Tuesday, March 25, 2008




Next time I'll know to save! I just wrote this nice big blog and lost it cause I went to another page without saving first. So this one will be shorter cause dinner's calling.

Good things to know about the Philippines: there are bakeries everywhere that sell different kinds of buns for 1 pesos (2.5cents). And you can buy a mickey of rum for 65cents! That beats the record from Thailand's whiskey at 2$. Although, transport and accommodation is generally more expensive than the rest of South East Asia. Like that hut in the picture with Jay was 15$ - but that's the most expensive we've paid yet. We're paying 9.50$ tonight - and we get TV with HBO and CNN...ooh la la.

As we said before, the people here are so friendly and helpful. I can't help but smile and get cheered up when I walk down the streets of small towns and have everyone say Hi..smiling and giggling.

The next picture here is on the catamaran that took us out to swim with whale sharks. It was surely one of the best activities we've ever done. We saw 7 of them. These beasts are a rare breed. They are only found in a few spots in the world and most divers would rave to see one if they had a chance. The first one you see is so exhilarating. You look below and see this massive fish swimming so close you can touch it and slow enough that you can just follow it. The ones we saw were between 9 and 11 meters long!! We saw their enormous mouths open widely in front of us...but we weren't fearing cause we knew that they are filter feeders that don't prey.

Can't wait to go check out more sea creatures in a few days....

4 comments:

LarryR said...

The sea was angry that day,when you suddenly were faced with that huge open mouthed maw...Yoiks,what a thrill, and to come out of it, with all your extremities intact..It must be great to have everyone you meet in these little villages,all saying " hi" (of course,it's possible that 'hi' in Philipino means."the heck with you")As for your accomodations,sounds pretty inexpensive to me.You should probably splurge, and go for the deluxe suite at $11.99 !!

susan said...

Wow!I dont think I would like to swim in a sea with open mouth whale sharks! nope! not for me ,, Be careful pleasessss!!
Like Larry said, we wonder what Hi means in Philipino !! ha ha ! anyways, as long as they are smiling at you 2 , life is good!
love to see the pictures, please send more !!
Susan xxx

Christine said...

Hi guys, I am trying to follow the progress of your trip and visualize your experiences by looking at Webshots of places you"ve been to and guess what? I saw divers with the whale sharks and it is incredible! Did you try shark steaks yet?
Please continue to let us know whee you go and by the way Coron is beautiful...

Daniel said...

Jay (and RacheL?) hope you are trying new foods-I can only imagine that they have a bit of seafood there you'll never get to try again! Did you guys take pics of these "so called whale sharks"? It's one thing to 'claim' you swam with them, but another thing entirely to "proove" that you swam with them! What other beasts will you encounter on your endeavors?