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January 24, 2009

We left this morning on a 1:00AM flight for Cebu, Philippines, about a 9 ½ hour flight and I slept for 7 hours of it. By the time we got to Cebu, with the time change it was 3:30PM. A driver was there to pick us up and off we went on a two and a half hour ride, over a long stretch of road that would have made a good mogul run. Along the way we passed many “Sunilog” festivals, finally arriving at a little sea port where we got into a boat and went about 45 minutes to a small little island called Malapascua (about 11Km around and no motorized vehicles, rolling blackouts and intermittent water problems…a lot like my favorite little island in Indonesia!) As we were driving along I was noting that we seem to end up in tropical places, with rice paddies, sugar cane fields, tin roofed shacks and dark haired people in flip-flops…I think we are in a rut…maybe I’ll call it a groove because it’s a good one for now. After checking in, grabbing a quick bite to eat and a cocktail we were in bed by 11:00PM because we have to be at the dive shop and ready to go at 5:30AM to go out and try to see Thresher Sharks (apparently the only come in close between 6:00 and 9:00…lucky me).

January 25, 2009

OMG, 5:00 comes really early. I stumbled out of bed and into my bathing suit, brushed my teeth and grabbed my dive gear. Of course we were the first ones there (found out about 5 hours later that was because RD had set his watch wrong and it was really 4:30 when we hit the dive shop). We watched the sunrise as we rode out to the dive site. Once in the water we dropped down to about 20 meters and swam to a drop off and just got on our knees on the bottom and waited. Nothing. Swam around a bit and saw a sea snake and some lion fish then went back and waited some more. Nothing. As my dive master instructor used to remind me “it is not an aquarium…you may not find anything”, but it really hurts when you haul your butt out of bed that early.

After breakfast and a quick nap we went out for the mid-morning dive which was beautiful. There was an amazing array of corals, both hard and soft, reef fish and even a cuttlefish.

After lunch and another quick nap we went out for the mid-afternoon dive. If you are not a diver this may sound incredibly boring but for hard core divers sleep-dive-eat, sleep-dive-eat is our mantra. By the afternoon the wind had picked up a bit, as had the waves, so by the time we got to the dive site we were tied to another boat in 4 foot swells. Doing a giant stride entry takes timing because at one point you are about 3 feet from the water, at the other extreme you are 8-9 feet. Do-able, but a bit more unnerving. We were actually back at the same dive site we went to this morning, this time in hopes of seeing Manta Ray. This area is what they call a “cleaning station” where the big critters come in to have the little fish clean parasites and what-not out of their gills and off their skin. We saw several lionfish as we were going out to wait but 38 minutes later still nothing. I was getting bored and had only 5 minutes left on my dive computer for no-decompression time (not critical, just means you need to have a lot more air available when you come up because you have to do a much longer safety stop), RD looked like he was getting cold, when all of a sudden…a 4 meter Manta Ray! Sometimes one critter can make the whole dive worth while. Once on the surface it got a bit trickier. We were now in 4-8 foot swells and had to swim about 50 meters to get back to the boat. Luckily both RD and I had air left so we stayed at about 3 meters and swam under the waves, but getting up the ladder and onto the boat was a bit tricky…I think I got slammed into the ladder about six times before I actually got my foot on the bottom rung and could pull myself up before the next wave hit me. The Chinese couple that was diving with us did not fare as well. He ran out of air so had to swim on the surface and she wouldn’t let go of his hand…I thought they were both going to drown. Then, once we were all safely on board, except for my bleeding thumb which they poured iodine over and gave me a wad of cotton to press against it (punctured/cut it while boarding), we ended up having to tow another dive boat back to shore in those 4-8 foot swells and a driving rain storm, our 40 minutes back to shore turned into 1 ½ hours.

RD had a massage, 350 pesos (about $8.50) while I re-arranged the furniture in our hotel room (bad Feng Shui, slept really poorly last night despite being dead tired), took a shower and got ready for dinner. We ended up eating right here at our hotel again because it was pouring rain and I did not want to look like I was entering a wet t-shirt contest. RD told the bartender how to make Mango Tango’s (mango nectar and orange vodka) and she made them for us using fresh mango’s. RD wanted her to make them from the canned mango nectar they had but she refused and I smacked him. When the rain slowed down we walked down the beach and found a great bar for a night cap…checked out their menu and we will be back for dinner tomorrow. We were in bed by 9:30!

January 26, 2009

Why is it smoke detector batteries always go dead and beep in the middle of the night? We were awakened twice last night before we figured it out. The first time we got up and checked all of our electronic gadgets making sure all were turned off and no alarms were set to different time zones. The second time we realized that it had to be something in the room. Sure enough, we took the battery out and it did not happen again. It probably would have been good if we had left it however because we slept until 10:45! (Or maybe it was the improved Feng Shui from re-arranging the furniture…) We missed both the morning dives (although we had both decided to pass on the 5:30AM dive anyway) so we will be doing the 2:00PM and the 5:15PM sunset dive.

After a quick brunch RD went for a walk (with all the rain yesterday it is extremely humid) and I tried to stay as still as possible to keep from drowning in my own sweat, oh, and did I say the electricity is off so no AC…

At 2PM we went out for a beautiful dive on a reef that was mostly soft and hard corals. Saw an incredible nudibranch and all sorts of reef fish. It was a very relaxing, enjoyable dive. When we got back I had a bottle of water and a plate of fries before going out for the sunset dive at 5:15, turns out you need to go a bit earlier. It is supposed to be a “dusk” dive so you can see the Mandarin fish (they mate at dusk, but otherwise are quite shy) but we only had about 5 minutes of dusk before we had to turn on the flashlights. We did get to see a few Mandarin fish but after dark we saw loads of crab, pipefish, bobtail squid and even a cuttlefish so it was a very good dive despite being a bit late for it’s intended purpose.

For dinner we had a Philippino version of Fajita’s that was incredible…spicy soy based sauce on the chicken/onion/red bell pepper, garlic sour cream, tomato salsa on pita bread…yummy!

January 27, 2009

Woke up this AM feeling a little “off”, RD said I drank too many Mango Tango’s but that couldn’t possibly be it…

At 9:30 we went out for a one hour ride to a place called Gato Island where we did a wall dive, had lunch during a one hour surface interval and then our second dive was highlighted by a 30 meter tunnel under the island.

Our afternoon was spent talking with an ex-pat from Portland, OR who lives in Shang Hai and her Danish boyfriend, and another American woman who lives in South Korea. We all had “war stories” about having total meltdowns while trying to acclimatize to living in a foreign country. It is nice to know I am not alone.

January 28, 2009

Up at 4:30 again for the 5:30 dive, even the boat boys were making fun of my yawning, however, the stars are beautiful and it is nice to watch the sun rise over the water. This time we were successful! We had to wait about 15 minutes but then were rewarded with 7 Thresher Shark sightings. They are really cool looking sharks, I’m not sure I had ever heard of them before booking this trip. Their tail can be up to 50% of their total length.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thresher_Shark

After we got back and had breakfast RD wasn’t feeling well so he decided to lay low for the day. I, however, went on a 6 hour boat trip. It was 1 1/2 hours to a picturesque little uninhabited island where we did a fabulous wall dive then went ashore for a bar-b-que during our surface interval. At the end of our time on the island a storm had blown in. Six of us were diving but there were 12 who were not, I felt bad for them sitting in the rain for an hour while we were diving but not bad enough not to go! The ride home was cold and wet, with waves crashing over the boat and rain so you never had a chance to get dry. I had a “Milo” (a Nestle product that is basically hot chocolate) and Khalua (I would have had Jack Daniels but they didn’t have it).

After my drink to warm up I had a massage…of course as I was walking away from the group I was wondering what I would miss. Sure enough, while I was getting my massage a group of “Ladyboys” as they call them here (men who look, act and dress like women), came and were dancing on the tables as some sort of fundraiser…I miss all the good stuff.

Same group from last night went out for dinner again and had a very enjoyable evening talking about living in such different cultures from the U.S. as Qatar, China and South Korea.

January 29, 2009

Had a tough time rolling out of bed this morning but got my bathing suit on in time for the 9:00 dive. This morning’s dive was all about “the ridiculously small”…little tiny fish, crab and shrimp that live inside of other creatures. The afternoon dive was just sublimely beautiful with beautiful corals and your usual cast of characters on a typical reef dive.

One of the bars down the beach was having a pig roast so you know where we ate dinner tonight. The Philippino’s sure do love their pork…it seems to be a staple of the diet.

January 30, 2009

Got up this morning and decided to go to Cebu City today and will then carry on to Moalboal tomorrow. We were going to try and do it all in one day but it would have meant 8 hours on a bus at a minimum, without A/C. After paying our bill and saying goodbye to all the wonderful staff at Blue Water Beach Resort we took a boat across to Maya where the plan was to catch the bus to Cebu. In the 45 minutes it took for us to get across the water the manager at Blue Water had figured out that the bus was not running today and had arranged for transportation to be waiting for us when we got there. Now that’s service! About 2/3 of the way to Cebu we stopped at a bus stop to use the facilities and had some bar-b-qued pork on a stick with rice. A girl stood at our table with what looked like a cheerleader’s pom-pom and waived it the air next to us to keep the flies off our food while we ate. The second she stopped the table was black with them. Once into Cebu City proper the traffic was atrocious. We finally made it to a hotel that had a room for us (the manager at Blue Water had called four hotels before she found one with a room available) and I promptly fell asleep. RD of course took the opportunity to go downstairs and get a massage. At about 8:00 we went out in search of a restaurant that had good reviews in Lonely Planet and was near-by…it closed two weeks ago. We hit three more restaurants before we finally just gave up and ate (ordered gin & tonic…no tonic, ordered vodka lime…no lime, menu was completely in Philippino so we had to just wing it when we ordered). So far I am not impressed with Cebu City, I’m really glad we are only staying here the one night. Tomorrow at two the same driver from today will pick us up and take us to Moalboal. We decided the bus would be too slow and too hot.

January 31, 2009

Is it possible to wear out the horn on a car? I think I have beeped the horn on my little TT maybe three times in the past four years. Our driver surpassed that before we left the parking lot! They beep every time they pass someone who is walking on the side of the road (which is a lot), every time they pass a mini-cab (150 cc motorcycle with a side car that I’ve seen carrying as many as ten people), every time a vehicle is coming towards them that they think is too close to the center line, every time they go by a dog or a goat (the first time I saw a goat with two kids I thought it was a dog with puppies) on the side of the road, and every time someone is too slow to move out of the way in front of them.

We actually started with a different driver this afternoon but I only lasted about 5 blocks before I had to ask the driver from yesterday to please drive. The new guy was trying to learn how to drive a clutch and popped it every time he changed gears or stepped on the brakes. My neck was in full spasm within 3 blocks.

We arrived in Moalboal at about 5:30PM, got checked into our room and dropped off our gear at the dive shop before taking a quick walk around. There is no beach, just a rocky shore, and since the buildings are built right out to the water’s edge it means that the “road” (picture an uneven, dirt and broken concrete alley) is wedged between two rows of buildings. It is definitely not the most picturesque place I’ve ever been but the diving is supposed to be good.

Dinner was at a little place that said they did Thai, Indian and Indonesian food…I went for a Thai dish and it was wonderful. I think we were in bed by 9:30.

February 1, 2009

Our room is on the water so the sound of the waves is very relaxing, however, we are also right next to one of the access points for the beach so the local kids were down at the water’s edge screaming and laughing until after midnight. To top it off one of them is deaf so the sounds he makes are the kind that make you wonder if someone has been injured, making it very hard to get to sleep.

After a mixed fruit crepe (mango, pineapple and banana) for breakfast we went over to the dive shop and set up our gear. The boat crew then hauls it down to the boat for you. Because the shore is so rocky the boats are anchored about 5 meters out so you have to wade out with your fins and mask to get to the ladder. Once on board it was a quick 20 minute boat ride out to a small island. We did a 25 meter wall dive around the island…I was not impressed. The corals are badly damaged from dynamite fishing and there were very few fish. I spent an hour under water and saw one moray eel, one lionfish and a few angel fish, butterfly fish and puffer fish. They did have very odd shaped jellyfish that I had never seen before…like swimming ribbons, clear with a blue outline.

This afternoon’s dive was better but not by much. We did see Pygmy Seahorses (about 1/8” tall), Scorpion fish and even an Octopus. When we got back RD went out and rounded up two massage girls to come to the room and give us massages. The girl who worked on me was about 4’6”, and I think my luggage weighs more than she does, but she had hands like rebar!

After our massage and a shower we had a pizza and were back in our room by 7:30…diving definitely takes it out of you.

February 2, 2009

I awakened this morning to rain so hard it sounded like an engine was firing up right outside the window. As you can imagine the “street” is a mud pit. This morning’s dive was to the same place they went yesterday so I decided to skip it…they’ll probably see a Whale Shark or something else amazing. We are about to make a run for it back up to Malapascua…neither of us like this place or the diving here.

The afternoon dive was MOS (more of the same). I find it interesting that the majority of fish you see here are lion fish or scorpion fish (not that I don’t love seeing them)…but both will either maim or kill you. I should have known that when I couldn’t say Moalboal I was not meant to come here. When I got back RD was on the phone making sure they had a room for us on Malapascua and then I got on the phone and talked to our driver to arrange for a 1:00 pick-up tomorrow. I can’t wait to get back to Malapascua.

Dinner was back at the Thai place…turns out they have the best food on Panagsama Beach (as far as we are concerned). After dinner we took a stroll down the “street” and had a cocktail or two before calling it a night. I find it very depressing seeing all the fat, old, Western men (who obviously can’t get a woman at home) with young, tiny, pretty Philippine girls (maybe it’s just a function of me being old and not so tiny). I know they have made the choice but the fact that their circumstances put them in a position to have to make that choice is very sad.

February 3, 2009

It is a good day to be traveling. It’s dreary and overcast and RD has a sinus infection so he would not be able to dive anyway. Although we are losing another day to travel it will work out better in the long run. The last part of our time here was supposed to be spent on a boat, three dives a day, sleeping in a different port each night. If RD is unable to dive he would have been bored silly. At least on Malapascua he can get massages while I’m diving and overall it is a much friendlier place to socialize and meet people.

After breakfast we packed up our gear, paid our bills and RD had yet another massage. An hour later I finally saw a Whale Shark, or at least it’s dorsal fin, unfortunately I was sitting in a rooftop restaurant eating calamari fritters with a gin & tonic in my hand. We had decided to eat at the Thai place for lunch because our driver was not coming until 1:00. As I was looking out at the water I spotted this unmistakable black triangle slicing through the water about 200 meters off shore. RD managed to snap a picture of it and ran his camera down to the closest dive shop for confirmation. Of course half the dive shop had to come up and see. Two guys went out in a canoe with an outboard but were unable to catch up with it.

Our driver was prompt but unrealistic…he told us we would be in Maya (the port where we have to catch the boat) by 4:30…we arrived at 6:30. Unfortunately he had told the people at Blue Water the same thing so they had been waiting for us for 2 hours. It was so much fun coming back to Malapascua, all of the staff were excited to see us. They even put us in an upgraded room! (The power is still off from 8:00 to 5:00, however). They had been picking up supplies so of course RD had to help them unload the boat, carrying twice as much as any of them could lift. One of the guys kept saying “he’s incredible”! Lisa, the American ex-pat who is living in S. Korea is still here (it’s her last night) and was happy to see us as well. She intuited that we were back on the island and showed up about 20 minutes after we landed!

February 4, 2009

Had coffee with Lisa, then after breakfast went to see about diving. Brian, the guy who runs the dive shop won’t be back from Cebu until tomorrow so I hauled my gear to the dive shop next door.

Today was rainy and windy but it was still better than being in Moalboal. I had two dives, both relatively shallow but the dive masters were great and made the dives interesting. The afternoon dive was near an island they call Chocolate Island (maybe because it looks a bit like a Hershey’s kiss), at the end of the dive I looked up at the island and saw the most brilliant blue bird I have ever seen. I think he had a black head with a white stripe around his neck…I will have to look it up when I have internet access.

Turns out the bird I saw was a White Collared Kingfisher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collared_Kingfisher

The ride back to the dive shop was a bit hairy, 2 Chinese women were throwing up over the sides as we bucked and rolled in 12 foot seas. We all had to sit in the center of the boat to keep it from tipping over. RD had fresh squid for lunch with a group of people from Australia, South Africa and Greece and was getting a massage when I got back from my last dive…now who’s the adventurer here?

February 5, 2009

We awakened this morning (RD much earlier than me) to blue skies, a light breeze and calm seas. RD is planning on lying on the beach and reading a book all day. I have a 10:30 dive, a 2:00 massage and a 5:00 dive…such a strenuous schedule!

My 2:00 massage finally happened at 3:00 and went until 4:30…island time…I barely made it to the sunset dive…some days are just tougher than others.

RD decided to go with me on the 5:00 dive. Dusk is when the Mandarin fish come out to mate, you just pick a spot and hang out and watch. Tonight there were lot’s of Mandarin fish but they weren’t mating. Along with the Mandarin fish we saw baby cuttlefish, pipefish and seahorses! It was a great dive!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarinfish

February 6, 2009

RD has decided that diving aggravates his back so I did the two dives alone today which of course means they buddy me up with whoever else is diving alone. My dive buddy was from Denmark, but no matter what language we were speaking he was a total GEEK (I try not to label people but OMG!). I tried to ignore him the first dive when he asked me how fast I thought the boat was going…he had some kind of wrist watch that logged speed, apparently he is a runner…“can’t you tell by my body”…(he actually said that!). By the second dive he had attached himself to me. “I’ve been a dive master for 15 years but never worked professionally.” (Yeah, because no one would hire you…cuz you’re such a geek). The second dive there was a raging current (it almost ripped my mask off my face and nearly tore my regulator out of my mouth) and the only way to get down to the dive site and back up was by holding on to the anchor line. He actually had the audacity to give his secondary air source to the dive guide (Erwin) because he had more air than Erwin did at the end of the dive (so did I, but I would not have embarrassed him that way).

When I got back from the afternoon dive RD was helping the boat boys unload supplies from the boat. They all get a kick out of him helping and how he can carry twice as much as any of them. I sat at the bar drinking a hot cocoa and watched (it was pouring rain). The bartenders were all smiling and shaking their heads as well. When we finally got back to the room there was a basket of mango’s, banana’s and another fruit I had never seen before (to thank RD for his help I’m sure). We didn’t know whether to peel it or just eat it so RD pulled out his trusty Leatherman and sliced it open. It looked a bit like a dark fig inside but had big black seeds. It tasted like dates and vanilla! High sugar content I’m sure but they are delicious. I finally tracked down one of the girls and she said they were called Chico’s (not sure of the spelling). Yummy!

Turns out the mystery fruit is called a Sopadilla (Manilkare zapota)   http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/sapodilla.htm

I’ve looked at the dive schedule for tomorrow and it seems everyone on the island is doing a 2 dive, all day, dive trip with lunch/bar-b-q (I checked 4 dive operations). Since RD is not diving that means I would be buddied up with the Danish guy for the whole day (unless I go through the hassle of changing dive shops)…no way. So I am taking a self imposed day off. I may do some beach diving if I can talk RD into it.

February 7, 2009

It poured all last night and is still raining this morning, so glad I did not sign up for one of those all day boat trips with bar-b-q…it could be miserable out there today.

After breakfast we took a walk to the village or “Barrio” as they call it. First stop was the cemetery. They are buried above ground in concrete vaults. Apparently, after four years, if you want the family member to stay in there you have to start paying rent. If you can’t afford rent the bones are removed and the space is made available. There is a little shed to the side that has buckets full of femurs and skulls lined up against the wall. We saw very few who had made it past the age of 60.

In the Barrio we walked past the basketball court (which will be a disco tonight) which is next to the church. Some of the homes are concrete while some are shacks made of palm fronds that sit up off the ground. There are loads of roosters and they all have strings around one leg tying them to a stick.  I’ve been calling them chicken-on-a-stick but they are actually for the cock fights (which happen at 3:00 on Sundays). We found the “fighting arena”…I’m sure RD will be over there checking it out tomorrow. I’ll pass. I’ve heard that the loser is plucked by it’s owner and given to the owner of the winning bird to make “loser’s soup” (roosters are too tough for anything else).

Turns out there was a 2:30 dive after all…good thing, I was going into withdrawal!

Risa Mae, our dive master from the first week we were here stopped by and RD invited her to go to dinner with us. She is 18 and fits under my outstretched arm, just a tiny little thing.  Turns out Erwin, the dive master I’ve been diving with this week is her Uncle! After a great dinner we walked into the Barrio for a disco. Every Saturday night they put up huge speakers and disco lights on the basketball court and have a dance party. It was a blast. A whole group of locals from the resort we are staying at showed up…making it even more fun. It starts out with little kids at about 9:00 progressing to couples by about 11:00. Risa was so polite, she sat and danced with us the whole night despite knowing everyone there. If she needed to talk to someone she excused herself and promised to be right back. When it was time to go home she insisted on walking us back to the resort, “it’s my responsibility, I brought you here”, despite the fact that her home was in the other direction.

February 8, 2009

Went down to breakfast this AM and suddenly got really sick. I went back to the room and laid down for about 4 hours and it seemed to pass. RD had on bug repellent with DEET, which I am really allergic to, I must have touched him before it was totally dry.

When I recovered I wrapped ice in a bandana and tied it around my neck for the walk to the center of the village for the cock fights. (The sun is out and it is hot and steamy today). As you can imagine, we were the only foreigners and I was the only woman but I figured it was a “life experience” and I try not to miss many of those. We got there just as they were strapping these curved knife blades on to the roosters leg. Once they are in place they get them in the arena and hold on to their tails as they put them face-to-face. The fringe of feathers around their neck puffs out and they start clawing at the ground. Each team has a non-fighting rooster that is there just to keep the fighter agitated while the betting takes place which was very loud and raucous, sprinkled with bouts of laughter after someone would shout some comment. I was wishing we had a translator with us. Once the bets are in they pull the protective cover off the knife blade and set them on the ground facing each other. Feathers start to fly, and every so often they have to pull them apart because one of the knife blades is stuck in the other one. The last bird pecking (by this point there isn’t much fight left in either one of them) is the winner. I didn’t stay to see if the story I heard about plucking the loser was true…

As a side note, I found it very interesting that the men cradled their "cocks" (sorry, I couldn't help myself) in the crook of their arms like you would a small dog or a cat, and stroked it's back very tenderly to keep it calm prior to the fight. The contrast between this tenderness outside the arena and the violence inside the arena was striking. Also, once they got them in the arena they positioned them on the ground in such a way as to give the best presentation, much like you see them do at dog shows.

February 9, 2009

Woke up later than usual this AM because the AC did not go off (with a loud clunk) like it usually does. As a matter of fact it was on all day. Apparently they have a dive safari that is showing up today (10 Frenchmen) and they have paid extra to have buffet food, a reserved table and AC full time in their rooms (which means full time hot water as well). I wish they had shown up a little sooner!

This morning’s dive was to a wreck, a few nudibranch’s, a flat worm or two, and a scorpion fish…and I found all of them. Other than that it did not have any other redeeming qualities…one of those dives you do once and never feel the desire to do again.

Met another Marine on the dive (Kenny) and introduced him to RD when we got back. He puts together dive tours and we want to charter dive tours in a few years so it may be a good connection to maintain.

I talked RD into taking the afternoon dive with me (the last of the trip before we have to fly tomorrow) and it’s a good thing. Getting out of the water and back into the boat was a mess. Two groups (4 divers and a dive master each) for a total of 10 people, hit the surface at the same time. While we were down for the 45 minutes the waves had come up so we were all sloshing around in 4-6 foot seas, trying to hold on to lines they had attached to the boat and trying not to get killed by someone else’s gear slamming into you. It ended up that one guy, who was overweight (about 280#) and out of shape (understatement) to start with, got panicky, hyper-ventilated and over-exerted. He made it onto the boat and sat down before he went white as a sheet and went down like a ton of bricks. (I have no idea how they would have gotten him out of the water if he had been unable to climb the ladder himself!) One of the dive shop owners was on the boat and of course he was freaking out, screaming at the boat boys to get the oxygen and to get the last group out of the water (in his defense I think everyone thought the guy was having a heart attack). If RD hadn’t taken control of the “medical” part of the situation I think the whole situation would have spiraled out of control. By the time we got back to shore the guy was feeling better and within about 15 minutes walked off the boat himself.

We invited Kenny to go to dinner with us tonight…God help me…Marines in stereo. The weird Danish guy was sitting at a table near-by eating dinner by himself. I knew it was his birthday so I had the waitress put his dessert on our tab (somehow I just knew he’d be the type to review his bill), when he noted that his dessert was not accounted for she smiled and pointed at me. He may be weird but nobody should have their birthday go by unnoticed.

February 10, 2009

Our Philippine vacation is over. It was very hard to leave, we have gotten close to all the staff here at Blue Water and they have been wonderful to deal with. At a bit past 11AM we climbed onto a boat to take us across to Maya, most of the staff was on the beach waving to us as we motored away. Our 3 hour ride to the airport was delayed by yet another festival but we arrived at the airport in plenty of time. RD somehow talked his way into the Business Class lounge…never one to complain I just follow along…We hit Doha at 11PM and were in our own bed by midnight.