Scuba Diva'

So, after about a year of saying "I'm going to take scuba lessons" and not really following through with it for one reason or another, I literally took the plunge and signed up for a course. Laura, my roommate from last year had taken classes with Dive Network and seemed to like the group so I went with them. Also, I couldn't justify taking two days off just to be able to take open water courses at a resort, and these guys were really flexible with scheduling. I had to buy my own gear, which is pretty pricey but in the long run, I'd rather have my own equipment. Besides, I don't know if I could deal with trying on a new wetsuit every time.

So, one night of classes and one night of confined pool dives led to a dive weekend in Anilao for practical skills tests in Anilao, Batangas at Leisure Dive Resort.


Dive Network crew were regulars at that resort so it was a really friendly atmosphere. We had some really fantastic buffet meals too, and all the coffee i could want.


sunset from the waterside.

Diving was great though, I didn't have any major problems, aside from my fear/annoyance at having to clear my mask. Usually I open my eyes underwater, but since I have to wear contacts for diving, I panic just a little bit since I have to do everything by touch. Our first dives were at Leisure house reef, which didn't have much as far as coral or fish, but gave us practice on swimming from the beach, Koala (found angelfish & moray eel), Cathedral, ( couple lionfish, surgeons and stonefish) which had a cross placed there somehow.

So, these next pictures are from my second day of diving. I didn't want to bring my underwater camera since we were still doing skills tests and just in case I panicked underwater, I didn't want to lose it.




our assistant instructor, Ramon


our "class" me on the left, Cecile, our instructor Tom Morato, & JB.





our last dive was at Darilaut, which boasted the wreck of a floating casino. All that's left now is the structure, kind of like a hollowed out rubix cube. We saw batfish there and random soft corals.

So, as of now, I'm fully certified and just waiting for my fancy ID card in the mail. Actually, this week I'm going on my first dive vacation with some people. I'm really excited and hoping to not have to put my "in case this happens" skills to use.

Puerto Princesa

Almost done with January!

So, since Rachelle has not had the opportunity to see the Philippines without her huge family in tow and many botched plans, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I whisked her away to Palawan for an island getaway. It's the stuff you wish you could win in a raffle.

We only had a couple days but we made the most of it. The first day was laid back. We got there early enough to do stuff, but we didn't know where to go. We tried to go to the beach near our resort, but it was a little less than paradise.


kind of sad and lonely, but neat at the same time. Mostly mangroves with loads of hermit crabs to play with.
It stormed later that day and we were exhausted so we slept through most of it.

The next day we signed up for an island hopping tour, including snorkeling and a fantastic buffet lunch. We joined up with some people, mostly couples, and visited three islands. The first was Pandan. I really liked the coral and fish combination. There we saw a ton of neat things including


Nemo


and a COOL LIONFISH


this baby


yay underwater!

Now, we went crazy with photographs and luckily Rachelle was kind enough to post most of the pictures so I don't have to: http://picasaweb.google.com/rachelle.glorioso/WeekendGetawayPalawan

Trust me, you want to click that link.