Articles from this Category
22 June 2013
I woke to the sound of falling rain. It was bucketing down. It was also the day of the Dili Marathon and our boat trip to Atauro, a nearby island that’s supposed to be great for snorkelling and diving. Incidentally, it is largely Protestant (like Indonesian Christians) rather than Catholics like East Timorese. I decided […]
21 June 2013
Exploring Dili As I hadn’t really explored Dili yet, I started in the morning with a walk to the nearby sights. First up was the Cathedral officially opened by Pope John Paul. In Indonesian, “Pope” appears to be “Sri Paus” which in Malay kinda suggests a beautiful whale? Next up was the Presidential Palace, donated […]
20 June 2013
Backside of Jesus I had heard that diving in this new country was good because during the Indonesian occupation, people didn’t have access to explosives so they couldn’t fish with dynamite. So much of the coral is unspoilt. So I wasn’t disappointed with the coral on my first (and only) dive in Dili at the […]
20 June 2013
Today, I dived the Backside of Jesus (that’s the name of the divesite behind Cristo Rei). The coral was good supposedly due to restrictions on explosives during the Indonesian occupation, meaning that people couldn’t fish with dynamite. But there wasn’t much fish of interest. You can read about my dive here. I’ve been too spoilt […]
19 June 2013
Flying to Dili I had set the alarm for just before 0600 and I managed to down a muesli and coffee before the shuttle picked me up for the airport. I got there before check-in had opened and I waited for a while. The check-in process was slow as some people had lots of luggage. […]
2 March 2013
Above: Mt Mayon from Legazpi. Today I leave Philippines after more than two weeks. Because the hotel breakfast was stodgy and unappealing, I went to the supermarket and bought some mini-muffins, mangoes and milk. It was a much better choice. After lunch, I flew to Manila with a self-connect to Hong Kong where I met […]
1 March 2013
Above: Mt Mayon from the Embarcadero waterfront. Following the successful sightings of the whaleshark, I was happy to leave Donsol. After a wash, I took a tricycle, van and another tricycle to the Ellis Ecotel in Legaspi for my last night in the Philippines. It was intended to be a change in scenery, located next to […]
1 March 2013
I had been of two minds as to whether to do the whale-sharks for a third time in Donsol today. On one hand, chances of a sighting are pretty slim. But on the other hand, I do have the time and it isn’t very much money for something that I could possibly never do again. […]
28 February 2013
Above: Mt Mayon faintly seen from the sea in the early morning before the clouds gather. Today I had my second attempt at Donsol for the whale-sharks. Our group comprised of John and Yvon from Netherlands, plus David and Jane from Singapore. We found a French man to make up the maximum party of six. […]
27 February 2013
Above: Manta on a poster. That’s the closest we got to any manta. I did a day’s diving with Bicol Dive Centre at Donsol, hoping to see mantas at Manta Bowl. Three Dives The dives were led by local dive masters who have better knowledge of the area. We did three dives as follows: One […]