Sogod, Southern Leyte - picturelogue

[chip104]

alright my account of Leyte. Please don't mind the vignetting - too lazy to crop the pics.

The Wild Stallions:

Larry, Zee, Anton (my brother)

We (Larry, Anton, and the driver) had a smoke break in the mountains:

Here's the view Zee was photographing:

Funny seeing a construction crane in the middle of a jungle.

Pose for me, Mr. Driver, who almost killed me:

We got to the resort, and got ready for the first dive. Photographers setting up:

Brother relaxes infront of our room and ponders whether to take the OW course or not:

He took it.

The resort:

Sunset infront of resort:

I can't take credit for this pic - Larry grabbed my camera and snapped this shot.

Scuba area:

I didn't really spend a lot of time here.

Divers heading to the bangka:

"Biyad po...":

The bangka was spacious:

Zee, Larry, Chris, Ate Myra, Koya, Allan, Ate Charm

Bryan, Enrique, Yohan (Stormrider)

I liked hanging out in the front away from the engine noise:

Zee, Anton, Larry, Bryan

After a dive at Limasawa Island:

that's me!

 

[chip104]

This is Pedro, our awesome dive guide:

He liked my rig, so I wanted him to try it out.

Heading back to resort dolphins came to greet us!

silly rain

Phil: "they should be coming round the bow any secon--ah here she comes..."

Sunset infront of resort:

I can't take credit for this pic - Larry grabbed my camera and snapped this shot.

After Leyte, we left for Bato Pier, to head off on more adventures:

Larry (THE hammerhead), Bryan (BryanG), Enrique (Subzero), Zee (Zeeman), Chip (chip104). Bryan and Enrique took a boat to Cebu City that is similar to the one behind us in the pic.

Larry, Zee, Anton, and I, had to take this gem to get to Ubay, Bohol:

In you go, Zee:

The jugs on the beams are full of tuba, cocunut rum. They let us try some later on in the trip. Tastes like paint thinner - needs coke and some table spoons of sugar!

Hey, I have an idea, let's stick all the foreigners in the front compartment!

We sat next to 3 German fellows and a petite local lady who were all quite nice.

the Bangkero, with his steering wheel and accelerator contraption:

The string ran by my feet and I accidentally stepped on it, causing the bangkero to temporarily lose control...

the navigator:

The windshield wiper:

He wasn't a very good windshield wiper.


We headed off to Alona Beach for a night before going to Cabilao the next day. It was quite the most excellent adventure with the hammerhead, Zeeman, and my brother.

 

[jigo]

you took that tiny thing to bohol from bato? talk about claustrophobia! how long was the trip?

 

[chip104]

2 hours plus an hour wait for the bangka to fill up. I reckon it's better to stay on the second floor. More space and breezy. I opted to stay out in the rain for half the trip. We were lucky that the sea was calm that day.

We befriended one of the deckhands who texted his buddy to pick us up at the ubay pier to bring us to the terminal. The windshield wiper kid lied to me and originally told me the jugs were filled with live crabs ("joke lang"). When we found out it was tuba, my brother asked to try some. There were soldiers on the bangka who take the route between Bohol and Leyte that fight against pirates (at first I thought they were on duty to protect the bangka, but I think I was lost in translation).

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Hey Chip, nice set of photos, thanks for posting. I already miss S. Leyte and all I can think of is when to go back for more diving.

I can't see how people can drink those Tubas(Coconut rum), they taste awful, no amount of sugar or coke can mask its taste

Edit: I'll post some of Brian's photos later today..

 

[clgsamson]

Chip, you think you can put up a sorta route map from Southern Leyte to Bohol? How much did it cost? including the transfer to the Tagbilaran/Panglao Island. I didn't know that route was "available".

Thanks for the pix, good memories and great adventure.

 

[greatwolf]

Nice pics Chip!!!

 

[midwestdvr]

Tuba? Mmm, i grew up on that stuff

 

[iris_ice]

that was a big dive boat! should've taken that one to ferry you to bohol instead

 

[chip104]

Thanks Marv, Enrique. @ gio: haha judging by the taste, tuba must give a killer hangover! @ Iris: seriously we should have, the dive bangka was really nice.

Chip, you think you can put up a sorta route map from Southern Leyte to Bohol? How much did it cost? including the transfer to the Tagbilaran/Panglao Island. I didn't know that route was "available".

Thanks for the pix, good memories and great adventure.

Likewise, Koya. Just made this now:

Itinerary:

1. Flight from Manila to Tacloban. ~1 hour. ~1.5K-2.4K PHP one way trip. We took Cebu Pacific. (Blue solid line)
2. Land transfer from Tacloban to Sogod Bay. ~3 hours. ~3K PHP one way. Resort arranges. (Pink dotted line in Leyte)
3. Land transfer from Sogod Bay to Bato. ~1.5 hours. ~1.5K PHP one way. Resort arranges.
4. Bangka ride from Bato to Ubay, Bohol. ~2 hours. P100 per person one way. Leaves daily 8am but if it is not full it leaves 9am. (Pink dashed line)
5. Trikie ride from ferry terminal to van hire terminal. ~5 mins. Payment is at your discretion. Give them at least P50. Don't worry about finding a trikie - they hawk for you once the ferry arrives.
6. Private land transfer from Bato to Alona Beach. ~2 hours. 2K PHP but can probably haggle down to 1.5K PHP. Passes through Tagbilaran so can stock up on supplies and such. (Pink dotted line)
7. Private land transfer from Alona Beach to Loon. Just over an hour. 1.5K-1.7K PHP. Resort arranges. (small pink dotted line)
8. Boat transfer from Loon to Cabilao Island. ~10 mins if using a speed boat. ~20 mins if using a bangka. Complimentary with the resort. Tip the baggage handlers. (small pink dotted line)
9. From Cabilao you can enter and exit via Argao, Cebu. This is what Larry did. One way was around ~4K PHP all the way into Cebu. The resort can arrange it (Blue dashed/dotted line).

A transfer from Tagbilaran to Alona Beach is P600 published rate. But you can get it for P400 if you have a contact (ie Maggie).

edit: from Bato you can also get to Cebu City (What enrique and Bryan did). (Yellow dashed line)