’s going to be a very quiet few days. Unfortunately the internet is absolutely slow here and it’s frustrating just to load one picture, so the blog posts for the next couple days will be pretty light on the pictures.

I have my open water certification for diving scheduled for tomorrow at 9am and I can’t wait to get started.

Last day in Boracay

I'm disappointed I finally broke my streak of not getting sick from eating street food yesterday. I ordered a fried rice and pork sausage which is very similar to vietnamese nem nong. The meat was squishy and I stopped eating it halfway. Also the stall gave me a cup of water, i took a gulp out of habit and then realized what I did. I asked the girl where the water came from and she said "service water" which probably meant tap water. I'm glad I got prescribed cyproheptadine before I left. Took some this morning and I think I'm all good now.

I was sitting in the common area tonight and a girl I've had a few conversations with and have seen around the island asked if I wanted to go to the fish market with some friends of hers. Now knowing not to turn down an opportunity to go to a fish market I agreed.

We got there close to closing time so not too much to see but I didn't realize how many people were going to be in the group.

I didn't manage to learn everyone's names but I can list off where they were from (from left to right): London, Turkey, London, Vancouver, Vancouver, Manila, Me, Sweden, and Sweden.
It was pretty cool meeting such a big group of people. I felt a little intimidated at how much traveling they had under their belt. The guy from London has been traveling for 18 months straight! So crazy.

I was basically along for the ride on this one. The two main dishes they ordered was prawns in garlic butter and lime and crabs in a sweet chili sauce.

Puka Beach Time

Overall, today was another do nothing day for the most part. One of the guys in our group suggested checking out another beach called Puka Beach on another part of Boracay Island.

There aren't actual taxis on this island,  you either jump on a motorbike or you take the tricycles which is a motorbike with a side car attached. The 5 of us squished onto a tricycle with me riding behind the driver

We got to the beach within 15 minutes and I have to say that it was exactly what I wanted. There were barely any people, it was not commercialized at all like the beach that was by our hostel and the view was beautiful because we just got there a few minutes before sun set.

My cuts have healed a bit so I decided to just jump in the water , it was really  nice and all of us enjoyed ourselves. I'm really glad we came here because I was feeling a little overwhelmed by how touristy Boracay was so it was nice to just get out of the crowds and watch the sun set.

Kelvin, Daniel, and Christopher are leaving tomorrow to new places so I'm kind of bummed that our new travel group is splitting up but I'm hopeful that we can all keep in touch and maybe travel the next time I'm back in Asia. I just meet the coolest people on these trips, it's great!

Sidenote: I'm really glad the guy I asked to take this picture knew what he was doing because anything could have made this really nice scene not turn out. Asking a stranger to take a picture with an SLR is one of the drawbacks of owning one I guess lol