Malapascua Day 7 & 8

Day 7

Today was another busy diving day.  We got up around 4:15 a.m. for the 5:15 Thresher shark dive.  It was a nice dive today as it was just the two of us with our guide, Jo.  The rest of the divers were with other guides.  We saw quite a few Thresher sharks, and the current was much better today—much easier to stay in one place—but the visibility was still an issue.  I didn’t get any decent video but Eric got one or two photos that weren’t too bad.

After the dive, we collected everyone up, including one of the owner’s, Matt, and his student who were diving on rebreathers.  We had stopped the boat and were waiting for them and the next thing we knew someone was knocking on the hull of the boat.  As the rebreathers make no bubbles, there was no way for the boatmen to tell where they were.

After we got back to Evolution, we had our usual French Toast breakfast with fresh sliced mangos and relaxed for a short bit before our next dive at 9:30 to Lapus Lapus. 

This was our first dive to Lapus Lapus on this trip.  We jumped in and there was a fair amount of current.  We managed to see a couple seahorses before we had to head up more shallow as we were running low in our no decompression limits.  We actually stayed down a little longer and our guide, Jo, headed up as he only had 1 minute left of no decompression time.  So Eric and I cruised around for a while longer before we surfaced.  Eric got some practice deploying his SMB (surface marker buoy—AKA safety sausage) under water. 

After the boat collected us up and everyone was accounted for, we headed back to the resort.  On the way back we got to see the boat parade circling the island.  Today and tomorrow they are having a big fiesta here on the island and the boat parade was part of the festivities. 

We rinsed off a bit and then headed to lunch.  We sat and talked with a diver that just arrived from France yesterday, Francois.  We had a nice chat, ate our lunch, and then relaxed for a while before our 1:30 dive to Deep Slope.

We had already been to Deep Slope twice before, but because of the tides today there was too much current to dive just about any place else.  The seahorse was still in the sea fan here and we saw an orangutan crab, nudibranchs, and all the other usual suspects.  In the beginning of the dive there wasn’t much current, but by the end it was starting to get pretty strong, so we headed up. 

We got back to the resort around 3:30 or so and got cleaned up and looked at the pictures and video we had captured today.  Afterward, we headed to the restaurant to get some dinner and chat with people.  We might also wander into the village and check out the fiesta as well.

Day 8

Today I decided to sleep in and Eric got up at 4 am to go do the shark dive.  I ended up getting up around 6:30 and the boat got back from the dive around 7:30.  Eric said the sharks came in close and he got some really good video—he decided to take my video camera instead of his camera.  I had ordered breakfast as soon as I saw the boat returning, so after Eric rinsed his gear off, we had breakfast sitting in the loungers by the beach and looked at the video he shot.  He did get some really good video—I told him of course he would see something good, because I did not go…

Our next dive was at 9:30 to Bogtang Bato, which seems to be the staff’s favorite dive site.  It is a rock pinnacle that is covered in soft coral.  It is possible to swim circles around it, but the current is pretty strong a lot of the time on some sides.  We saw at least three or four different color and size frog fish, and the highlight was a mantis shrimp just standing out in the open (which we have never seen before—usually they are hiding in a hole or under a rock and won’t come out for anything).  He/she was very cooperative and I got some video and Eric got a really good picture.  We managed to swim around the entire pinnacle in the current and were the next to the last people to surface.

We headed back to the resort and had lunch before our 1:30 dive to Devil Ray Corner (at Monad Shoal).  There was some pretty good surface current here, as there usually is, and we followed the mooring line down to the bottom.  We cruised around at around 100+ feet for a while and actually saw a couple whitetip sharks and a Thresher.  After that we cruised along the wall and found a huge puffer fish and some other interesting stuff to look at.  The staff here trusts us enough that they usually let us finish up the dives on our own as most people run low on air way before us, so we look around for a while longer and then do our safety stop before surfacing.  Eric and I managed to find a mooring line to go up to do our safety stop, but we probably should have just floated away with the current as there were a lot of jellies floating by us.  Eric got a sting on his chin and I got some on my hands (about the only parts of our bodies exposed).  It just turns red and stings a bit for a while.  We put some white vinegar on it to help calm it down when we got back on the boat. 

After returning back to the resort, we got all our gear rinsed out and got cleaned up.  We looked at the video and pictures that we had taken today and then walked over to the restaurant for some dinner.  We ended up sitting and chatting with one of the other divers who has been diving with us, Aidan—from Ireland.  After dinner and some good conversation, we all decided to walk to the main part of the island and check it out.  It was a good night to do so as it was really windy, which makes it not so steamy once you get away from the beach. 

We wandered around the barrio for a while and then made our way back to Evolution.  By this time it was around 8:30 and we headed to our room so I could type up the blog and we headed off to bed after a hard day of diving…

Malapascua Day 6

Today we got up around 6:30 and Eric got the cameras ready and we headed to breakfast a little after 7.  By now you can probably guess what breakfast consisted of…

We were scheduled to leave at 9 am for a day trip to Gato island for two dives with lunch in between.  Gato island is about a 45+ minute ride from Malapascua.  After we got in the water it was a slow start, but then we saw quite a bit of stuff—a flamboyant cuttlefish, a frogfish, sea snake, among many others. 

This dive was rather interesting.  About half way through the dive we were all in a larger group in one area when I looked over and saw one of the dive group with no regulator in his mouth, kneeling down on the sand, attempting to reach back to his tank.  He looked very calm, so I was not sure what he was doing.  One of the other members of our group (diving with double tanks, as she had just finished a tech diving class) who was a bit closer noticed this as well.  When she approached him, he gave the out-of-air sign and she gave him her regulator.  Apparently his tank had not gotten turned on all the way and worked fine until he got to a certain depth and then due to the pressure it could not provide any more air.  The dive guide came over and made sure his tank was turned on and then his pressure went from 0 back up to 2000.  He went back to breathing off his tank and continued his dive.  I think we were all a bit shocked.  He was so calm we all thought he was kidding—but obviously not.   

After the first dive, we got back on the boat and had a surface interval of about an hour and half, during which time we all had lunch.  The second dive was also at Gato Island, but on a different side of the island.  The dive started by entering an underwater tunnel, which went all the way through to the other side of the island.  This dive we saw Harlequin shrimp, frogfish, huge crabs, eel, ocellaris clownfish, another sea snake, sharks, and various macro shrimp, etc. 

After two good dives, we headed back to the resort.  We got back around 3 o’clock and headed to our room to get cleaned up and check out our video and pictures from yesterday and today.  Then we headed to the restaurant to have some dinner so we could get to bed early for the shark dive again tomorrow morning.  Prior to turning in for the night we played a round of “worms” with the two couples we had met from Oregon.  After the game was over we wished the well as they would be leaving tomorrow morning and we would be out on the shark dive early in the morning.

Malapascua Day 4 & 5

Day 4

Eric and I both woke up around 4:30 this morning and then were awake on and off until we finally got up around 6 a.m.  It is hard to turn off the body clock once it gets set. 

We headed to breakfast around 7 a.m. and had the French toast again.  This time I got mine with bananas and a fresh mango on the side and Eric got his with diced mango on top—either version is delicious. 

After breakfast we got our gear ready for the first dive at 9:30 which was to Chocolate Island.  This was by far the best dive of the trip so far.  We must have seen just about everything but sharks on this dive.  We saw our first ever flamboyant cuttlefish, regular cuttlefish, nudibranchs, a pair of black hairy frogfish, an orange frogfish, a sea moth fish, and many others I can’t recall (typing this after having two mango daquiri’s at happy hour—it’s a wonder I can remember anything).  After a great dive, we made our way back to the resort for lunch and some lounging before our afternoon dive at 1:30. 

The dive at 1:30 was to Devil Ray corner—a dive we have never done before.  It is actually out at Monad Shoal, which is where they do the morning thresher shark dives.  On the way to the drop off for the dive, we saw a bunch of Devil Rays flapping their wings on the surface of the water.  We were hoping when we got in the water at the dive site we would see some.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of anything on the dive but a couple of larger cuttlefish. 

After our afternoon dip, we headed back to the resort for dinner and reviewing our photos and videos for today.  My camera and housing are working out quite well so far.  It is super easy to white balance and the color and clarity seem to be really good. 

We are going to crawl into bed early tonight as we have to get up around 4 a.m. for the Thresher Shark dive at 5 a.m.  Eric and I are signed up to do three dives tomorrow and Eric is also going to do the night dive.

Day 5

Today was an early morning.  We were up at 4 a.m. to get ready for our 5 a.m. Thresher Shark dive.  The boat headed out just as the sun was coming up.  It is about a 45 minute boat ride to the dive site, but it is a nice ride in the early morning with the sunrise and the ocean breeze. 

It wasn’t too terribly busy at Monad Shoal by the time we got there.  We dove in and there was actually quite a bit of current.  Not too long after we got in we saw a couple Threshers, but the visibility was poor so we were unable to get any decent video or photos.  We swam around for a while hoping to see some other Threshers or something else like a ray, etc., but we only saw one other Thresher.

After everyone was back on the boat, we headed back to the resort for breakfast.  We had a short rest before the next dive scheduled for 9:30 to Chocolate Island.  We had done this dive yesterday and it was the best dive we have done so far, so we were anxious to do it again. 

We headed out to Chocolate Island, which is about a 30 minute boat ride away.  We dove in and right after our entry there was a very large sea snake hunting and feeding.  That is the first sea snake I have ever seen in the water.  I was able to get some video of it.  We managed to find the orange frogfish again and some other interesting critters.  At the end of the dive, as we were finishing our safety stop, we saw another sea snake surface for air and then dive back down. 

After the dive, we headed back to the resort to have lunch before our next dive to Deep Slope at 1:30 p.m.  We had done this dive the other day as well and found a lot of neat stuff.  This dive it was just our guide and Eric and me.  We managed to find the pigmy seahorse that we had seen the other day, multiple types of shrimp, and of course nudibranchs, as usual. 

After another good dive, we came back and had a bite to eat at the restaurant before Eric headed out again for the evening/night dive at 5:45.  While Eric was out diving I sat at the restaurant and talked with a couple from Oregon that we have done some diving with and typed up the blog for the day.

Malapascua Day 3

We slept in as long as we could today; however, I think we both woke up around 2 a.m. and were awake on and off until we finally got up around 6-something.  Eric got all the camera gear ready and then we headed to breakfast.  We had French toast made with their homemade bread covered with fresh cut mango and cinnamon.  It was devoured in no time--delicious. 

We headed out for our first dive around 9:30.  We wanted to do something easy, slow, and fairly shallow as this would be the first dive with my new underwater housing and camera.  In addition, with all of our house selling, buying, and remodeling, along with various other vacations prior to that, it had been almost a year since my last dive and nearly that long for Eric as well. 

We had a nice easy dive.  I thought my camera was supposed to be white balancing, but obviously the settings were not set correctly.  So I got footage of a lot of clownfish and some nudibranchs, etc., but it was all rather on the blue side, having not been white balanced.  It was a nice dive, either way though.

We headed back to the resort and had some lunch and sat around in the shade until our next dive scheduled for 1:15 p.m.  It was rather warm this afternoon with not much wind.  Eric went and got the laptop out and sweating rather profusely trying to get a post put on Facebook.

After nearly falling asleep in the shade, it was time for our next dive.  The second dive was at Deep Slope.  Gino, our dive guide, found us all kinds of neat stuff on this dive.  We saw cuddlefish, mantis shrimp, nudibranchs, pigmy seahorse, regular seahorse, orangutan crabs, urchin crabs, moray eel, striped eel catfish, leaf fish, whipcoral shrimp, pipe seahorses, among others. 

My camera worked much better on the second dive once it was set to white balance properly.  I got some good footage of quite a few things.  After this dive we headed back to the resort again.  We rinsed our wetsuits out and headed back to the room to get a shower and check out our footage and photos from today. 

We were hungry after our hard day of diving (Ha, Ha!) and headed to the restaurant for some dinner.  Tonight we tried the vegetarian parmesan cream pasta with garlic bread—very good.  Then again, I don’t think they have anything on their menu that is bad.  They have quite an extensive menu now with lots of good choices. 

It was a very relaxing day of diving, lounging, and eating. 

Malapascua Day 1 & 2

It was an early start to our journey.  Tim, our realtor, good friend, and dive travel companion was nice enough to pick us up at the house at around 3:30 a.m. and transport us to the airport. 

It is nice getting to the airport that early in the morning, there are very few people around then.  We had a nice quiet flight to LA.  The plane was far from being full. 

We had about a five-hour layover in LA, which was nice because we didn’t have to rush to get to our flight, especially since we had to change terminals and go back through security again.  The Bradley terminal at LAX is quite a nice terminal now.  They have obviously done a lot of updating and modernizing.  We hung out in the  Star Alliance Lounge until it was time to board our flight to Seoul.

After we took off, the meal service started in.  We settled in for our time-consuming six-course meal.  We placed our order ahead of time for the vegetarian meal options.  When we first got started, Eric was wondering if we had made the right decision or not.  The salad consisted of sliced up vegetables (yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms) with dressing.  By the time we got to the main course, risotto with grilled vegetables, he was happy with the decision.  Everything was delicious—much better than all the beef and seafood choices on the regular menu.

It was actually quite a bumpy trip from LA to Seoul.  Much of the trip was made with the seatbelt sign on due to turbulence.  Unlike on the US carriers, the stewardesses continue food service, though.  As we were eating our meal, our water and other beverages were sloshing about in the glass.  

We got lucky and the little kid sitting across from us was actually quite good for most of the flight.  He started fussing a bit when we started our descent into Seoul, but my ears were hurting too, so I can understand the fussiness. 

We landed in Seoul and had about a 2-1/2-hour layover before our flight to Cebu.  We went up to the lounge, which was packed, and managed to find a couple seats to hang out in until our flight. 

We boarded our flight to Cebu and ended up sitting at the gate for quite a while, apparently due to heavy traffic at the airport.  Once we took off, I think I slept most of the 5-hour flight.  Eric got quite a bit of sleep as well.  By the time we got into Cebu, it was after midnight. 

A car picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel which was just across the street from the airport.  After checking in, we made or way to our room and crawled into bed.  We set the alarm clock to get up around 8 a.m.

Breakfast at the hotel was from 7-10 and our driver was to pick us up at 10 a.m. to take us to the northernmost end of Cebu to catch the boat to Malapascua.   We made our way down to breakfast around 9 a.m. and then came back to the room to get our stuff ready to go. 

Our driver picked us up around 9:45 and we headed out on the approximately 3-hour drive.  The northern end of Cebu was quite different from the last time we were here, which was 2 weeks after typhoon Haiyan.  Even thought it is dry season here now, things are a lot greener than before and most structures have been rebuilt.  You probably wouldn’t even know the strongest typhoon on record had gone through here two years ago.  

We made it to Maya (the northernmost end of Cebu) and boarded the boat to take us to Evolution dive resort on Malapascua.  Right after we got on the boat, the rain moved in, which was actually quite nice.  It has apparently been very hot here. 

We had a nice crossing to Malapascua and upon arrival were greeted by the staff who welcomed us back.  We were thinking we might like to do a dive after we arrived, but the boat had already gone out, so we decided to just hang out and relax.  We got a bite to eat at the Craic House (the resort’s restaurant and pub) and hung out in the furniture in the shade on the beach, enjoying the wonderful ocean breeze.  It is nice to be able to sit around and not do a single thing—I have to admit it feels strange, though.

Geneva to Seyssel

            We started our morning in Geneva rather comically.  I usually let Eric take a shower first, that way he can figure out the intricacies of how the knobs and levers work before I go.  He had just gotten the temperature adjusted in the tub/shower combo with the European style half-glass shower screen and went to pull the lever for the shower when he had a rather rude awakening.  The wand sprayer was aimed directly at him as he stood outside the tub.  Needless to say he yelled with surprise and by the time he realized what was happening and shut the water off, he had hosed down half the bathroom. 

After I mopped up the water and we eventually got all our stuff packed up, we met the representative from Cyclomundo in the lobby of the hotel around 8:30 a.m. to get the bikes set up.  Then we were off on our way to Seyssel.  Even though it was a Saturday morning, it was still a little tricky getting out of Geneva with all the traffic.  Once we zigged and zagged our way through town, we finally found ourselves in the countryside fairly quickly.  It was a beautiful ride.  The weather was a bit overcast but quite nice.

A little ways out of town we were trying to pull out of the way of a bus when Eric tangled with a killer granite curb and went down.  Luckily he was not hurt—no blood or bruises even.  The bus driver was a bit concerned and checked to make sure we were okay.  All I can say is I’m glad it was Eric that went down and not me or lord only knows what would have happened—I’m sure there would have been some blood and possibly broken bones involved…

As this was our first day riding we were trying to get the hang of following the GPS tracks and making our way from town to town.  Somehow we missed the café we were going to stop at for lunch.  In France most restaurants are only open from about noon-2 p.m. and then they close.  As well, many of the small towns we rode through were very tiny with just a few houses and nothing much else. 

Needless to say, after a while we were starving.  Around 2:30 in the afternoon we finally found a lady walking her dog on the bike path and asked her if there were any restaurants around.  She pointed us to the main highway and after a short trip down the road we found a hotel with what looked like a restaurant.  Eric went up and asked if they served food and apparently they were closed.  So we ordered a couple orange sodas and I think the woman took pitty on us and asked if we wanted some sandwiches.  So in our muddled French we ordered a couple cheese sandwiches (I definitely know the word fromage.)  Boy were those sandwiches good—slices of real French cheese on a huge crunchy baguette. 

It’s a good thing we were finally able to find food, as we had some more hill climbing to do yet before arriving in Seyssel.  The ride from Geneva to Seyssel has the most climbing of all the legs of our trip, around 2500 ft. over about 38 miles.  We powered our way through the rest of the climbing with some gorgeous views of the Rhone river valley and arrived at our hotel at round 4:30 p.m.  Our hotel in Seyssel, the Beau Sejour, was right on the river with a fabulous view. 

After settling into our room we headed down for dinner in the hotel restaurant (dinner was included this night).  I had read reviews that their restaurant was very good and the reviews were not wrong.  We had a fabulous meal and then were off to bed. 

Seyssel to Aix-les-Bains

Eric got up early and did an 18 mile ride with 3800 ft of climbing up Col de la Biche while I slept in.  Once he arrived back at the hotel we headed on our way to Aix-les-Bains.  This ride was a little shorter with a lot less climbing.  It was a beautiful ride along several rivers, on lush bike paths, and along the lakes.  We stopped along the way at a pizzeria and had a wonderful lunch before making our way into Aix-les-Bains around 2:30 p.m. 

Needless to say we had a little nap after arriving at our room and then we went out and wandered around the city a little bit before turning in for the night. 

Aix-les-Bains to St. Pierre d’Albigny

Eric again got up early and did a 26.5 mile ride with 5562 ft. of climbing up Mt. Rivard before we headed on our way to St. Pierre d’Albigny.  I of course slept in, went down and had breakfast, and then got all our bags completely packed up and brought them down to be picked up and taken to our next destination which was Chateau des Allures.  Eric made it back from his ride about 9:40 in the morning.   He then sat in the sun in our room to thaw out for a while.  We then decided to walk down the street to the boulangerie and buy some pastries to take along with us in case we could not find any place to eat before arriving at our final destination—we learned our lesson after day one of riding. 

At the boulangerie we bought an apple turnover and a chocolate croissant.  As soon as I stepped out of the boulangerie, I squished them flat as a pancake in the bag so they would fit in our Cambelback.  I can only imagine if the lady selling the pastries saw me smashing them, she would probably pass out.  We returned to the hotel to get the bikes and then set off on our way to St. Pierre d’Albigny. 

Eric had informed me that today’s ride did not have nearly the amount of climbing, so I was looking forward to a nice leisurely day.  However, I was obviously misinformed.  There may not have been as much climbing overall, but it was in short very steep bursts, some about 12% or so.  We also did a lot of “off-roading” on dirt/gravel roads through many vineyards.   The countryside was beautiful, I just wish it was a little flatter…  This area was definitely wine country.  Pretty much from Aix-les-Bains to St.-Pierre-d’Albigny it was vineyard after vineyard.

Before we did some of our final climbs and “off-roading,” we pulled off the road and sat under a big tree and ate our pastries, which by that time were well earned.  We then powered on to our destination—the Chateau des Allures.  We arrived at the chateau a little after 4 p.m.  It is located up on a hill with magnificent views of the valley.  This was by far the nicest place we would stay on our trip.  The chateau had been lovingly restored over a three-year time period with original tile floors, antique furnishings, etc.  Outside they had a huge vegetable garden on one side and an even bigger flower garden and fishpond on the other side.  The chateau and the owner, Stephen, were simply amazing and I would highly recommend this place to anyone traveling in this region.

After arriving at the chateau, we got cleaned up and had a nap before going down to the hearth room at around 7:30 to join the other guests for wine before dinner.  There were two other English couples from the UK and another couple from Amsterdam.  Two of the couples had stayed at the chateau many, many times before.  We enjoying talking with all of them before, during, and after dinner.  Several of them were into cycling as well.

By the time we got to bed it was nearly midnight.  Needless to say, we slept very well.  The next morning we went down to the dining room and had a fabulous breakfast and some more good conversation with the two English couples.  At around 10:30 we finally set off for our final destination of the ride, Annecy. 

St. Pierre d’Albigny to Annecy

This was the longest riding day of our trip at approximately 44 miles with about 2300 feet of climbing.  This was another beautiful day of riding.  The scenery was amazing.  Although there was not as much steep climbing, we had a pretty strong head wind most of the way to Annecy.  We stopped in Albertville at a boulangerie and bought a couple pastries, which we ate on the spot, and we bought a couple cookies to take with us.  Later we found a nice park along the river in Ugine and stopped and ate our cookies. 

We arrived in Annecy around 4:30 p.m. and fought our way through the crowd of tourists to find our hotel.  When we checked in they said they had our reservation for one night.  However, we were supposed to have a reservation for three nights.  Needless to say, someone screwed up.  They ended up upgrading us for the first night to a room overlooking the lake and they said they would get it straightened out for us.

After we got into our room, we got cleaned up and we were of course starving.  Most restaurants don’t open until 7 p.m., but I managed to find a pizzeria about a mile away from our hotel that opened at 5:45.  So off we went on a hike across town to get dinner.  When we arrived, we were the only customers there—the crazy Americans that eat at 5:30…

On our way back from dinner, we walked around the lake a little bit and then headed back to the hotel to crash into bed.  Eric had informed me that over the last four days I had ridden 140 miles and done almost 8000 ft. of climbing.  So I decided the next day we would have to do at least a 10-mile ride so I could get to 150 miles.    

The next morning after breakfast the hotel told us they would later be moving us to another room for the next two nights.  We went out and wandered around town for a while, did some shopping, and then came back and got our luggage moved to the new room.  Following that, we set off on our 10-mile ride around the lake (on the side of the lake we had not been to yet).  After returning, we went out and got some lunch and headed back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon, type up the last three days’ of blog and download lots and lots of photos.   

Our riding totals for the trip ended up being 151.9 miles with 8351 ft. of climbing for me and for Eric, 169.6 miles with 12,105 ft. of climbing.  All I can say is I had better come home lighter after all that riding… 

Annecy

We have been relaxing and enjoying ourselves the last few days.  We have wandered around town, window shopped, taken pictures and of course eaten a lot of really good food and pastries.  I’m sure by now I have more than likely gained back all of the weight I lost riding here. 

The highlight of our stay in Annecy was our paragliding experience today.  We arrived at 3 p.m. in Talloires at the paragliding school and were whisked up the mountain side to the take-off point for our approximately hour-long flight over the valley.  Neither one of us had ever been paragliding before so it was an amazing experience.  It was very peaceful floating above all the trees and mountains.  Eric got lucky as his instructor caught some really good thermals and they soared high into the mountains and actually went above the mountain tops.

Tomorrow is our last day in Annecy and we will head back to Geneva in the afternoon to overnight for our early morning flight back home on Saturday.