Scubaing in Angol's Point

Today we woke up and it was raining. It is typhoon season here so it rains a lot. Because of this, it is the low-season so it is not that crowded (a plus), and things are consequently cheaper. First we had the buffet breakfast included with our hotel. It was surprisingly good with a mix of Filipino choices (corn beef, beef steak, pancit) and American choices like pancakes, French toast, and bacon. They also had pan de sal which is one of my favorites and super fresh mango!

It was raining but we went ahead and went with our plan to go scuba diving today. None of us are scuba certified so we did one of the PADI Discover Scuba dives which limits dives to 40 feet and must be escorted by dive masters. So our group included me, Will, my dad, my brother, Winnie, Andrew, and my cousin Angie, as well as 3 instructors. First we started by taking a short class where we learned about the equipment. Luckily, it stopped raining during our class! Then we went over to Bulabog beach where we practiced using the equipment in very shallow water. We practiced breathing through the regulator, as well as other emergency skills we might need. The water was only up to our waists in this area but underwater there were already a bunch of little fish and HUGE starfish. The starfish were about the size of a paper plate and looked so spiky but were hard and smooth to the touch. It was really neat!!

After practicing some skills, we went out to deeper water. We saw tons of cool coral and colorful fish. We saw some weird spiky thing with tons of antennae but I'm not sure what it was, maybe a relative of a lobster. We also saw some weird thing, I think it was a plant, that when you moved by it, it shrunk into itself. It was really cool. We even got to feed the fish. The only scary part was when my air regulator got snatched away from me. When you scuba, you're supposed to swim with your arms close to your body so you don't accidentally snag someone's equipment. However, Will was having such a great time he was moving his arms all crazy and somehow knocked my air regulator out of my mouth. This was scary to me because I stink at holding my breath. Luckily, I found it and replaced it quickly without a problem, and there was a guide nearby in case of emergency.  We paid an extra whopping 200 pesos (about $5) to have someone take our pictures for us so that's where all of these pictures came from.

After scubaing, we ate lunch at a barbecue place. Not like BBQ sauce barbecue, but basically that means anything grilled. Will had surf and turf and I had a seafood feast of grilled fish, shrimp, and squid. Yummy!




Afterwards, we just hung out at the beach. We laid out, we played in the water and relaxed. The water is warm, but since it's cloudy, it's not HOT HOT which actually works out well for us since Will and I aren't big lay-outers because we get too hot. For dinner, we had pizza with my brother and the whole group split up. Pizza sounds weird I'm sure but Will had ODed on Filipino food and my stomach was having issues and I was craving something dry. We also ate way too much at lunch and so I was feeling nauseas and just wanted dry bread. After dinner we went to an outdoor lounge area where the was a band playing and had drinks. Filipinos listen to American music so it was fun listening to all the top 40 songs. We also saw a bunch of lady boys doing some kind of fire dancing. I felt like we were at a rave. Then we called it a night and went to bed!

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