Our recent trip to the Southern Leyte, Philippines was filled with great diving and many wonderful new friends. This trip was meant to be an appetizer before our Palau LOB on-board Big Blue Explorer.
We had a bad start to our journey when our SIA flight was delayed for 15 minutes before take-off. As our connection Cebu Pacific flight was barely 2 hours away, we got worried when were told that the flight could not land promptly upon our arrival in Manila due to closure of one of their runway. We landed half an hour later, cleared customs, collected our luggage and made a mad rush to the domestic airport with only half an hour before our connection flight take off. There was a super long queue, but luckily with the help of a very helpful airport crew, we got checked in even though the check-in counter had been closed. At the boarding area, we found all domestic flights were delayed and our flight to Tacloban was delayed by more than an hour but for once, we didnt complain.
When we finally boarded the flight, we were greeted with more bad news when the pilot announced that if our flight to Tacloban does not arrived before 6 pm, there will be no ground crew support so we might have to turn back to Manila. Damn! This couldnt be happening. Fortunately, we landed at 6.08 pm without much mishap. The pre-arranged driver met us and after 3 hours van rides in the dark, we arrived at Sogad Bay Scuba Resort (SBSR). We were introduced to Phil, filled up some forms and retired for the day.
I did a total of 16 dives, with Pedro, Phil, Ron and Andy taking turns as our dive masters. Dive sites include Napantao Fish Sanctuary, House Reef, Max Climate Reef, Ampo Reef, Buluarte, The Pier (night dives), Sunok Point, Turtle Rock and Adrain Cove. The water temperature was from 27-28°C and the visibility varied from site to site, averaging at 15 meters.
Most sites had prolific fish life and there is no evidence of the blast fishing that plagues other parts of the country. Marco life was more than abundant, and the reefs/walls were teamed with both hard and soft coral growth of all shapes, sizes and colors. Napantao Fish Sanctuary, in particular, looks very much like an underwater coral garden. Huge gorgonian fans, black and soft corals covered the vertical wall, which drops down to 50 meters depth. I found pink hairy squat lobsters in virtually every barrel sponge and saw tons of gobies and blennies, coral crabs and crinoids shrimps on feather stars, lion fishes, scorpion fishes, and many more. The currents can be swift at times and it was a spectacular sight to watch schools of fusiliers, cardinal fishes and other colorful reef fishes out to play, swimming against the currents. It is a magnificent site not to be missed.
Another of my favorite dive site was the Padre Burgos town pier which we did 3 night dives. Diving commenced only after 7pm when the boat traffic halted. We would be transferred to the pier by Phils truck, which is 10 minutes from the resort, donned on our scuba gears, walked down a steep flight of steps and into the yucky seaweed water via shore entry. Underneath the jetty, an exciting array of marine animals has made home on all sorts of bits and pieces. On the sandy seafloor, we found pipefish, lionfishes, school of razor fishes, a resident frogfish, few black seahorses, a pair of pegasus sea-moths, and tons of crabs and shrimps.
On the morning of 20th Feb, we boarded Kermit at 8.30am and arrived at Sunok Bay close to 10am. Phil has engaged two spotters rowing their small outrigger boat around the bay looking out for whale sharks. We (all 17 of us..YES...way too crowded) were briefed about the procedures for entry into the water, i.e. to stand at the edge of the boat with scuba gears and jumped in as soon as the boat is steered near to the whale shark when spotted. I was quite unprepared for this kind of interaction and actually didn't like the idea.
I made 3 jumps. The first jump was made only after 45 minutes of waiting and the interaction lasted for less than 5 minutes. I jumped into the water via negative entry and went straight towards the giant but still did not get a very good look at it. Many of them missed it completely. The second jump came after another 30 minutes of waiting. This time round, the whale shark made a turn towards me and I was able to see the whole 5-6m body. I took a few photos but all came up overexposed. Bummer!!
I've decided to take video on my next jump while Aili decided to forgo this one. As soon as we were told to jump, I finned like crazy but did not see any in sight. I gave up and was fining back towards the boat when suddenly I saw this gentle giant ~6m swimming right under me. I deflated my BCD and started to swim towards it. It doesn't seem to be bothered by my presence and I was able to swim side by side it and took a cool 1.28 minutes video. I was completely breathless when I got onto the boat but was grinning from ear to ear. What an unforgettable experience!
While at Southern Leyte, we stayed and dove with Sogad Bay Scuba Resort (http://www.sogodbayscubaresort.com/). The resort staff and dive crew were friendly and accommodating. The resort has only 4 standard air conditioning rooms, which was quite spacious and kept clean. There are also many shelves in the bathroom, which I find useful for my toiletries and stuff. The only complain was the small hot water supply, cant seem to be able to wash us clean after our night dive. We stayed at one of the room for first two nights before moving to another equivalent room in Phils house for the rest of the trip. Many of the other divers were also requested to move from various B&B to make room for other guests, which I found totally inconvenient. I sure do hope that Phil will have better planning next time. The food (mainly American and European) served in the resort was of limited variety and bland for my liking. I was looking so much to my favorite tocino and longanisa but was surprised that they do not serve Filipino cuisine. Only the cheeseburger was absolutely yummy drooling. We had it for breakfast and lunch for the last two days.
To sum it up, I had a fantastic week in the Philippines prior to our Palau trip. Great diving and lovely people weve met made this a fun and memorable trip. Id love to come back soon, possibly during the summer months when the sea is calmer and the jellyfishes are gone.
Pix Link: http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Sothern-Leyte-07
Video Link: http://wahlaoeh.multiply.com/video/item/7?mark_read=wahlaoeh:video:7&replies_read=12
Till then, happy bubbles..
Jovin-
We had a bad start to our journey when our SIA flight was delayed for 15 minutes before take-off. As our connection Cebu Pacific flight was barely 2 hours away, we got worried when were told that the flight could not land promptly upon our arrival in Manila due to closure of one of their runway. We landed half an hour later, cleared customs, collected our luggage and made a mad rush to the domestic airport with only half an hour before our connection flight take off. There was a super long queue, but luckily with the help of a very helpful airport crew, we got checked in even though the check-in counter had been closed. At the boarding area, we found all domestic flights were delayed and our flight to Tacloban was delayed by more than an hour but for once, we didnt complain.
When we finally boarded the flight, we were greeted with more bad news when the pilot announced that if our flight to Tacloban does not arrived before 6 pm, there will be no ground crew support so we might have to turn back to Manila. Damn! This couldnt be happening. Fortunately, we landed at 6.08 pm without much mishap. The pre-arranged driver met us and after 3 hours van rides in the dark, we arrived at Sogad Bay Scuba Resort (SBSR). We were introduced to Phil, filled up some forms and retired for the day.
I did a total of 16 dives, with Pedro, Phil, Ron and Andy taking turns as our dive masters. Dive sites include Napantao Fish Sanctuary, House Reef, Max Climate Reef, Ampo Reef, Buluarte, The Pier (night dives), Sunok Point, Turtle Rock and Adrain Cove. The water temperature was from 27-28°C and the visibility varied from site to site, averaging at 15 meters.
Most sites had prolific fish life and there is no evidence of the blast fishing that plagues other parts of the country. Marco life was more than abundant, and the reefs/walls were teamed with both hard and soft coral growth of all shapes, sizes and colors. Napantao Fish Sanctuary, in particular, looks very much like an underwater coral garden. Huge gorgonian fans, black and soft corals covered the vertical wall, which drops down to 50 meters depth. I found pink hairy squat lobsters in virtually every barrel sponge and saw tons of gobies and blennies, coral crabs and crinoids shrimps on feather stars, lion fishes, scorpion fishes, and many more. The currents can be swift at times and it was a spectacular sight to watch schools of fusiliers, cardinal fishes and other colorful reef fishes out to play, swimming against the currents. It is a magnificent site not to be missed.
Another of my favorite dive site was the Padre Burgos town pier which we did 3 night dives. Diving commenced only after 7pm when the boat traffic halted. We would be transferred to the pier by Phils truck, which is 10 minutes from the resort, donned on our scuba gears, walked down a steep flight of steps and into the yucky seaweed water via shore entry. Underneath the jetty, an exciting array of marine animals has made home on all sorts of bits and pieces. On the sandy seafloor, we found pipefish, lionfishes, school of razor fishes, a resident frogfish, few black seahorses, a pair of pegasus sea-moths, and tons of crabs and shrimps.
On the morning of 20th Feb, we boarded Kermit at 8.30am and arrived at Sunok Bay close to 10am. Phil has engaged two spotters rowing their small outrigger boat around the bay looking out for whale sharks. We (all 17 of us..YES...way too crowded) were briefed about the procedures for entry into the water, i.e. to stand at the edge of the boat with scuba gears and jumped in as soon as the boat is steered near to the whale shark when spotted. I was quite unprepared for this kind of interaction and actually didn't like the idea.
I made 3 jumps. The first jump was made only after 45 minutes of waiting and the interaction lasted for less than 5 minutes. I jumped into the water via negative entry and went straight towards the giant but still did not get a very good look at it. Many of them missed it completely. The second jump came after another 30 minutes of waiting. This time round, the whale shark made a turn towards me and I was able to see the whole 5-6m body. I took a few photos but all came up overexposed. Bummer!!
I've decided to take video on my next jump while Aili decided to forgo this one. As soon as we were told to jump, I finned like crazy but did not see any in sight. I gave up and was fining back towards the boat when suddenly I saw this gentle giant ~6m swimming right under me. I deflated my BCD and started to swim towards it. It doesn't seem to be bothered by my presence and I was able to swim side by side it and took a cool 1.28 minutes video. I was completely breathless when I got onto the boat but was grinning from ear to ear. What an unforgettable experience!
While at Southern Leyte, we stayed and dove with Sogad Bay Scuba Resort (http://www.sogodbayscubaresort.com/). The resort staff and dive crew were friendly and accommodating. The resort has only 4 standard air conditioning rooms, which was quite spacious and kept clean. There are also many shelves in the bathroom, which I find useful for my toiletries and stuff. The only complain was the small hot water supply, cant seem to be able to wash us clean after our night dive. We stayed at one of the room for first two nights before moving to another equivalent room in Phils house for the rest of the trip. Many of the other divers were also requested to move from various B&B to make room for other guests, which I found totally inconvenient. I sure do hope that Phil will have better planning next time. The food (mainly American and European) served in the resort was of limited variety and bland for my liking. I was looking so much to my favorite tocino and longanisa but was surprised that they do not serve Filipino cuisine. Only the cheeseburger was absolutely yummy drooling. We had it for breakfast and lunch for the last two days.
To sum it up, I had a fantastic week in the Philippines prior to our Palau trip. Great diving and lovely people weve met made this a fun and memorable trip. Id love to come back soon, possibly during the summer months when the sea is calmer and the jellyfishes are gone.
Pix Link: http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Sothern-Leyte-07
Video Link: http://wahlaoeh.multiply.com/video/item/7?mark_read=wahlaoeh:video:7&replies_read=12
Till then, happy bubbles..
Jovin-
yeah no tocina for breakfast 
