November 27, 2014

Fire Dancers and Ladyboys

November 27, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Since we did so much diving, we didn't really spend much time exploring the island of Mindoro (the island that Puerto Galera is on). We had heard about fire dancing and other entertainment in another town not too far away, White Beach. So one night, we decided to skip the night dive and head that way. Thankfully, a couple of the dive masters at the resort were interested in going. We grabbed a Jeepny in the town of Sabang and headed over there. It was about a 20 - 25 minute ride from Sabang to White Beach and when we got there, the driver dropped us off in a parking lot. Had it been just Aaron and I, I'm not sure we would have found the actual beach. Thankfully, PJ, PJ's girlfriend, and Jake came with us and they knew where to go!

November 24, 2014

Muck Diving in the Philippines

November 24, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Last week we talked about the reef diving we did in the Philippines. Today, we are talking about the other type of diving: muck diving. This isn't the kind of muck that is found in inland lakes, the kind that you sink ankle deep into when you step into it, and goes 'sluuuurp' when you pull your foot out (or, would, if it wasn't underwater). This muck is more or less sand, and isn't ''mucky'' at all. When I heard muck diving, I was just a little grossed out (see my description of what I though muck meant above), and I thought there wouldn't be much to see. Boy was I wrong. I had NO idea that we would see that much stuff diving over sand.

November 21, 2014

Reef Diving in the Philippines

November 21, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Last week, we spent an amazing week in the Philippines diving our tushes off. We ended up doing 29 dives in 6.5 days - 4 or 5 dives each day. Diving is relaxing, but tiring, even if you are breathing nitrox. And after a while, they all tend to run together a little bit. Not that that's a bad thing, but that just means I can't remember if I saw that awesome nudibranch on my 5th dive or 20th dive, so a dive-by-dive breakdown isn't really possible. That being said, there are two main types of diving that we did in the Philippines - reef diving and muck diving. Today, we are talking about reef diving.

November 12, 2014

Oh The Places We'll Go...Philippines Edition

November 12, 2014/ Aaron Oaks

We made it to the Philipines! After 31 hours of travel, including two planes, a van and a boat, we arrived at the Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera, Philipines. Our journey started on Saturday afternoon when we left our apartment at 3:00 in the afternoon and arrived at the resort at noon, local time (7 AM on Monday German time).

The first leg of our journey was actually making it to the airport