Leyte Island, Philippines
MAASIN
The sea crossing from Ubay (Bohol) to Maasin (S. Leyte) was easy - no rough seas and no rip-offs. For a change, we arrived in the bright day light, and within an easy walk from the ferry dock found an acceptable place to sleep. Besides us, there were only a couple of foreigners staying in Maasin, and even though the city did not have much to offer, we felt comfortable and accepted by locals right away. There was a tiny night market where Rob and I would get our snacks and supper - hot dogs, roasted peanuts, mango drinks, AND home made pancakes! We would venture up the hill to watch the sunset. In the distance, along the curvy coastal line, we could see our next destination point - Padre Burgos. The latter was the reason we ventured onto S. Leyte in search of magnificent whale sharks...
PADRE BURGOS
PADRE BURGOS
Padre Burgos was one of the most memorable stops of our journey in the Philippines. The location was stunning, the place was fantastic (we splurged for the ocean front room surrounded by a walk-around balcony for $20 a night), the ocean was literally a few steps away. We went snorkeling every day, it took us only two minutes to leave our room and enter the waters. We would drift with gentle currents along the edge of corals, and would encounter numerous schools of fish that probably were following their food trail and ended up closer to shores. The reef was in decent shape, however, it was the season for "jelly fish shedding", and we encountered millions of what looked like thin hairs brought by currents from far away ocean waters. We would get minor stings from that, but locals reassured us that they were not dangerous. However, on one occasion I got tangled up in a long tentacle broken off a jelly fish - it was nearly transparent and almost impossible to see in the water, but I certainly could feel it, a lot... It felt like a long sharp paper cut that went over my chin, neck and upper part of the arm. I was wearing a wet suit and luckily did not get stung on my chest and shoulders... I tried to break the tentacle off my body and got stings over my hands and wrists. I quickly swam towards the shore and got out to the beach. When I looked over my skin, I saw cuts and swellings. I sprayed some vinegar, and it helped to reduce the burning sensation, but it was enough to cease the motivation to go back into the water. It took weeks before the traces of the jelly fish healed up, and I ended up with minor scars over my chin and shoulder for another month or so... I did go back for more snorkeling later on though - you have to conquer your fear before it conquers you, especially if you learn to be more careful... In addition, there was another absolutely stunning snorkeling experience that was awaiting us ...
Having traveled for a long time, we don't have many 'Wow!' days anymore, but the experience in Padre Burgos became a life-long memory for both of us. We chartered a boat with a local guy (a canoe with a small engine out on the high seas) for about $35 for everything - for a fraction of what the dive resort wanted (and there we'd be part of a 'group'). The boatman could not speak a word of English, but he knew his area and the waters, and he took us for an adventure of a lifetime. We spent all day - just the two of us in the entire bay - swimming with ... whale sharks. That was one of the coolest things ever! It was an experience we'll never forget. It felt like we were swimming along side of a small airplane. The largest ones were probably around 20-25 feet long (7-8 meters); it looked like there were about 4 of us there in length, and who knows how many in weight!). You know how you're flying and looking out the window? You see the big wing, and cities/land features slowly pass by below - that's what this experience seemed like. We were over these monster size fishes (close enough to touch - yep, we gently did) slowly swimming with us and around us, and the coral landscape slowly passed by down below. One of the whale sharks spent a long time with us. We swam about 45 minutes side by side with it. This beautiful huge creature felt like a swim buddy, not rushing anywhere, making gentle turns, allowing us to keep up with it, and its eyes would look at us in a trusting way. This is the stuff from the movies, my friends...
A couple of times we saw a turtle swim along the bottom eclipsed by the whale shark. Also, towards the afternoon, we had five sightings of two whale sharks together, coming towards each other and us! They both would gracefully swim around us with their mouths wide opened that looked like a wide entrance to a cave, it took a big degree of trust on both ends, that's for sure! We looked like tiny objects between those magnificent creatures, and we felt privileged to be accepted by these ocean gentle giants. Even now, writing this blog entry many months later being back home, we could clearly visualize that unbelievable encounter, and we could still see their trusting eyes and magnificent elegant giant bodies... I hope that the whale sharks would survive and go on living for centuries to come... With all the pollution and destruction of the marine environment, they continue to fall victims to human greed and indifference. For us personally, the encounter with the whale sharks became one of the most memorable life moments...
Video links to whale sharks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g1QCRh5ts0
So far, the Philippines have proven to be an unusual country compared to other SE Asian locations. Up till yesterday, the marine life hasn't been up to our expectations, and then ... bang ... here we are, swimming along side with whale sharks! The people seem more reserved than the Indonesians, but very polite, though yesterday we spiced it up a little - we were given a megaphone by a tricycle (motorcycle taxi) driver, and we made a short speech - turning all the heads on the street and getting lots of smiles and hand waves back. Another pleasant surprise is that so far we haven't had all the rip-offs we were expecting, and we seem to be getting local prices (as opposed to a foreigner rates). And, for a change, we could communicate with majority of locals in English, and that serves us well. It does seem like Philippines have their act together a lot more compared to other Asian countries we've visited; for instance - there is definitely more emphasis on public education and medical care, and people seem more at peace with themselves. Though, we have definitely come across begging, unfortunately many beggars are young children...
We have a few more weeks here, in the Philippines, and expecting more discoveries about the country. After a short stop-over in Ormoc, we will be off further North crossing into a less populated island of Naval.
posted by Rob and Anna @ 12:00 AM
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