Alive and kicking (underwater)

Hey ho, another 3 weeks goes by and I don't get round to posting. Sorry to the worriers out there, and to those who are bored at work and seem to get some sort of perverse pleasure hearing about someone else not doing very much!

So, the north of the Philippines was absolutely stunning. There are some photos attached if you fancy a glimpse of one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Long walks, early nights, local festivals, lovely people all made me feel human again after the mayhem of Thailand. Managed to get some caving in in Segada which took me back a few years, although did make me feel my age a bit as a struggled to bend my joints and squeeze my belly through some tight spots.

Then it was back to Manila to meet Emma, a friend I met in Indonesia last October, who was coming to the Philippines for a two week 'holiday' on her way home from Australia. We headed down to Donsol where it's possible to swim with the very elusive and magnificent whale sharks. In one of only 2 places in the world where it's guaranteed to see them in the right season, we spent 9 hours on a boat that had 3 people spotting but failed to find a single one. Not fun. Luckily we went back the next day and saw 5 in 2 hours. They really are incredible, huge plankton eating monsters gliding by.

Next was Moalboal to finally get some diving in. 3 months since I'd seen the sea on a trip that was supposed to be centred round diving is quite ridiculous. So it felt incredible to be back under the water. The diving here is world class - pristine reefs, huge marine life and great visibility. After Moalboal it was off to Apo Island which as well as having some of the best diving I've ever done, was also one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. Tiny island, only one place to stay which was gorgeous, beautiful beach and totally cut off from the world. Heaven.

And now I'm in Panglao, which not only has superb diving too but also....... has some other backpackers. Hooray. It really has been strange to be in a country where tourists are so rare. It's been so brilliant having Emma here for the last 2 weeks otherwise I would have felt really lonely as most of the places I've been to there was just no-one around. We decided the Philippines is a place to come to with someone else, particularly if you're not into diving. Unless of course you're really really happy to spend time by yourself.

So now Emma's gone home and I am back on my own. Shouldn't be a problem as I intend to spend the next few weeks just diving, and there's always people to meet through the dive centres. It's looking unlikely that I'll stay here for the 3 months I intended. I really want to do my Divemaster before end of August and suddenly time's running out. I need to do it somewhere a bit more lively so will probably head down to Malaysia, or even Indonesia in mid-June to settle on a beach somewhere for 2 months.

That's it, all up to date again. Perhaps time for a summary of feelings so far. Loving it, loving it, loving it (to quote that really bad song from a few years ago) probably sums it up. As time goes on I miss more and more things about home but then something else amazing happens here and I wonder what on earth I'm doing thinking about home. The Philippines has been a real revelation. Totally different sort of travelling which took a bit of getting used to but am really enjoying. Probably couldn't do it for more than a couple of months but am really glad I've been here and got away from that backpacker circuit.