April 11,

We had breakfast at the lodge of pancakes with butter & syrup; bananas; and juice. This cost 190 PHP each ($3.33). As we were waiting for our food, we played a basketball hoop game with Lorenzo again, like yesterday. Lorenzo is the 7 year old son of the owners. We noticed he is home all day… not in school?? Anyway the pancakes were good.

We went walking on beach and back through town, checking out diving shops for tomorrow. We had a light lunch of crackers with PB and Nutella. I blogged and Jeff complied stats for our next blog.

We went back out for supper to Thery’s Burgers, Fries & Shakes. The place had very original ingredients for hamburger toppings, great fries and special sauce. I had artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and caramelized onions on mine, Jeff had caramelized onions, red pepper, and pickle relish. Finished we went back to our room and watched some YouTube videos.

     April 12,

Awoke by 0630 to go diving!!! Got ready, snacking on crackers and PB before we left. We hailed a tricycle to get us to the 200 Bar Dive Shop. We were introduced to our dive master guide, Kim, and geared up. There were eight of us: Jeff and I, a young French couple, a man from Israel, and a Polish born-transplanted to NY- lady; and a couple of young ladies getting their open water certifications. The French couple dove with us and Kim. The Polish/NY lady and Israeli guy went with another guide. We did three dives.

   The first dive, at Twin Rocks, our guide pointed out at least three Blue-spotted Stingrays; showed us Electric clams that glow with his flashlight; and highlighted two dancing Multibar Pipefish in a hole of some coral reef. I found a brilliant blue with yellow edges Nudibranch. We also saw a bunch of the gold, blue and white soft coral, finding out they are called Golden Sea Squirt or Golden Ascidian. We also saw the leggy Blue Sea Starfish all around. Our guide had a Go Pro and took pics of the dive, but he also has linked the pictures with an App and he shared them with us!!! It was a 51 minute dive and glorious visibility with the sun streaking through the water when the clouds allowed. Back in the boat we had a snack of cookies and tea as we were moved to the next site.

   The second dive was at Pangulaban. This was the Turtle Dive! I think we saw at least six turtles, and maybe two kinds- the Green and the Hawksbill. Each time you see a turtle under water it is incredible. We even saw a couple swimming or gliding. Amazing how well they swim! Kim pointed out two teeny tiny Orangutan Crabs nestled in some type of anemone. There was a school of small yellow fish about us at one point. We also saw Trumpet or Cornet-fish; Filefish; Triggerfish; a big Bat-fish; a Lionfish; and Regal Angelfish. This dive was 57 minutes and better than the first one! We had a pre-ordered lunch as the boat repositioned.

   The last and third dive was our best one! It was at the site South Miniloc. The great thing about his dive was the huge hard coral shaped like cabbage heads. Spectacular! It was like a gigantic “cabbage garden.” Each Cabbage Formation was like 6 -12 feet across. I found a Blue-spotted Moray Eel. The other group joined us. Kim took all our pictures with it. Then Kim found a couple of brilliant blue Ribbon Eels – they are so small compared to the Moray Eel. He also pointed out a brown Ribbon Eel. It’s the female with the brilliant blue being the male. We saw a small school of Barracudas; a Spade-fish; a Black-eyed Thick Lip: and Sweet Lips. This dive was 60 minutes. I love diving!

We loaded back up on the boat and headed back to El Nido. The dives cost us 4700 PHP ($82.45) each. Jeff tipped our guide 500 PHP, and 500 PHP to the tip jar at the shop. We caught a trike back to our place – both trikes were 300 PHP. So total 10,700 PHP ($187.71) for the fantastic venture today.

Unfortunately, I got nauseated on the way back to our place. I took medicine and laid down some. We went to the beach to see another glorious sunset, then back at our lodge supper. Jeff had ordered a pepperoni pizza. I was able to eat some and crackers. Jeff felt fine, but tired. We went to bed early.

     April 13,

I awoke feeling some better, but now Jeff was nauseated and queasy. We think our lunches from the dive yesterday are the culprit. We had hot chocolate and crackers for breakfast. I felt better by lunch and had a chicken ramen-type rice noodles and more crackers. Jeff had more hot chocolate and a few crackers.

So the day was just laying around. Our laundry was returned. Tomorrow we leave. Plan on light supper and talking with my mother later, I doubt we will be up to talking with our church on Zoom. Closing out for today.