Thursday 30/11 (2/2)
By Isabelle:
Le van nous emmène une heure plus tard au ‘Asian Belgian Resort’ à Moalboal où on rencontre le patron, un compatriote. Il nous raconte sa vie aux Philippines. C’est assez touchant. Quel aventurier !
On découvre le resort de nuit, donc on n’a pas l’occasion de se rendre compte qu’il est lové au bord d’une admirable baie, à l’eau turquoise. L’ambiance est vraiment familiale.
Le resort est situé non loin du banc de sardines (20 minutes en bateau). 5 millions de sardines. Il y en a tellement que le banc fait de l’ombre aux récifs qui commencent à perdre leurs couleurs !
Tant le propriétaire du resort (Rudy, un ostendais) que Steve, qui s’occupe du centre de plongée sont des figures marquantes qui ont fait le choix de venir passer leur retraite et, volontairement ou pas, de recommencer leur vie aux Philippines. Ils sont tous les deux papas de charmants enfants de moins de 2 ans. Ils nous parlent un peu de la vie aux Philippines, le côté caché, qu’on ne découvre pas facilement en tant que touriste. Des sacrés personnages. Le Belge cherche même de l’or dans la région du sud…
La nuit n’est pas super bonne, on se trouve dans une chambre assez bruyante avec un lit trop court et trop étroit. Mais on change de chambre la nuit suivante et là, on goûte alors pleinement aux charmes de ce petit resort.
Une extraordinaire journée, entre les requins-baleines et le canyoning !
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By me:
We arrive at the Belgian Asian Resort, managed by a Belgian guy who tells me his life. Funny and interesting.
Our room is not great and will prove to be one of the worst ones of the trip. We sleep really bad. Bed is very small (in both directions) and the A/C is very noisy (and doesn’t cool off the room…). Moreover we can hear very loudly the sounds from upstairs…
Friday 01/12
By Ludivine:
This morning we woke up and ate breakfast, we ate mangos, bananas, pineapple, oranges, and apples that were all delicious! After that, we got ready to go diving! During the dive, we saw so many sardines, it was breathtaking. We also saw five turtles, a lionfish, a nudibranch and two scorpionfish. We had a lot of fun in the water and Florence and I even got to go to 24m, but we were only allowed 18m oops. After that we chilled at the hotel then ate lunch. Then we worked a bit and went kayaking. Kayaking was very fun and it was sunset so the water was beautiful. We showered off and chilled about more until dinner. We tried eating at the neighboring resort but the food didn’t look very appetizing so we finally decided to eat a our hotel’s restaurant. After a long day, we went to bed and fell asleep fast.
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The sardine run is really impressive. Sardines are dancing like in a ballet, their huge school designing different forms changing every second. It’s magic! During the same dive, we also see 5 turtles and one electric clam (something we’ve never seen before). Nice dive!
I ate nice grilled calamari, nicely stuffed with tomatoes and onions.
Saturday 02/12
By Florence:
This morning we woke up and we had breakfast. We then went and got ready to go diving with sardines. We took all the material and went in the boat. We stayed on the boat for about 30-45 minutes and then mom, dad, and Ludivine went diving while Jules and I stayed in the boat. Jules and I were jumping and everything. We stayed there about an hour and then we went to another spot for the sardines. The sardines were beautiful. It was the same as the ones yesterday but it was still beautiful. I loved it. We came back and we went to eat lunch. We still ate at the resort. When we were done, we worked and then went to do some kayak. It was really fun. When we were done, we went to eat in a nearby restaurant and then we went to bed. It was a beautiful day. Bye.
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By me:
We do 2 dives today: the first one with Ludivine, who loses her weight belt during the dive, and the second one all together, Jules staying mainly with Steve since his maximum depth is 12m while the girls can go to 18m.
The first one is on Pescadores; it’s a nice wall dive.
The second one is on the same spot as yesterday, to see again the sardine run. It’s great to dive right into the school of sardines and watch them disperse and then assemble again.
We come back around 1:30pm, a bit burnt by the sun…
Lunch at the hotel.
Quick session of homeschooling before a bit of kayaking for Isabelle and Jules (Florence comes back very quickly).
We go and eat at another place, on the White Beach, a 10’ walk. Very fat pork but relax atmosphere with locals singing and playing guitar.