The Philippine Diaries – Day Sixteen

I woke up around 5:00AM but stayed in bed until 5:30AM. My stuff was mostly packed up and the few things I needed for diving were ready to go. I was taking my computer to the dive shop because they had an SD card reader. I was hoping to get all of the photos off of my GoPro since my cord wasn't working. I had six hours to waste at the Manila airport the following day so going through photos would give me something to do.

The Deep Zone Dive Center driver was there at 5:50AM. The skies were cloudy and the ocean was rough. I was wondering if I should’ve gone diving with the whale sharks the day before. My fingers were crossed for a successful dive.

I got to the shop, had a coffee and noticed the SD reader was on the desk so I took it upon myself to use it and was able to copy all of the images from my GoPro onto my computer! While I was doing this, a mother and daughter from Taiwan came in to dive with the whale sharks. I was kind of hoping to get the dive master all to myself. Luckily for me, the two ladies hadn’t been diving in a very long time, so the owner of the shop took them out and left the dive master and I on our own.

We were just about to head into the water when my dive master said that the visibility would be no good. My heart sank a little but there was nothing I could do about it in that moment. I was suited up and ready to go and make the best of it.

I told the dive master that I was going to get a lot closer to the whale sharks and he should keep his eye on me. That is what I was meant to do the first time around but was not too confident about swimming away from the guide. The second time around, when the dive master guided me to swim closer to the whale sharks so he could take a photo, I did exactly that.

I stayed higher in the water and therefore had whale sharks swimming directly at me. I squealed out loud on a number of occasions and had so much fun in the water. The whale sharks got so close to me, which resulted in some lovely photos. The visibility wasn’t great that morning but the dive master did his best! 

I was thrilled! It was much more exciting than my first dive and I was so happy I had decided to go again. It was an excellent way to end my trip. We stayed in the water for 55 minutes as the marine biologists who monitor the area time you. If you stay in the water for over one hour, the dive shop gets fined.

I giggled all the way back to the shop. I had a slight headache, which isn’t uncommon after a dive or two, and I assumed I was dehydrated. I went back to the shop and drank a bunch of water while the girl was putting the photos of our dive onto my computer.

My dive master then sped me back to my resort on his scooter. Upon arrival, the lady from the front desk said that the boat to Panglao was going to be leaving at 9:30AM and someone would be there to pick me up at 9:00AM. It was 8:44AM.

Thankfully I had packed up most of my things the night before. I grabbed a quick shower and threw the rest of my stuff in my pack and was outside by 8:55AM. The tricycle driver was waiting for me.

The driver took me to a different dock for a proper ferry over to Panglao. It was a very different experience than the trip from Panglao to Oslob. This new boat was much bigger with a lot more passengers.

My headache was still very present, even after taking an Advil. I had ringing in my ears, I felt slightly lightheaded, extremely tired and a tad nauseous. I knew it had to do with my dive but I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. I didn’t have service on my phone so I couldn’t look further into it.

I felt queasy for the entire boat ride and my head was in a lot of pain. I was slightly worried. We didn’t do a safety stop on our dive but we weren’t more than eight or nine meters down in the water. My breathing certainly wasn’t slow and steady as it should be. I was screaming and laughing and perhaps holding my breath a few times when the whale sharks were coming straight at me, and this could have been why I was experiencing pain in my head.

The boat dropped us off on the west side of Panglao, which was where the resort was that I’d be staying for the night. I had booked a room with a view at a place called the Panglao Sea Resort. It boasted nice snorkeling right in front of the resort and there was a pool! Unfortunately, my headache was not subsiding and I didn’t feel like doing anything.

I dropped my stuff off in the room and went to the restaurant for lunch. I ordered a salad and sandwich. (400PHP) It was lightly raining during lunch. While I was eating, I read about headaches related to diving. I canceled out decompression illness but did learn about what causes headaches during diving. I wondered if it was a strain on my neck from continually looking up while diving or if I was experiencing a mild case of carbon dioxide toxicity.

Either way, the headache stayed with me for the entire day. I ended up taking about four Advil throughout the day, maybe five. The sun came out in the afternoon and I did swing in a lounge chair near the ocean and read for a bit. I was very close to finishing February’s book. I then went for a swim in the pool. The water was icy cold but it was refreshing and helped with the headache momentarily.

I sat in a lounge chair until sunset. I was on the sunset side of the island but clouds had covered the sky and there was no sunset to see. I eventually went upstairs and grabbed a nice, long hot shower. I then went down to the restaurant for some dinner.

While I was eating, I was working on my journal when an elderly-ish gentleman came up to me and said something about being a solo traveler with a computer. He asked for my name and we spoke for a few minutes about the resort. I complimented the resort and said I was very happy to be there. He then said he’d comp my dinner. He told me he was the owner and could do stuff like that!

We spoke for sometime about Canada, as he had lived in Montreal for ten years, and his life in the Philippines. We spoke about Asia and Coronavirus and the effects it’s having on the world and on his business. It was lovely to meet him and I was touched that he treated me to dinner!

After dinner, I went up to my room and hopped into bed. It was not even 8:00PM but my headache was still very much with me. I took yet another Advil and hoped that a good night’s sleep would finally take the headache away.

I woke up around 1:00AM with a pounding headache and took another Advil. I knew I was just masking the pain and was slightly concerned. I was going to be hopping on two flights the next day and spending a good chunk of the day in airports. Was flying going to make it worse? And should I be telling someone about this? Hmmmmm.