As mentioned in the last post, this trip was mainly for scuba diving. Drew, myself, Steph, and Kane all had our certifications, so we went right to the adventure diving, seeing tons of fish, amazing coral, etc. The diving here was the best we've experienced so far, mostly because of the diversity of the terrain. We often times were diving along these impressive underwater cliffs that would drop down 20 meters to the ocean floor. You could choose to swim at any water depth within a safe level that you chose, making it very user friendly.
We also got to see a MASSIVE sardine school. It looked just like the picture below. I have never seen so many fish in my life. There was so many of them that they would literally block out the sun! And they were so precise in not touching anything. Even if a piece of seaweed sank down to the ocean floor and passed through the school, the fish would make a perfect ball around the seaweed as it sank down. Impressive! If you swam into the middle of the school, you could get caught in a fish tornado, where fish would be swimming on all sides of you. It was actually a bit disorienting, but you lost your sense of direction quite quickly. The fish also grouped by size. One section would be smaller sardines, another section larger ones. The sardine run was also located not more than 20 meters from the shore where Pangsama Beach is, so luckily there is a no net fishing policy here or else this run would be destroyed in one afternoon!
Leah completed her diving certification during the trip, and Stu took a refresher course since he hadn't done it in a while. By then end, all of us got to dive together! It was alot of fun.
On our last day to the Philippines, we took a drive to Oslob to see the giant whale sharks. Yes they technically are sharks, but they only eat small krill, using their giant toothless mouths like a vacuum hose. The locals here feed the whale sharks, so they always return for a meal. It's definitely touristy, and probably not the most sustainable practice, but hey! We got to swim with whale sharks! They are the largest fish in the world. Smaller than actual whales, but definitely the largest fish.
Stu rented an underwater camera, and he took all of these shots himself! Even though you knew they were harmless, it was still unnerving to turn our and see one right behind you. Yikes!
For one of our last dinners, our cook bought a 7kg mahi mahi and grilled it for us over coconut husks. I think she payed $40 for the whole fish, working out to around $2.5/lb. Beat that price! The fish was delicious, and served with a local sauce made from soy sauce, chilis, and kaffir limes. Yum yum.
It wouldn't be a beach vacation without a few more sunsets!
Thanks family for coming all the way out here! What an amazing trip!
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