Philippines, Apo island

Last time we were here we only managed one trip to the arguably best dive spot in the area: Apo Island. The weather was bad and it was not the right season (recurring theme?). Most of all, with our memories rivalling that of a clownfish, we needed a refresh. So, we decided to come again.

A moped, ferry, van, taxi, another taxi, bus and tricycle ride is all it takes to get to Dauin from Malapascua. Well, two days later and about 300 km to the south, dusty and sweaty we were finally there. In our minds Dauin coast was just a long, long stretch of beach with dirt road access and no resorts. How things change in few years was all we thought off while stuck in traffic jam and rush hour madness. Philippines are changing…

As our resort was only about 800 m (according to our friend Google) from the main road we were toying with the idea of taking a bus from Dumaguete and asking the driver to stop on the crossroads. With two coffin sized suitcases advertising our arrival into bus station, it’s no wonder that local tricycle owners swarmed over us. Half-heartedly we started negotiating for the ride, but couldn’t come to an agreement (we are tough customers after all). So, decided to go for a lunch instead, no point of travelling on empty stomach is our new Philippine motto. But after lunch and a few beers we succumbed to the couch potato attitude and agreed to take a tricycle. The best decision of the month! 800 m turned into endless dust infused high Himalayan lookalike path to the resort. We would probably still be there now… buried under the suitcases…

The resort was a rather nice surprise. Lovely beach cabanas, big pool and cocktail happy hour in the bar (with cocktails ranging from reasonable 1.50 € to extortionate 2 €). Don’t really know what the staff expected, but we took to it like polar bears to ice.

Some things never change thou. Beach was jet another breeding ground for sand-flies, but this time we had an option to keep away. And used it. Pool next to the bar was a better idea anyway. Especially when our friends arrived. We had a really good time. Floating in the pool enjoying lovely pina-coladas and marguerites. Life could get worse… The bar bill at the end was a cold shower and medical miracle at the same time. So we opted (our bodies did) for self-induced abstinence until after we finish with diving on Philippines.

Diving was the only disappointment really. The coral gardens are still amazing and probably one of the best in the world we have seen, but there is far less fish than it used to be. And more sea-snakes. With dive guides instructed to lead us the other way (well, Nives really) we found a lot of turtles and enjoyed the corals and other lovely marine creatures. And some less lovely – jellyfish. Not to elaborate further, one of us (yes, Nives again) left the resort looking like a failed experiment in the sci-fi movie. No pictures of that, thank you very much!

As the plans go, ours was to take the over the land route to our next stop, but after spending a lot of time on the public transport we started thinking about flying. Especially after we heard about the big shoal of sardines in Moalboal. Plans were changed (again…) and we were back on the road. Another tricycle, ferry, tricycle, bus and final tricycle and we were there. And all of it in one day! We are getting so good at this.

When booking Moalboal we decided to stay in the same place as the last time we were there. Mainly as the dive center was recommended and because it was on the right side of the beach. And yes, you are guessing right, we were in for a surprise. Moalboal is now changed to a youngster party town. Scene is more like Koh Tao than Philippines we remember! Damn we decided on a ten days abstinence after Dauin! But proud to announce we stuck to it and resisted the calls of beach bars and the cheapest beer on Philippines.

Diving was alright, nothing really to write home about, but coral was nice and sardines were amazing. Millions of them! We did diving and snorkelling. It is an amazing feeling to swim into the big blackness moving towards you and suddenly be surrounded by millions of small fish swimming around you as if directed by this exquisite choreography that can be done only by the nature itself. We kept going at it until our ears gave up on us. The experience was slightly spoiled by jellyfish (again!), but something we will definitely remember. This was a short stop, as we are now on the way to the jewel in the Philippine diving crown – the Apo reef.

As always, 4 more pictures click here.

Mozambique

When we planned the trip, the idea was that as we are in SA it just makes sense to quickly hop over to Mozambique to do some diving. Now we know it would be the same to say, if you are in Paris it would be nice see Moscow as well, right? It is a LONG, LONG way! Especially as Mozambique national air carrier LAM (Late and Maybe in local terms) is unreliable, a bit dodgy and blacklisted by European authorities. So, bus it is…

All in all, to answer your question: 3 days. That is how long it finally takes to get from Cape Town to Tofo beach in Mozambique. But let’s start from the beginning…

Cape Town to Joburg was absolutely fab: plane – train combo to bus station. Works like magic. Topped with dinner in Irish pub (getting desperate here…). Johannesburg to Maputo part was fine as well. Modern(ish) bus, filled with people only. But not to forget we are after all in Africa, we had to wait for border to open, get off the bus, cross the border on-foot (about 2km walk) and wait for the bus to pick us up. Yup, we are in the real travelling business again.

One night in Maputo passed quickly. Town is nice, but nothing really to write home about. What makes this country special is people – happy and so warm and hospitable. You have a feeling that whatever life throws at them they take it in the stride. And life was pretty cruel to this African country – they are just recovering after 13 years of civil war. 

Maputo to Tofo travel was a bit more entertaining experience. Local mini-van starting at 5 am and taking anything between 8 and 12 hours (depending on how it goes). Story is following: bus will not start until it’s full (and that means 31 souls (people, animals and every sort of luggage you can think of) in a tiny van – we counted. And stopping at every corner to pick up new customers. But it was actually nice, we enjoyed it (in a sort of masochistic way, I suppose).  Our van was full of kids travelling for holidays (hey, it’s Christmas here as well!). They were absolutely cute, looking at us and smiling and waving all the time. And it took us “only” nine hours in the end. And this is counting police checkpoint stop (read: Christmas bonus to local police force) every 20km, flat tyres (seems like people in Africa know their business around tire changing!), shi-shi breaks (when local toilets allow it, some of us preferred dehydration)… Not bad, hey?

Tofo beach was what we expected really – a proper paradise… once you get there! Diving, however started as a completely different experience. When we arrived we had a cold shower – almost literally: some weird local current shift dropped water temperature from doable 26C to arctic 19C. Visibility is realistically abut 10-15m and water is not really blue (damn underwater camera filters!). Add to all that statement from local dive guides that they haven't seen much of a larger marine life (remember, this is why we are here in the first place!!!) in weeks combined with self-inflicted alco detox and we felt like crying ourselves unconscious. And we did. And then we woke up and cried some more. Our nice Egyptian sheets (on a positive, B&B was really nice) were completely drowned in our tears…

Pretty desperate we jumped into the sea the next day. Water indeed was cold (although it got a bit warmer during our trip to drop again in the last two days), visibility pretty poor and we didn’t see any mantas on the first day. Another thing added to our misery – we brought our 20 years old dive gear with us based on don't fix it if it ain't broken mantra, only to have it all fully break apart in middle of Africa. Guessing already? Yes, more tears on crisp, white Egyptian sheets… Add total existential crisis of missing Ireland, friends and work already (it is December, best month ever!) and life was not looking that good. Thank god for lovely cakes in the B&B (told you it was really nice) – we drowned our sorrows in sugar. Not as good as alcohol thou.

But our luck changed – we really liked the dive center and people there and had a jolly time with them. Also, after first day and initial manta-less dives we saw these beautiful creatures almost on every dive! Even the guys in the dive center could not believe our luck (for a change). It was amazing experience topped with our last dive that was really special – we saw a school of mobila rays (or devil rays) that stayed with us for quite a while. Rays are only half the story. With whale sharks just waiting around to be harassed by hordes of snorkelers life was definitely improving. So we joined the masses to see the beasts, but also to test our swimming stamina as these guys don't really stop much. Or so we thought... With nutrient rich water the whale sharks didn't mind us that much swimming with them. To everybody's tired limbs endless delight they even stop at times to just such the water. Absolutely amazing!!! 

Tofo in the end: great dives, met some amazing people in a really great diving center, had some fab food. And the place has a perfect post-card beach. Even Nives didn't moan as much about the sand here. Ten days passed quickly (all good things don’t last) and we were on our way to Maputo again. This time with semi-private transport. Yes, we are wusses indeed. Are we planning to go back? DEFINITELY!

Next stop Kuala Lumpur. Nives cannot wipe the grin off her face.

This time we even got a video among the pictures.