Last night was another night of restless sleep. Blaring dance music was going until 4:00AM. Loud, drunken neighbors came home in the wee hours of the morning. I tossed and turned most of the night before giving up at 5:30AM and getting up to make myself a coffee.
I went through the photos I had taken so far, got them sorted and put them up online, all by 7:00AM. I had a full day ahead of me with absolutely nothing planned. I hit the ATM as my money ran out quicker than I thought it would, though I wasn’t planning on doing any diving on Bohol until I arrived in Panglao and saw all the dive shops.
I spent the morning tidying up my room a bit before going to the beach to find some breakfast. I don’t normally eat breakfast but I felt like bacon and eggs. I sat at one of the restaurants along the beach and enjoyed the views and the activity, the breakfast not so much. (185PHP)
After breakfast, I went off in search of a postcard for my cousin who is a collector. The first shop had no stamps and recommended a different place. That place also had no stamps but told me that the tiny Laundromat across the road had postcards and stamps. Perfect!
I went back to my room and decided to get ready for a day of snorkeling. I was going to hit up one of the guys outside and go on a tour. I had missed all the 9:00AM boats so I wasn’t able to go out until noon. The only snorkeling tour available was to Balicasag Island, (1,200PHP) which was where I’d be going to the following day for diving. I signed up anyway.
That gave me some time to write my postcard and go back to the Laundromat to mail it, meet up with a guy who was helping me purchase a ferry ticket over to Oslob next week and do some reading. I am only half way through my book and the end of January is coming up quick. Thankfully February’s read is a thin book.
Just before noon, I headed down to the beach and onto a boat. There were some Chinese tourists and three people from Japan on the tour. The boat ride over took almost an hour. It was lovely to be out on the ocean. When we arrived on the island, we were taken to a small restaurant where we could leave our stuff. We were then given a guide with an even smaller boat (five people/boat) that paddled us out 100m or so from the shore. The snorkeling was phenomenal!
We spent about an hour in the water. There was so much life under the sea. We saw a sea turtle twice during the snorkel. I was testing out my Olympus TG4 as well as my GoPro5. I think the TG4 is most likely better for diving but I don’t have a casing for it and it’s only waterproof to 15m. I most likely will leave it behind for tomorrow’s dives.
After snorkeling, we headed to a place called Virgin Island. We were told we had 30-40 minutes on the island. It wasn’t so much an island as it was a sandbar with vendors set up selling food, drinks, bracelets, etc. I was barely off the boat before someone approached trying to sell me ugly, fake pearl bracelets. I left my bag on the boat so I had no money.
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| On Virgin Island |
I wandered over to some trees that were in the shallow water to take some pictures. While it was an interesting place, I was bored after ten minutes. I made my way back to the boat to wait for the others. I was quite hungry at this point but I didn’t want to eat on the island, as there were only bits and bites, nothing substantial.
Finally, we were on our way back. I was back in my room around 4:00PM and starved. I rinsed off my cameras, my snorkeling gear and myself and then thought about food. I decided to go back to the Greek restaurant. They had salad options there and I opted for a Caesar salad with some pork skewers and an icy cold beer. (475PHP) Dinner was delicious and the ladies working there are pleasant!
After dinner, I went to the 7-11 to pick up some snacks for my dive trip the following morning. I was so exhausted, I could barely think. It had been days since I'd had solid sleep. I also had a bit of headache so I took an aspirin, put in some earplugs and hoped for the best.
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