Apo Island
For the weekend, Neil and I celebrated Neil's birthday by heading down to a tiny little island in the Visayas called Apo Island. A couple of months ago some of the other AYADs had travelled down to Apo and came back raving about how beautiful it was down there. Apo is one of the few, but growing protected islands in the Philippines. A marine sanctuary was established, and dynamite fishing is banned.
We flew down to Dumaguete early Saturday morning and arrived at the tiny airport at about 7 in the morning. We were picked up and driven 40 mins south of Dumaguete where we caught a small boat across to Apo. Upon arriving we checked into out beautiful traditional 'Bahay Kubo' style accommodation and grabbed a quick bite to eat. We booked a scuba dive for the afternoon and went for a mid morning nap. There is only really 2 places to stay on the island, both are quite small and both are fairly close to each other. We stayed at Liberty's on Apo Island which employs almost all of its workers from the island and promotes conservation, protection of the natural surroundings and basic community development and sustainability on the island. The accommodation was fairly basic (bucket toilet and shower, minimal electricity), but with the room opening out with a view of the bright blue sea, palm trees and blue sky this was really what attracted us to the island in the first place.
After a delicious fruit salad and pancit canton for Neil, we went down for our first ever scuba-diving lesson! David, the instructor, was a sea-changer from Britain and had been on Apo for about 5 years teaching and guiding scuba-diving off the island. We went through the basics, got on our gear then went out for some practice runs and the dive itself. The water was very clear and blue, and initially we focused on practicing some basics like clearing the mask of water, changing mouth pieces and basic hand signals. When we both passed, we went out from the beach and started looking at the reef. Underneath, it was amazing. There were immediately large varieties of fish and coral. We cruised over getting used to how to go up and down in the water and keeping horizontal so that we wouldn’t damage anything. There were sea cucumbers, bright blue starfish, heaps of fish (including fish from Finding Nemo!), clownfish, lots of bright coral and even turtles!! Neil was having a few problems with the dive– he had been sick recently in Perth and still had a bit of a runny nose and blocked sinus – but after adjusting a little to the surroundings he was still able to have a look around.
Turtle underwater at Apo
We spent about 50 minutes under the water then came to the surface. Neil cleansed his mask of snot – yes, it was quite gross – and lamented being so stuffed up for his first dive. We boated back around to the other side of the island where we dumped our gear and went for a quick bucket shower. Invigorated, but slightly tired from the dive, we went for a quick walk through the town and back along the beach where Neil and I ‘collectively’ succeeded in dropping my camera on the rocks, where it then rolled into the water. Great – no more photos of Apo! Anyway, we then headed back for a brief rest and then down for a nice bite to eat for dinner – fish of course! We chatted with David the instructor for a while before heading up to bed before 10 when all the electricity went out.
The next day we had a nice sleep in while large storm clouds rained down over the island. Fortunately before too long they started subsiding and we went down to catch some breakfast down in the restaurant. Even the restaurant was a pleasant place to relax as it looked out over the coconut palms, rocky beach and blue sea. We were initially planning to do a second dive today, but as Neil’s cold was still hanging around, we decided to do a snorkel instead. After breakfast we went for a walk up to the highest point of the island – to the lighthouse – which gave a great view of the surrounding islands of Negros, Siquidor and Mindanao. We then headed back down to grab snorkeling gear and walked over to the Marine Sanctuary. The sea was still quite rough and unfortunately it was still pretty overcast, but the sea water was warm and underwater the coral and fish were still amazing. I was a little disappointed in not being able to see another turtle, but we still saw heaps of fish around.
We had a late lunch at the other restaurant on the island (not as good as Liberty’s) then went for a real walk around the island. We walked through the main ‘town’ and saw children out playing and some beautiful, well-cared for houses. Most of the people were extremely friendly and smiled and waved. We walked over two hills and ventured over to the other side of the island where we had dived the day before. While walking, Neil was on some crazy mission trying to find a coconut that he could crack open and eat. Of course he couldn’t find one and I am sure some of the villagers were wondering what this weird white man was doing scrummaging around under coconut palms. On the other side of the island was another small village. Most of the residents were heading out on the boats to do some evening fishing. We sat on the beach for a little while and met some Christian Protestant missionaries who had just conducted a mass. They were from one of the surrounding islands. Before it got too dark we headed back over the hills to the main settlement for another yum dinner and sleep.
Our last day and again we had a lazy morning. We were had breakfast, went for another walk and one last quick swim before heading back on the boat to Dumaguete and our flight home. The rush back to the airport almost ruined our relaxed state – but we made it on time and were able to enjoy the last few moments in Negros before returning to Manila. It really was a beautiful weekend away and we enjoyed the diving, the water, the island and its people.
More photos to come!
posted by batik billy @ 12:58 pm
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