Palawan

I don't know if you have ever sat down and contemplated a place before going there, but I have, and when I thought of the Philippines and envisaged what it would be like, I pictured white sand, turquoise water, sea life (and therefore sea food) and beaches and boats and snorkelling and palm trees and stunning landscapes and all those other things that go together so wonderfully when you imagine a tropical paradise. Well, Palawan was the epitome of the Philippines, at least in my imagined version: simply put, it was gorgeous.

Excuse the rope: this a a view from one of many boats

Palawan was also special for more than just the setting: it was the location of our Streatham housemate reunion. Becky flew out to join Vita, Kim and me for a week and it was bloody wonderful.

In Palawan, we spent time in four places: Puerto Princesa, Sabang, El Nido and Coron. Puerto was fine, nothing much to write home (or blog) about but the other three places were all very nice.

In Sabang, there is a subterranean river which has been listed in various travel blogs/reports/articles as one of the new natural wonders of the world. Essentially, it is (as you would imagine from the word 'subterranean') an underground river than you can sail along, inside the caves, under the cliffs. When inside, the person who is sitting at the front of your small boat or 'bangkha' holds a light to shine around the stalactites and stalagmites at the guides direction, to illuminate the inside of the caves. (That person was me; naturally I was keen to sit in front and be involved somehow. Classic teacher's pet)

Unfortunately to take a photo of the incredible sights inside the caves requires an SLR camera of very high quality and between my GoPro and phone, the light quality just wasn't good enough to capture the amazing sights inside the caves. If you are curious, Google it. If you are very curious, come and see it yourself! To make up for the lack of photography, here's Becky and me in hard hats:

We had to wear these not only for protection, but also because the bats in the caves like to poo on tourists' heads

We then headed north to El Nido and experienced tropical rain first hand: I couldn't believe how much water the clouds were holding; it was the kind of heavy rain that feels like you're being punched, and it went on all day and night. Luckily the sun came out the next day and we rented a couple of sea kayaks, to explore the islands around the bay and their secluded beaches.

It took us about 45 minutes to paddle to the first beach but it was worth it: we were the only people there.

Here's us doing acrobatics on the beach. I'm on the bottom right. Very poor form, a shame I'm so useless at anything remotely sporty!

If you want to visit the Philippines for a holiday, I would definitely say Palawan would be the best island for it. It is still relatively untouristy for South East Asia and absolutely stunning.

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!

Here is another shot of the coral:

Another turtle:

Me, in all my snorkelling glory:

And finally, happy faces after a brilliant day: