Electric clams!

We are currently in Moalboal, a small village on the west side of Cebu Island. The beach is a hot spot for diving and we decided to dedicate a few days to this.

Went for two dives yesterday and two dives today, which means we are very hungry and very tired when we are done!

We have seen some pretty cool stuff so far: some turtles (one swimming right above us!), some colourful corals - blue and red, some pretty purple fish and one ugly grey frogfish that looked particularly grumpy.

On our last dive today we went about 19mt deep and our divemaster stopped in front of a cave. The cave was very dark and only small enough for 2divers so we took turn going in - while the other one was hanging around on the reef boulder looking at pretty fish!

The divemaster pointed at some red clams: when the flashlight shone on the clams you can see some kind of "electric current" going through the clam itself! It was weird and wonderful!

We have another dive tomorrow so looking forward to seeing some more underwater life!

Dive sites in Moalboal

Our gear ready

Pescador Island in the background

Koh Phi Phi Don

It's been a few busy days in Koh Phi Phi - a small group of islands in the Andaman sea.

Weather was a bit hit and miss but when the sun came out, the islands just look so beautiful!

First stop was the View point: you walk up a steep hill to see both the bays of the island. It was a bit hard (especially in 30+ degrees heat) but well worth it.


Viewpoint

Another day was occupied by diving: we went to 2 different sites (near the small uninhabited island of Koh Phi Phi Leh)... The visibility was not the best because of the weather but we still saw some catfish, clowfish, cuttlefish and very pretty seastars (one called the crown of thorns!).

We also stopped for lunch in a beautiful stop: in front of Maya bay, where "The Beach" was partly filmed.


Maya Bay - The Beach

All dived out!

Yesterday was out last full on day on the island and the sunniest. We set out for a walk to another beach called "Long Beach". It is a 30mins trek, well signposted but it can get sometimes a bit wild!






We stopped in a small cove for a dip while we were walking around. I love the limestone cliffs coming right out of the sea and the colours!


While walking...

Long beach

I have been really enjoying Phi Phi, the Andaman sea is really beautiful even on the Thai side :-)

Last night was rounded off with a Thai massage (the lady walked all over my legs but it feels so good afterwards), a manicure, a pedicure, seafood dinners and beers and we're on a boat+bus to Bangkok tonight. Cannot wait to get to one of the craziest cities on earth!



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Diving in the Perhentians

We came to these islands (one of my favourite places in the world!) to do some diving as we knew it was going to be really good. 

I had dived here before but this time it was even more enjoyable: first, we did a quick refresher course as we both had not dived for years - for Ben it was 15 years this month, to be precise!

We were quite lucky as it was the end of the season so we had a dive master all to ourselves and had a lot more time/attention than usual: we went for 4 dives altogether and saw a lot of different types of fish, the first and the second dives were on sandy patches with reefs - we saw loads of clown fish (Nemos!) and a blue-spotted stingray. The third one was called "Temple of the Sea" as it was a pinnacle, we swam around it and saw some nudibranches (little sea worms), some very colourful purple angel fish, a big puffer fish and a poisonous stone fish... Guess what? It looked like a stone!

My favourite dive was the last one: in 2012, three police boats were sank by the local authority to create an artificial reef - that is now known as the 'Polis Wreck' dive site. We were able to swim between the boats, with massive schools of barracuda all around us: it really felt like being in a Nat Geo documentary, when they were circling around us in huge numbers. There was a big grouper fish that lives inside the top of the boat, lots of catfish hiding underneath the wreck and a lionfish was seen next to them. We also saw some jenkins stingray sleeping and covered in sand with only the eyes and the tail sticking out. 

The three boats are connected by a rope you can walk on... I took my fins off and "walked the line", it is a lot harder than you think, 18mts deep and with all the equipment on!!

View from Long Beach

Let's go diving!

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