Philippines back to Singapore 2016

Blog 3

Life with Kris is never boring!

Having had my usual day of rest, during which I tidied up the apartment,

redesigned the furniture lay out, folded all the clothes I could find,

rearranged the cupboards and went for a long walk to orient myself during which I bought some basics like a dustpan and brush, an incredibly sharp knife and a new bathroom mat, (you know you are not on holiday when your shopping list becomes one of practical things instead of frivolous indulgences!!)

When Romana and Kris finished work we all walked down to a great restaurant just on the main street.

Although it was quiet when we arrived,

it soon filled up as every evening they had live music of blasting proportions!!

The music was great, the food, once I had sent it back twice explaining that ham was meat, as was chicken and I needed neither in my food, was filling and the beer was cheep.

The entire meal for the three of us worked out at £12 and we ate and drank well!

We played a game of pool in the club across the road as I admired the paint work around the walls and watched Cinderella on the huge TV in the corner complete with subtitles, before wandering back along the ever busy road with its constant melody of vehicle horns to our quiet turn off that lead to the house.

The mattress I had carried all the way from Singapore was amazingly comfortable and the breeze that softly blew through the apartment via the corner windows cooled the room down to a comfortable 30 degrees allowing sleep to come almost instantly.

Which was just as well as by 5am two hundred or more cockerels greeted the dawn in a battle of voices that I defy anyone to sleep through!

For the next week our daily activities fell into a comfortable pattern.

We would wake, and meet up with the other two members of Scotty's staff in the green courtyard below,

..... before walking to the corner to pick up the days lunch.

Transport to the Dive centre was via one of the many jipnees that passed at two minute intervals, calling their destination and ushering people aboard at breakneck speed.

At the entrance to the Shangrila, security guards would check the contents of our bags and all personnel, whether guests or staff were given a quick pat down to ensure NOTHING untoward ever entered the grounds!

With security check One completed, we would then walk to the entrance of the maze of passage ways that lay buried beneath the main hotel, away from the eyes of the paying guests.

Here we had security check Two as we entered and security check Three as we exited on the far side.

I soon learnt not to retie the top of my bag between the checks and by day three I was actually holding it open to assist their search!

Scotty's is an independent company that works along side the Shangrila but unlike the Aldiana in Cyprus, Dive Staff and guests do not get to enjoy the hotel facilities.

Saying that the setting is stunning, they have unlimited drinking water from a water dispenser,

a shop,

showers,

sitting areas and a well stocked fridge full of beer!

Having met Scott and Peter the manager, plus a few of the other staff and Dive Masters, it was decided that the cheapest way for me to dive was to do an actual speciality course.

This would allow me time to hang out with everyone plus allow Kris to train me until he felt I had reached the standard needed to pass the course – most people pass with three dives but we were sure it would take me at least FIVE to master the skills (lol)

A trip to see the Whale Sharks up in Oslob was also arranged (when the next paying guest could be found the share the costs) and until then I was to make myself at home and enjoy the sun.

I settled each morning under the shade of a tree that overlooked the sea to chant and then perform my Tai Chi.

I read the books Kris gave me, re read the Nitrox book and then sat in on a Nitrox course Kris was teaching to two American divers.

That afternoon I tagged onto their dive where we explored the most amazing cave 30m down the drop off wall that surrounds Cebu.

The top of the entrance to the cave lies at 26m but once inside it opens into a huge cavern that reached into the distance.

Two bends and a few up and overs later, the entrance to the cave disappears leaving you in total darkness save for the beams of light radiating from the dive torches.

Unfortunately, the American lady with our group discovered a mild claustrophobia once she entered the cave and when the light threatened to disappear this phobia grew exponentially until it became clear she couldn't continue.

The rest of the dive was spent exploring the drop off wall of beautifully corals with tiny and not so tiny fish of amazing colours darting to and fro. I slowed my breathing into a near meditative state and came up with a ridiculous amount of air left!

The dive had been a good one, I was back in the water and ready to begin my Deep Dive Speciality.

I was also nice and warm!

I have never been good in cool waters (anything below 25 is cool!!), wearing ridiculously thick wet suits even when the water temperature has been 27 plus but since taking up Tai Chi I had learnt not to 'huddle' when the cold chill began, rather to Chi Gong my muscles with firm thumps, increasing the circulation and driving away the cold.

My thermal rash vest also helped and it was decided that …. just maybe …. I would try a dive with out a wet suit at all!!!!

This was going to be a first for me but as Kris said, we could put the suits on the boat, and if we/I did get cold we could just come up, put them on and then go back into the water to continue the dive.

That afternoon was spent with me doing maths! Tons of maths!!!

While in Vietnam Kris had banned me from watching a film at his place until after my dive homework was done, this time he baffled me with formulas, depth/time/consumption rates plus the added fun of Oxygen toxicity and Nitrogen Narcoses!!!!

By the end of the day I was ready for the beer he handed me, unfortunately by the fourth beer I had forgotten everything I had learnt and had to start again the next day!!!

One of the first things we needed to work out for my Deep Diving, was my Surface Air Consumption.

If we knew how much air I breathed on the surface then we could multiply it up for every 10m I would be going down.

We kitted up, minus the wet suits, and headed for the boat. The usual way to work out the air consumed is to see how much air a person consumes over a set time period.

Knowing how slowly I consumed air Kris decided it was easier if I watched the consumption of 10 bar then we would note the time.

I relaxed into the dive skimming my way along the drop off, checking my depth and air every few moments.

When the 10 bar had been used I signalled to Kris who checked the time.

Now the 'hard' work had been done, we finished the dive and I was able to enjoy the total freedom of diving without the restrains of a wet suit.

Admittedly by the end of the dive I was a wee bit chilly but we had proved I could do it and five minutes in the sun soon had me warm again for the ride back to the mainland.

Showers and lunch followed and then it was time for the classroom again.

If I consumed 10 bar of a 10 lt cylinder at 20m in 5minutes, that would mean I consumed 100 litres of compressed air at that depth. Surface pressure is 3 times less than 20m so at the surface I would consume 100lt divided by 3 = 33.3lt per 5 mins. Divide the 33.3lt by 5mins gives us 6.66liters of air per minute.

Rounded up gave me 6.7 litres of air consumed on the surface per minute.

I looked at my finding, rechecked the maths and proudly handed it to Kris.

“That's impossible,” he muttered, “You've made a mistake somewhere, let me see.”

He checked the maths, he checked again, then took the whole thing over to the bar where a few of the Tec divers were kitting up.

They ran through the formula together, they checked the maths, looked at me and nodded approvingly.

Apparently 6.7 is very,VERY good!

Professional diver good!!!!

Feeling incredibly smug I put my maths book away for the day and drank one too many beers!!

Apart from diving, drinking, eating and sleeping, you would think I did very little during my stay with Kris but that would be far from the truth.

When you have Diving, drinking, eating and sleeping, your life becomes amazingly full and rewarding!

About 5 days after my arrival Romana had begun an Open Water Course with a great guy called Mike who was an Airline Pilot having a week break between flights!

As a drinking partner he had turned out to be lethal, as a source of stories and facts he was brilliant.

One evening while he and Kris compared noted on depth and altitude and Romana and I shared one can of beer having learnt our lesson the night before, it was decided that we could abide by the rules of his Open Water Course yet still change it due to his lack of days left, ever so slightly, to make his final dive on his course the Whale Shark Dive!

Mike was ecstatic as he had been wondering how he could manage everything plus make his flight connection.

It was decided that as long as his diving went well the next day, the four of us would go together the day after to see the Whale Sharks, Kris as a Day off with me but allowing Romana to be paid for the day as a bonus!

Needless to say Mike turned out to be the most attentive student the next day, performing all the requested skills in anticipation being allowed to dive with the Whale Sharks.

We woke at a ridiculously early hour, even beating the cockerels to their pre dawn chorus, and headed to the hotel. There we crawled into a mini bus and as Romana and Mike dropped back off to sleep, Kris and I stared out of the windows as dawn turned into full day within ten minutes!

Having spent time in Cebu I was amazed at the diversity just outside the city limits. Dry yet productive fields, tiny pained houses, dusty villages, long stretches of road through trees and along cliff tops. My eyes drank it all in while the camera tried and failed to take photos of the rapidly moving and changing scenery.

At Oslob it was the most amazing organised chaos!

Hoards of tourists were herded through a seated area where they watched the compulsory video in three languages on what NOT to do in the water around the sharks.

Small waiting boats then ferried them out into the middle of a rope and bouy marked area where they promptly forgot or ignored everything they had watched on the video and hurled themselves into the water!

Boat boys fished people in and out of boats, took photos of them as huge shadows moved beneath their feet and then brought them back to shore ready to pick up the next batch!

We assembled our dive equipment on the beach just to one side of the thronging mass. With all checks done we waded into the water until we reached a depth for Mike to practice the last of his skills.

As he knelt on the sandy bottom with Kris and I taking photos and videos a huge shadow loomed out of the murky distance and headed right for us.

For a second or two I stopped breathing so overwhelmed was I by the sheer size of something so vast in the ocean with me, but as my inflated lungs lifted me off the sea bed I realised what I was doing and resumed normal breathing.

I looked at Kris who smiled broadly, we looked at Mike who luckily has his back to the Whale Shark and was happily completing his skill check.

Romana's face was a picture, she had seen the Whale Shark but needed Mike to concentrate and was struggling to keep her emotions in check!

At last all Mikes required dive work was done and confident that he could now perform the skills required to be an Open Water Diver we turned him around for his first look at these amazing creatures.

He too held his breath as a 30 foot monster glided effortlessly over his head. Kris pulled his foot bringing him back to the sea bed and reality. As amazing as these creatures were we still has to be aware of our skills as divers and holding ones breath is NOT a skill, in fact it is the biggest No No a diver can do!

After the initial sight, Mike, like myself settled into the dive marvelling as these huge gentle giants manoeuvred between the bodies treading water in life jackets above us.

Quite a few years ago it was noted by the local fishermen that juvenile Whale Sharks turned up in the area most days to feed. Encouraged by their sight the fishermen had started to feed them, this in turn had become a regular thing, which as most regular things do, had turned into a tourist attraction.

The whales were free to come and go as they pleased. They would arrive about 11am and leave about 1pm despite the fact that there was still plenty of shrimps being bucketed over the sides of the main feeding boat.

We swam, we took an array of photos, we simply sat on the sand and watched them until our air forced us to the surface.

There we boarded one of the larger boats and headed to an distant Island for our second dive of the day bubbling with conversation and excitement over what we had just witnessed along the way!

The second dive was wonderful.

Still floating with the excitement from the first dive we wove our way around the coral turrets spotting clown fish nestling in their annenmomies, and dodging trigger fish as they spewed their chewed up coral into out paths.

With reluctance we climbed aboard the boat to take us back to shore and our awaiting lunch.

To say Mike was generous is an understatement.

He insisted on treating us all to the most splendid lunch once we reached the shore,

complete with the usual copious amounts of beer

and while I took some scenic shots,

he and Kris packed the bus with cans for our journey back to Cebu.

I collected a bag full of washed up, sun bleached coral to make into jewellery back in the UK,

took so many pictures of the ocean and the amazing view, that my memory card threatened to close down on me before I boarded the mini bus for our boisterous journey home.

 At some point during the journey it was decided that Mike would join us for an evening meal.

His company had been fantastic during our time together as as he said, who else could he relive the day with over and over again!

The evening meal turned into a night session of laughter and drinking.

Romana and I eventually left the boys to it and, while they headed off for a game of pool, we, wisely headed home.

Mike said his goodbyes from the hotel the next day looking  a wee bit green around the edges.

Kris, although rather red eyed, had stopped off for a full greasy breakfast from one of the many caged fast food joints along the street

and was faring a lot better but was still glad when the days diving was over.

I spent the day relaxing in a hammock glad for the fact that I had elected to finish my course in a few days time!

We strung my course out over as many dives as we could reasonably fit in.

Given that everyone knew how good a diver I was, they were very tolerant of the number of dives I had before Kris deemed me fit to pass!

I treated myself to a new dive mask for my course, bought much to much beer and eventually handed over my credit card knowing I would be back in the UK and working by the time it came to paid it off!!!

On my last night, after various dinners around Cebu, it was decided we would all meet up in the first restaurant I had been to (I can't remember its name though!)

Kris treated us to a motorised rickshaw to save our feet from the dust, although we did end up walking home

and a great night was had by all as we swapped Face-book addresses and e-mails!

My time with Kris had been its usual exciting, alcohol fuelled, roller coaster of a trip and the thought of spending my final two weeks detoxing with Lisa and Co before my return to the UK seemed like a good one, yet I arrived in Singapore feeling sad that I only had two more weeks of my trip left.

It was only when Lisa pointed out that most people are lucky to get two weeks annual leave in a year let alone do what I had done for the past four months that everything was put into perspective.

Back in Singapore, I visited the Gardens by the Bay for their evening display,

marvelling once more at the amazing displays.

I walked along the promenade in the dark, past the huge wheel, gazing at all the amazing attractions as i walked.

We popped to the Bird Park to play with the penguins and sit on the mushrooms.

we had a few more play dates with loads of hugs from everyone and a promise to come back soon,

I swam 2 km every evening in the 50m pool as the moon shone above me and of course I played with Emelia.



My Winter Adventure was now at an end yet a new and exciting Summer Adventure still awaited me.

I boarded my plane (with my comatosed PC that had refused to work since the beginning of January!!) with a mixture of sadness and anticipation........

During my trip I had accumulated a vast array of things to take back to the UK. Rainbow scarves and the many saris I had bought had filled half of my bag before I even started packing!

Over my winter travels I had decided to try my hand at taking my Story Telling out of the Shop and into a few festivals to a) see if I liked it and b) to see if I could actually make some money.

I sat on the plane working out the maths. 

With a 20 foot x 12 foot market stall to buy, a £500 boiler repair to pay back to Peter, stock to make and purchase, flights for the winter plus all the insurance and MOT money Lady Sage required plus a diving bill on my credit card I eventually reached a total of £3,500!!

Doable, I told myself, as I settled to watch the in-flight film, definitely doable!!

Summer 2016 here I come!!!!