Philippines
Touchdown
By Thomas on October 1, 2010 | No Comments »
While enjoying pina coladas at our dive resort in Malapascua, we suddenly noticed people running to the beach and pointing excitedly out into the water. Cocktail in hand, we ran over to join the group on the beach just in time to witness two funnel clouds forming off in the distance over the ocean.
Within minutes, the right cloud had touched down and formed a water spout. Everyone was oohing and ahhing while snapping pictures of this spectacle. It definitely pays to come to the Philippines during the typhoon season. Sorry for the photo quality, but it was dark, I just had my snorkeling camera, and I was on my second pina colada. 
Life among the Palms
By Thomas on September 30, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Tony spent the whole day today testing out this hammock. Will our work never end?! Seriously, I don’t know if he can keep up this grueling pace.
Our First Manta!!!
By Tony on September 27, 2010 | No Comments »
Embedded video similar to what we saw
We came to Malapascua to see the thresher sharks, but this island has gifted us with one spectacular animal after another from giant seahorses to schools of squid to mandarin fish to white-tip sharks. We are definitely getting our money’s worth here. But this afternoon, the gift of all gifts was a mind-blowing 5+ meter (16+ foot) manta which came hovering in over us like a massive underwater UFO at one of Monad Shoal’s cleaning stations.
As if that weren’t enough of a show, a thresher shark came swimming in behind us as we were manta spotting. An afternoon thresher is a rare sight at Monad Shoal. You’ve got to love those lucky days. » Continue reading this post »
My Fowl Mood
By Tony on September 26, 2010 | 9 Comments »
Never a full night’s beauty sleep in rural parts of the Philippines. The constant cock-a-doodle-dos of a thousand roosters in training make sound sleep an impossibility. Cockfighting is to the Philippines what vodka is to Russia – the ultimate pass time.
Filipino men prance through the streets with their beloved fighting-cocks in arm taking them into restaurants or stores or wherever they want “to be seen.” Like Paris Hilton’s toy chihuahua, a colorful fighting-cock has become the ultimate living accessory, a must-have accoutrement for the fashion-conscious rural Filipino man. You can learn to breed them on Cock-Fighting TV. Or, if you are lazy but want to keep up with your pals, you can just order the Cock-in-a-Box starter kit. (No, I’m not making this up.)
Even if you don’t have a problem with people sewing razor-blades onto their pet chickens so that they can face off in gladiatorial battles to the death, you will have a problem with your hotel owner » Continue reading this post »
Thresher Sharks
By Thomas on September 24, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Finally we’ve come to Malapascua. This tiny island in the northern Visayas is said to be the only place in the world where divers can predictably see thresher sharks, a predator named for its long thresher-like tail. This also makes Malapascua THE place for recreational divers to see a deep-sea shark species close up at a comfortable 20-meter depth. Needless to say, Tony was as ecstatic as I was anxious about the thought of being in such close proximity to real sharks.
Embedded video similar to what we saw
Although thresher sharks are regularly sighted at Monad Shoal, a giant underwater plateau, there is no guarantee you will see these shy animals on your first dive. Our first time down, we ended up sitting near the edge of the rather featureless plateau staring out at an empty cleaning station. (A cleaning station is a spot on the shoal where schools of cleaner wrasse swarm around larger pelagics like sharks and mantas picking the parasites off them.) We were a bit hesitant to shell out more money to stare at nothing, but I’m glad we did.
Our second dive was much more successful. Just moments after hitting the 21 meter mark, a grey form slithering by in the distance made it clear that we were being watched. Suddenly, » Continue reading this post »
