I awoke in the wee hours of the morning to a massive rainstorm. There was lightning and rain was pounding on the windows. I wondered if my diving plans were going to be canceled.
I fell back asleep until 4:30AM when the power snapped off. Everything was dark and quiet except for the pounding rain. When the power went out so did the Wi-Fi. I had no service on my phone at the resort so if the dive shop wanted to contact me, how would I know?
The power snapped on for a minute but immediately went back off. I used the flashlight on my phone to find my headlamp and gathered some things together as I really had no idea what was going to happen.
At 5:25AM, I was still in bed. My dive stuff was ready; it was just a matter of getting dressed and brushing my teeth. The power was still out. For all I knew the dive shop had already sent me a message to say that diving was canceled. I thought about seeing if I could find someone at the resort to help me call the dive shop and ask what I should be doing.
Then at 5:35AM and no word of a lie, I said out loud, ‘come on, power’ making it instantly snap back on. It freaked me out. Eerie! I quickly grabbed my phone and messaged the shop to find out about diving. They said it was a go but they wouldn’t pick me up until about 6:00AM.
I wasn’t too keen to go but what else was I to do on such a crappy day. I was worried about the sea being murky from the heavy rain. When I got to the shop, four divers were there geared up and waiting to go on the whale shark dive. I put on my wetsuit but then decided against going to see the whale sharks that morning. I knew I could sneak in a quick dive before leaving the following day when the weather was supposed to be better. The shop kindly offered to drop me off at my resort and pick me up later but I opted to wait around for the 9:30AM dives to Sumilon Island.
I spoke with the owner of the shop for some time and it was nice to get to know him and learn more about the area, the whale sharks and the practices in place. I felt better about my decision to see the whale sharks. I eventually left the shop to find some breakfast before heading out on the dives. It was still slightly raining and I wondered how the dives would be.
We set off for diving around 9:30AM. Sumilon Island was quite close to Oslob and we were in the water quickly. The first dive was phenomenal! Great visibility and we saw a few reef sharks, a sea turtle, tons of fish and lovely coral. I felt very comfortable in the water and finally had my buoyancy down to perfection. As soon as we reached the surface, I spit out my regulator and giggled with delight.
We moved to the other side of the island for our second dive. After waiting out our rest period, we hopped back in the ocean. The second dive was just as awesome as the first and I was so thankful I decided to go out for the day. After the dives, we went back to the shop and eventually the driver from the shop took me back to my resort.
I took a shower to rinse the sand off and went to grab a hot coffee. I was starving so it wasn’t long before I hit the restaurant to have a very early dinner and a beer. I ordered chicken curry with some rice. (240PHP)
I went back to my room and threw myself on the bed. I then started organizing my things, as the next morning would be rushed. I was scheduled to do one more dive with the whale sharks and I had a tricycle picking me up at 10:00AM to take me to the place where I could board the boat back to Panglao.
I eventually went back down to the restaurant and got another beer. I sat on my balcony with Earnie until dark and that was when I realized that Earnie was, in fact, a girl cat. She was as content to be by my side as I was to have her there. Cats are awesome!
I stared at the ocean for a long time that evening with my thoughts. It had been a wonderful vacation but I was kind of ready to go home. I had learned earlier in the week that I would have two more weeks of forced and unpaid holidays upon my return due to Coronavirus. A part of me would have loved to stay in the Philippines for another two weeks but part of me was quite keen to have a two-week holiday at home as well. I did ask my cat sitter if she could stay on, but she had another gig in Japan. A few friends offered to feed Levi so I could extend my stay but she’s elderly and I feared it would be too lonely for her.
I retired to my room after dark and had an early night as I had a 5:50AM pick up for my last dive of my vacation!
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