Moalboal was fantastic. We spent an unexpected week relaxing and diving. We
had finally gotten away from urban life and were able to take a week
to slowdown and enjoy doing nothing at all. We put in eight dives
each and in the process built our underwater confidence. Wanting
to build on this theme of laidback diving interspersed with being
outdoors, we started plotting our next move. After discussing our
options with the guys at the dive center and doing a bit of research
on our own, we settled on going to the small town of Dauin to
continue our urban escape, get underwater and relax.
Before heading over to Dauin, we had talked to the guys at Cebu Dive Center about who we should be diving with. They recommended this place called Bongo Bongo Divers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool in the world as scuba diving as reputation plays a phenomenal part for us in choosing who to dive with. After all, diving is both expensive and dangerous and we want to not only get our money's worth but also make sure that we're safe doing so.
We had liaised with the dive manager at Bongo Bongo, a young, easy going Danish man by the name of Magnus. Once we arrived, we asked him if he could help us find a place to stay for the evening (we've become skeptical of Agoda in the Philippines as many hotels and lodgings don't bother to use it meaning that there are more interesting properties to look for once we get in the town we're staying in). Magnus drove us around to a couple of different places and, after spending an hour looking, we decided to just stay at Bongo Bongo.
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| The front of Bongo Bongo Dive Resort |
As it would turn out, they've set themselves up not only as a dive center but also as a resort of sorts. They have nine beds in different types of rooms all of which are in bamboo huts. We were able to get a small room with a very comfortable mattress with an overhead fan for only 12 EUR/14 USD a night. The only drawback was that the bathroom was shared but seeing as there weren't too many guests at the resort, this wasn't really an inconvenience.
Perhaps what impressed us the most though, was the very progressive approach on hospitality that Bongo Bongo was offering. While the room was small and basic, the focus was on communal living space and spending time in various parts of the complex relaxing. There was no food or room service available but instead there was a communal outdoor kitchen complete with free tea, coffee and water for guests to use. In the middle of the courtyard surround the main building and the bamboo huts was a free standing pavilion equipped with hammocks, bean bags, and acoustic guitar and a cajon (a type of hand drum).
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| The hammock pavilion at Bongo Bong Dive Center |
Inside the main building, there was a large patio with tables and chairs. Moving inside, there was a beanbag room next to a TV and, in the corner, was a fridge with mineral water, soft drinks, and beer. Using the honor system, guests could take whatever they wanted from it and then tally their tab on a sheet given to each guest.
Outside of the main building and adjacent to the diving equipment room was a ping pong table for guests to use. To top it off, the beach is only one minute away by foot from the front gate of the resort.
Overall, Bongo Bongo was setup to give its guests a sort of all-inclusive low budget self-serve experience. We're were more than pleased with this arrangement and we wound up staying there for our entire stay in Dauin.
The diving itself was top-notch. The Philippines is a diver's gold mine, which is probably to be expected as the country has over 7,000 islands, all in tropical waters. The main draw to Dauin/Dumaguete as far as scuba and snorkeling goes is Apo island.
This marine sanctuary is renowned for its pristine waters and huge array of aquatic life. After spending a day doing shore dives next to the resort, we booked a trip out to Apo. The island itself is a 45-minute boat ride away from the mainland and as such, we would leave in the morning, do three dives, have lunch in the middle and then head back to the mainland in the afternoon.
The diving certainly lived up to its reputation. We saws tons of different types of fish, vibrantly-colored corals and other strange aquatic life we haven't seen before (think neon-striped sea slugs). On one dive, we went through an area with tiny thermal vents (the Philippines are on the Pacific ring of fire) with tiny streams of bubbles coming up out of the ground. We enjoyed the trip so much that we wound up booking another one two days later to go back and see other dive sites around the island.
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| Apo Island from the dive boat |
On that trip, we were treated to even more spectacular wild life, seeing schools of jack fish, octopii (the "wunderpus" variety), sea snakes, giant green turtles, schools of clown fish (aka nemos), lion fish, and more. At one point we were followed by a cleaner fish that resembles a shark. This species usually swims under sea turtles and cleans them, but this one seemed to be lost and wanted to clean us instead. In any case, we had a great time and definitely got our money's worth out of the trip.
In between diving days, we spent a lot of time doing nothing. I caught up on some reading I had been wanting to do and was able to write a little bit. Dauin itself is a very small rural community with a population of approximately 25,000 people. Given this remoteness, there wasn't too much there in the way of tourists save for a few mid-to-high end beach resorts.
But for us, this was more of a selling point than a hindrance as we felt we were getting a more authentic experience than in the other towns we had been in. At no point during our stay did we get approached to buy something or asked if we needed a ride somewhere. The locals were very friendly, always saying hello when we passed by.
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| A small sample of the corals we saw underwater. If you look closely, you'll see the clown fish |
The only two real drawbacks we saw were 1) there wasn't a cash machine in town and b) given that it was rural, we were practically living on a farm. For the first point, it simply meant that we had to go into Dumaguete whenever we'd need cash. This wasn't too much of an issue as we simply needed to go the main road and hop on either a bus or a jeepney for the 30-minute journey.
For the second point though, we got to see a side of the Philippines that we hadn't yet had the pleasure of experiencing. Roosters seem to be the most popular animal in the country with many households keeping multiple birds on their front lawn. Growing up in suburbia, the common idea is that roosters crows once at sunrise as some sort of farmland alarm clock. If that's your idea of a rooster's M.O., I've got news for you; it's wrong.
Roosters are, for a lack of a better word, stupid. They crow at any point during the day (although much less so when the sun is up) and once one gets going, all the others in earshot will have a crack at it too. And it's not a one off thing, where one will let out it's cock-a-doodle-doo and then be done with it. Oh no, it's this broken record of question and response. Seeing as I was awoken many times during the night to this gallinaceous symphony, I had plenty of time to decipher the conversation. Here's what I think they're saying:
- Rooster 1: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! I'm a rooster! Any other roosters out there?
- Rooster 2: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! I'm a rooster too! How you doing?!
- Rooster 1: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! I'm a rooster too! How you doing?!
- Rooster 2: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! I'm a rooster too! How you doing?!
- Rooster 1: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! I'm a rooster too! How you doing?!
- Rooster 3: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey Rooster bretheren! I'm a Rooster too! How are you?!?!
- Rooster 1+2: (Cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! We're roosters too! How you doing?!
- Rooster 3: (cock-a-doodle-doo!) Hey! I'm a rooster too! How you doing?!
And on and on it goes, except it wasn't with three roosters, more like twenty. And this usually happened at least four times each night for thirty minutes a pop.
In between that, we were treated to a chorus of madly barking dogs. One night, having been awoken for the third time in two hours, I went for a walk with my flashlight in hand. When I heard a group of dogs barking, I shined my light on them. What did it reveal? Nothing other than a canine orgy in full swing.
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| The turtle cleaning fish that followed us, looking for something to clean. Nathalie is floating in the background |
We asked the guys at the resort what that was about and it turns out we had arrived during one of three times during the year when all of the bitches were in heat. Of course this lead to a lot of anguish for the male dogs not getting any play, and as every little thing is life and death for canines, there was a lot of frustrated barking going on.
All of this farm fun was a bit frustrating at first, but after a few days, we adapted to our new environment (one morning, we were awoken by a goat!) and, having adapted our sleeping style accordingly, we started going to bed much earlier than we normally do. Equally, I would be up around six in the morning and then head over to kitchen, pour myself a coffee, then relax in a hammock, reading the news, a book and just enjoying myself.
After spending a lazy week in Dauin, we finally started moving onward to our next destination. It was a lot of fun just chilling out, doing nothing but diving, eating, sleeping, studying the farm animals and playing ping pong. Unfortunately, my genetics caught up to me at the end and all of the animal dandruff upset my paternally inherited allergies signaling it was time to go. Still, I had a fabulous time and so far, it's been one of the main highlights of not only my stay in the Philippines but the trip in general. We left recharged, if weirdly rested, ready to start moving again, which turned out to be good, considering how the next five days would play out.
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