Alice in Wanderlust: Apo Island - sun, sea and snorkelling

I don't mean to brag but the other day i swam with giant green sea turtles. All day.

Apo Island, off the larger Filipino iland of Negros, is famous for snorkelling because it is surrounded by enormous coral reefs, big bright tropical fish and of course, the aforementioned turtles. And for me, it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.

The day began with a bus ride to the boat, after choosing our flipper size from the dive shop - essentially the man in the shop looked at our feet and shouted 'small' or 'medium' before allowing us to try them on. (Perhaps it's guessing game of his to pass the time!?)

The boat ride out from Dumaguete, where we had spent the night, took about an hour and was really lovely - I have never seen the sea so turquoise and clear! We were so excited to get in it that we got into our snorkels as soon as possible!

I have snorkeled over coral reef before, in Costa Rica five years ago, and while that was pretty, it was much deeper there, and not as sunny - when we went out this day however, you could get much closer to the shallow coral and see the sun shining through the water. This was also my first opportunity to use my GoPro underwater and it did not disappoint!

Swimming in a group isn't really possible when your face is constantly submerged; you find yourself drifting away from people as you start to follow various fish or explore the depths, until you find yourself suddenly alone. And then is when I saw my first turtle. I was so excited that I yelped and inhaled a mouthful of sea water!

The photo above shows just how close we managed to get to thesse magnificent creatures: this is not zoomed in at all. I followed him around for a while, keeping him to myself, before surfacing to shout to the others to come over and see. I can't describe how incredible it felt to be so close to such a majestic animal; I could have lazily followed him all day, just watching him live his incredibly chilled out life. Turtles are very calm and peaceful creatures and somehow this infiltrates through the water to you, the snorkeler. The most fitting adjective I can think of for the peace that came over me while swimming alongside my new friend is 'zen-like'.

We were out on the boat for about 9 hours in total, sailing around the bay and stopping to go in the water. It was pure bliss and exactly the type of activity I had expected from the Philippines. In total, I think I saw 8 or 9 turtles, all swimming alone (they are not pack animals).

Below is me and a turtle together - considering how much time we spent in the water with them, and how many we saw throughout the day, this was still a pretty tricky photo to take!