Oslob and Malapascua Day 1 and 2
It was an early morning. We got up about 5 a.m. which gave us just enough time to get dressed and get our final pieces of luggage packed and set out on the front porch for our 5:30 van ride to Oslob to snorkel with the whale sharks. It was a very nice two hour drive from Asian-Belgian Resort in Moalboal over to Oslob. Since it was early in the morning the traffic was not too hectic. It was mostly school children getting ready or on their way to school for the day. They get an early start here as there is no air conditioning in the schools. Most schools are concrete construction with open windows for the breeze to blow through (if there is any). I imagine it can get pretty hot inside in the afternoon.
We arrived at BCD’s Place to snorkel with the whale sharks about 7:30 a.m. The weather was perfect and the location was perfect as it is on the east side of southern Cebu and with the sun coming up in the morning the lighting was perfect for picture taking and video. Since we arrived pretty early we were actually the second boat out in the queue to see the sharks. They give each boatload of people exactly 30 minutes (although it seemed longer) in the water with the whale sharks and then they load you back in the boat and head back to shore. Luckily our boat only contained me, Jordan, and Eric. It is a very short boat ride from the shore. They use small bancas that a couple of guys paddle out. None of the boats have motors. Eric got a few good shots of them and I got a few video clips that were not too bad.
It is an amazing experience to be in the water with such gentle giants. They are like great big puppy dogs. One of them came up behind me after I got in the water and nudged me in the butt and swam right underneath me.
After we got back to shore they had free showers and changing rooms that we used to get cleaned up before we got in the car for the approximately six hour car ride to the northern most town in Cebu (Maya) to catch our boat over to Malapascua. We had a van that picked us up at the resort in Moalboal to take us to Oslob and then we had another car that met us in Oslob to drive us to Maya. So after we got all of our luggage transferred from the van to the car, the journey began.
Our driver took a detour around Cebu City to avoid all the city traffic which took us back over to the western coast and then up north. We did not start to see any evidence of typhoon damage until we were about two hours out from Maya. The further north we got the more extensive the damage was. The northern tip of Cebu definitely got hit hard by the typhoon, but no where near the extend of Leyte and the city of Tacloban which is what most people have seen on the news. It was sad to see the destruction but encouraging to see people trying to get their lives back to normal. Kids were going to school, laundry was hanging out to dry, stores were open and selling goods, and of course people were busy trying to repair and rebuild their homes.
The damage was rather odd, kind of like the aftermath of some tornados, where some houses were untouched and yet the house next door was destroyed. The destruction was not always dictated by the type of construction either. Some solidly built concrete houses were damaged and some not and some bamboo and thatch constructed houses were destroyed and some not.
We finally made it to Maya and had to wait just a few minutes before our boat arrived. We finally found our boat and got all our luggage loaded on. It looked like we were ready to travel for a few months with all the luggage we had. We had to wait a few minutes on the boat as they guys had to fill up five or six big jugs with diesel fuel to bring back for the generator at Matt’s house. After they got those loaded on the boat we were on our way. Evolution only had two boats that survived the typhoon, the one that picked us up and the Haldane (their larger boat). The boat that picked us up is the newest in their fleet, but after surviving the typhoon it looked a little rough around the edges. It had been freshly painted, but the writing on one side is now very faint after the major sandblasting it took with the winds from the typhoon. This boat also does not have outriggers so it was a little bit of a slower journey to Malapascua as we had to go slower to avoid being drenching with seaspray from the small rollers.
As we approached, the damage was evident but everywhere you looked people were busy cleaning up and making repairs. The cleanup at Evolution has been amazing. Their older rooms were damaged in the storm but basically just need new roofs put on. The bar/restaurant area was destroyed, but they have set up a temporary bar/dining area on the beach and are busy building the new and improved restaurant which should be completed by Christmas.
The main building housing the kitchen, reception, gear room, compressor room, etc., only suffered minor damage and just needs some new thatching on the roof, the metal underneath was not damaged. The new two-story concrete rooms that they just build last year only experienced minor mostly cosmetic damage to some of the exterior and roof.
Their new air conditioned rooms at Evolution are amazing. It is the nicest room we have ever stayed in in the Philippines and probably nicer than a lot of the hotels we have stayed in in the states. The rooms have spacious tiled front patios with comfy seating and a drying rack for wet swim cloths. The inside has very nice tile floors, a granite sink/vanity area with vessel sink, a writing desk, two queen size beds, a large closet with a safe, and a separate very nicely tiled shower and toilet room with glass block separating the shower from the toilet. They definitely put a lot of thought into the design, layout, and materials they chose to use.
The island still does not have 24-hour power and most power on the island is coming from individual generators. Sitting on our patio it was encouraging to hear the hum of generators all around, chickens clucking, roosters crowing, and workers busy everywhere hammering and sawing—the signs of progress.
The hours for power at Evolution are from 4 a.m.-11 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. So we have no power in the middle of the day and after 11 p.m. at night. I think these hours are partly due to the need for power during construction hours. It is too hot to work during the middle of the day, so everyone takes off then.
The lack of power in the middle of the day was not a problem as we were out diving and the outage at night was not bad as we had pre-cooled our room before the power went out at 11 p.m. With the walls and floor of the room being concrete it managed to stay pretty cool until the power came back on in the morning.
Since Malapascua only got 24-hour power within the last few years the lack of power was not a shock to the people who live on the island. A lot of them are used to cooking over an open wood fire and living their daily lives without power.
I think Eric almost wanted to go for a dive the first day we got here, but seeing as we did not get here until around 4 p.m. and Jordan and I were tired from traveling all day, we decided to wait until the next day to start diving. We ended up unpacking our dive gear and getting that ready for the next day and relaxing at the bar area and ordering dinner. By the time dinner rolled around we were quite hungry as we left Asian-Belgian resort before breakfast and we were on the road all day long. So our breakfast and lunch consisted of peanut M&Ms that we had brought with us from home and a bag of Trail Mix Jordan had brought from home. Needless to say we were ready for some real food.
They still have a lot of the same staff, including the cook and some of the bar girls, who remembered us from last year. They have a limited menu right now, but the food is just as good as it was before and presentation is like it is coming out of a five-star restaurant. Eric had the chicken escalope with slaw and fries and Jordan and I had the beer-battered fish and chips.
We got up early Tuesday morning for the shark dive. The boat leaves at 5 a.m. and the briefing is at 4:45 a.m. I think we were one of the first boats at the dive site. There are only a few other dive resorts that are operational right now, so we only saw a few other divers on our dive. We saw at least two or three or maybe more thresher sharks (hard to tell as they circle around a lot). I got a few snippets of good video and Eric may have gotten one or two good photos. At least we have proof that we saw them and Jordan got to see then too.
After the shark dive we headed back to Evolution for breakfast. I had two eggs with toast and butter and a fresh mango, Eric had a fresh mango and toast, and Jordan had two eggs with toast and bacon.
The next dive was at 9:30, so we relaxed for a little while after breakfast and then headed out again. Some of the dive sites suffered only minimal damage if any and others like the house reef were destroyed. There are still lots of dive sites to go to that have plenty of things to see, the thresher sharks are still here, and the reefs that were damaged will recover in time.
Eric and I also went out and did the dive at 1:30. Jordan sat that one out. Then Eric and Jordan went out for the 4:15 p.m. mandarin fish dive and I stayed back to type up the blog. As I sit and type on the patio of our room Anna and her crew are busy equally dividing up supplies of screws, bolts, nails, metal roofing sheets, and bags of concrete that were purchased with relief money.
Malapascua Day 3 and 4
Today was another nice day on the island. We got up bright and early at 4:20 a.m. to be able to check our tanks before the dive briefing at 4:45. We promptly got under way around 5 a.m. to head out to see the sharks. We were the first boat to the dive site again today. This time we had a total of seven divers plus our guides. Shortly after we arrived another couple boats from the other two diver operators that are operational right now also showed up with divers. It is definitely not as busy as it used to be pre-typhoon, but there are still plenty of sharks to see and they came in really close. I got some really nice video and Eric got a few good shots of them.
After the dive we headed back to Evolution to have some breakfast and relax for a bit before the second dive at 9:30. The second dive site was one we had been to before and it did not look like it sustained any damage from the storm. It was covered in beautiful soft corals. Jo-Jo managed find a frogfish hiding in the soft corals, a very large cuttlefish, and various types of nudibranchs. Toward the end of the dive on the top of the reef we also came across a sea snake. Unfortunately, it was dead and missing its head.
After this dive we again headed back to the resort to have some lunch and hang out before the third dive at 1:30. As we came back from the second dive there was a very large banca unloading what must have been at least 100 or more huge stalks of massive bamboo. It was quite a sight to see. They would toss them off the outriggers of the banca one by one into the water and there were a bunch of guys swimming in the water and up on the beach to get the pieces of bamboo one by one onto the beach. It was apparent that a lot of this bamboo was going to be used to make new outriggers for a lot of the damaged boats. Most of the boats that were damaged in the storm had the outriggers broken off.
Also, when we were coming back from the second dive we had noticed a very large military looking ship not far off the coast and two smaller boats that seemed to be following it. As we were waiting for our lunch to be served we looked out in front of the resort and not far out in the water were two amphibious military vehicles traveling along parallel to the coast line. Our young Swedish dive guide, who by the way is tall, blonde, and gorgeous, walked out onto the beach and was waving her arms at them and the next thing you know they turned the vehicle toward the shore and drove right up onto the beach.
Much to her amazement, two women got off and walked up the beach to talk to her (not who she was expecting to get off of two boats full of men). Someone told us they thought it was the Australian marines. Apparently they were lost and looking for the north end of the island. The two women who got off had a Google map on their phone and could not figure out which direction was which. That is pretty bad when the marines can’t figure out how to use a compass. I told Eric the women probably demanded that they pull the vehicle over so they could get off and ask for directions instead of circling the island aimlessly. When they drove up on the beach in the amphibious vehicle they drew quite the crowd. I think everyone on that side of the island dropped everything they were doing to come and look. After getting directions they got back in the vehicle and drove back down the beach and into the water and headed North.
After lunch we went out for the third dive. This dive site had some minimal damage but was still very nice and had lots of stuff to see. We found several cuttlefish, lots of nudibranchs, a porcelain crab in an anemone, a flatworm, and a leaf fish to name just a few things we saw.
We then made our way back to the resort again for a short break before our fourth dive of the day, the mandarin fish dive. This is an evening/night dive. The briefing for this dive is around 4:00-4:15 and you get in the water just as the sun is going down, around 5 p.m. The Mandarin fish mate every evening just as it is getting dark. First you have to be lucky enough to find a pair to watch and then you have to be extremely lucky to get pictures and video of the split-second mating. When ready to mate the pair slowly rises up from their coral and within seconds it is all over. We were lucky enough to find three or four mating pairs. However, they were all so quick I don’t think I got any video and I don’t think Eric got any pictures either.
After the mandarin fish display was over we proceeded on with our night dive. We saw a small octopus, a bunch of different kinds of nudibranchs, a tiny turtle (which turned out to be a toy that was planted by Jo-Jo), and at the end Eric was lucky enough to spot two seahorses, apparently male and female as it appeared one was carrying babies. I got some pretty good video of the seahorses.
With that dive over, it was the end of our diving for the trip. We finally made it back to the resort after we had a bit of trouble finding the buoy for the Haldane to tie up to. The storm destroyed a lot of the buoys and with them having to use one in a different location and it being pitch black out I can see how it would be hard to find. We made it back to shore and had a quick dinner before heading off to bed. We were all looking forward to being able to sleep in the next morning.
The power was on when we got back and was to go off at 11 p.m. as usual and then come back on at 4 a.m. However, it never came on in the morning. We ended up sleeping in until about 7:30 and then got up. Apparently the fuel filter had been acting up on the generator and they had managed to get it working the day before but it finally bit the dust. Of course there were no parts on the island to fix it with. So we had to go without power all day. Worst part is when the power goes out there is no water also as the pump to pump the water up to the water tank does not work. So they got us a large basin filled with water so we could scoop water into the toilet tank to flush the toilet.
Matt and David ordered a 2-1/2 ton generator (at a cost of 1.5 million Philippine pesos) that was to be delivered today around 1:30 and along with it was coming the fuel filter to fix the existing generator. However, later in the morning we found out they could not bring the generator across from Maya because the waves were too big coming across the channel (it was quite a bit windier today). However, they did manage to get it loaded onto the boat in Maya, so I guess they will attempt to bring it across tomorrow. They did get the part for the existing generator so we finally got power about 3 p.m. It will be interesting when they get the generator delivered as they will only be able to use manpower to get it off the boat and put into position behind the resort. A lot of pulling by a lot of people will be involved.
We managed to cool ourselves down for an hour or so before we all headed over to the restaurant to have a bite to eat around 5:30 p.m. before catching our boat back to Maya at 6 p.m. We got all our luggage loaded on the boat and set out for the approximately hour-long crossing in the dark. We made it safely across and our car was waiting for us to take us on the three hour trip back to Cebu City. We had a very good driver who liked to take it a bit slower and not take any chances in the dark, which was good. I think all of us ended up falling asleep for at least part of the trip. As far as car ride go for this trip, I think we have now covered every major road from one end of Cebu to the other. We basically made a giant figure-of-eight.
We arrived at the airport and got our luggage checked, got our boarding passes, made it through security (piece of cake compared to US security) and made our way to the Asiana Lounge to wait for a few hours before our flight. It is pretty nice, when you are in business class and wait in the lounge they come and get you when your flight is ready to board and they escort you to your gate. Eric and I were the first two people on the plane. Business class on our four-hour flight from Cebu to Incheon only had seven people out of 15 available seats and that included Jordan, Eric, and I.
We had an uneventful flight to Incheon and I think we each slept a little bit. By the time we got off the plane though we were all good and ready for a nice hot shower and a real bed. We made our way to transfer security and headed straight to the transit hotel to check in. Eric and I went straight to bed and slept for about six hours and then got up and took a good long hot shower. Now on to the next leg of the journey, Incheon to Seattle and Seattle to Phoenix.
