Boracay Island - Food and Scuba

If anything can be said of the people of the Philippines, I think the fact that they smile all the time would be on the top of the list. It is so wonderful - Thailand calls itself the land of smiles, but certainly the Filipinos give them a big run for the money. And the vendors on the beach road here in Boracay do not bother tourists constantly as we have experienced in other countries. When we say "No, thank you", that ends the exchange. Certainly we see them again later and they ask again if we want one of their watches, the pearls, the sunglasses, the island hopping experience, snorkelling or even renting ATV's but again, a polite no and a smile is all that is needed.

Boracay is really quite wonderful. The beach area could be in terrible shape - there is a long long area of restaurants, bars, hotels, massage shops, dive shops and anything else you might think of, but they are all back lining a little sand beach path, facing a line of palms. Beyond the palms, the beach itself, with its white sand is pristine. There are no long lines of beach beds as you find in Europe, no palapas as in Mexico, just the beach and a few people frolicking in the water - it's surprising that there aren't more of them doing that, because the water is wonderful - crystal clear, turquoise blue and backed by a line of boats that also do not (and are not allowed to ) encroach on the swimming areas. They are kept in line by police I think, and if they come to close they are sent back in.

My trips for snorkelling and scuba were wonderful. The DiveGurus dive staff were wonderful and always concerned with safety. The day I went snorkelling I went with a Dutch couple who were scuba diving - along with them and three of the dive staff we had a good time, and I even snorkelled with the divers into a little cave where there were bats although I was a little too nervous to see any.

Then it was they who convinced me that I should try diving for real. So that afternoon, after we got back and I had a chance to chat with Geordie I agreed to go out. Turned out that the Dutch couple were to be our neighbours at the Hotel Isla Boracay where we moved and we spent some good times with them and another couple from Germany.

The first night we were at the hotel they invited us to dinner. We went first to a fish market where we bought 5 kilos (yes 5 kilos) of shrimp and then two small lapu-lapu (a white fish) which we then brought to a restaurant where they prepared the food for us. We had the fish with a tangy mango sauce and the shrimp with half in garlic butter and the other half in some sauce in a coconut sauce I think. Here's a picture - note the platter of shrimps is only one half of our order. You can tell Geordie liked them by the second picture. He's licking his fingers, don't worry.

(At the table on Geordie's side are Oliver and Simone from Germany, and on the other side. Inge and Martin from Holland.)






Of course you really need to see picture of my diving experience. There are photos of me suiting up, and then underwater. I've got other suiting up pictures on my camera but for now I'm using the photos that Martin (our Dutch friend) took with his underwater camera.











And of course for Nemo fans, here are pictures of the beautiful Clown Anemone Fish which is so popular thanks to the movie "Finding Nemo".




And one more of me. Just because.