THE PHILIPPINES BLOG

To read through whole experience, please scroll to bottom.

The Journey home - 02/01/07-04/01/07 Well, it is nearly all over. I am sitting outside Tacloban airport (4 hours early for my flight) and anticipating the long slog home. I was very sad to leave Ampo this morning. I have made a really good friend - Max, and it felt really strange for all the guys to be getting ready to go out and survey while I waited around for my taxi. I kinda feel like now I am missing out by not being out there with them. It is raining again, but I think that it contributes to the way that the air here smells slightly warm and damp at the same time. Jeepney's pull up every couple of minutes for a group of people to jump out, ready to catch a flight. Jeepneys are very unusual looking vehicles. They look like old trucks, but inside they have a bench along either side. They tend to be very colourful, with lots of chrome bars, and 'how is my driving?' stickers. Apparantly all of the jeepney's are remnants from the War when the American GI's were here. Back in the Manila hotel. Seems much better this time. Not sure if it really is, or if it just seems like complete luxury compared to the last month. Had a lovely relaxing night last night involving room service and a long soak in a hot bath. I slept like a baby... Day 25 - 30/12/07 As the days go on, I have become more and more reflective on my experience here. It has definately been a huge learning curve. I hope that I will come away from the experience a better person, more able to cope with certain situations in life than I was before. Yesterday I had my final jolly dives here. Max was my buddy, which I was really grateful for, as she has been my favourite person here. We saw a juvenile harlequin sweetlips which are the cutest little fish, and which I have been wanting to see for ages. Unfortunately, still no whale sharks - so boom goes any chance of seeing any while I am here. Being here has really made me appreciate many of the luxuries that we have in life. Flushing toilets, hot water, varied food, washing machines and much more. It is amazing how we take so much for granted. You do adapt very quickly to not having these things. I have also been quite able to deal with things I never would have imagined back home. Ants and weavils in the food, termites falling from the ceiling onto your dinner plate while you are eating - it sounds pretty disgusting, but you do get used to it. Although there have been some negatives in this experience, there have been many more positives. As I write this, I am sitting in the waiting shack, shore marshelling for some snorkellers and just looking out to sea. There is a white sandy beach out front, and I am surrounded by palm trees. The sun is actually shining at the moment, and it is beautiful. In front of me, there is the Ampo reef, one of the most pristine coral reefs in the area. We can just go out and snorkel and see all manners of amazing things. The local Filippino's are lovely people who always seem to be happy. Maybe I should take a leaf out of their book?! Day 23 - 28/12/07 Back to normality and surveys again yesterday and today. Today is my last day of surveying. Has been good to get back in the water and doing something useful. Yesterdays surveys were fun, with a lot of nonsense involved. On the second dive, at one point I was quite happily looking in holes wondering what could be seen, when all of a sudden Joe's face appeared below me - looking straight up at me! He made me laugh so much that I flooded my mask! We had a day trip to San Roque, which meant that we could do some snorkelling before lunch. This morning's dive was a busy one, and I ended up spending 35 out of the 37 mins doing survey work. I did however have to perform a daring rescue of my own pencil . I grabbed at it to write something down, and discovered it was no longer there, it was about 2 meters below me, sitting on a mushroom. Oops! Second dive was much more fun. Since it was my last survey, I got to choose what role I had - I chose the physical diver role (amazing considering how much I hated it at first!). Anyway, because of this, I was allowed to take my camera down so that I could get some shots of us working for my seminar at SAMS. Seems a bit strange that I will no longer be doing surveys, especially with all the stuff I can do underwater now. It has been a great experience, learning all this new stuff, and getting more and more confident underwater. It has also been fun watching Max and Bas get more confident in their diving. Day 20 - 25/12/07 I am really beginning to struggle with some of the people here. I thought I was really able to get on with anyone, but Max is the only person that I seem to really get on with. I think that because I am here for such a short period of time, people maybe don't feel the need to try to get to know me? Also, James is constantly trying to antagonise me. I don't know if it is in a big sister/little brother sort of way - or if it is something else. It has been a memorable xmas, but maybe not for all the right reasons. Max was my secret santa, and bought me some really nice wee things. The food was good, a whole roast hog. But, I have to admit, I would much rather spend it with my own family and friends. My chat with Richard was probably the most memorable part of the day. Day 18 - 23/12/07 Just looking through the photos on my camera, and really depressing myself. I just can't seem to get the hang of underwater photography at all! Everything seems to be out of focus, and I always seem to be trying new settings. It is such a shame to be out here, and unable to document all the weird and wonderful things I am seeing! We went to Maasin today, to do a bit of shopping for our Secret Santa prezzies. Maasin is a bit non-descript. A little town with a few pharmacies, banks, bakers and clothes shops. Trying to walk around is quite difficult as pavements often dont exist and there are tricycles and jeepney's all around you on the road beeping like crazy. Everone seemed to be quite curious about us, and we got more than a few stares. However, a few people did say 'hello' and 'merry xmas' which was really nice. Day 17 - 22/12/07 Bit of an early start today - the mangrove replant at Buena Vista. There is an MPA there which the whole community is involved in, so lots of locals came along to the help with the replant too. It is really amazing how quickly you can plant 2000 saplings. The replant involved digging 30cm holes in the sand with our hands (which is covered in about 1 foot of water) and sticking in a sapling. It may sound like an easy task, but when you are getting spiked by sea potatoes, burnt by the sun and almost developing trench foot due to you feet being in water all day... Anyway, as it turned out, the B.Vista baranguy were having their Xmas Party on the beach after the replant, and so we were invited along. Each family had made a dish of food for us, as well as their own, which was great. They brought a TV, PA system and karaoke machine - and so lots of fun and dancing ensued. It was great fun, the locals were very hospitable and really interested in us. This evening we did our first night dive too. Some of us had to do training, and so there was much hanging around not doing much. Did see an octopus, scorpionfish, sea urchins which looked like WW1 mines and lots of feather stars. Tried taking a few photos, but discovered just how hard it is without strobes etc. I just don't have enough time here to learn underwater photography and get in any decent shots! These sorts of things take time... Day 15 - 20/12/07 First day of proper surveys! Finally feel like I am doing what I came here to do. Both of the surveys were MPA surveys, at Lung Sudaan. Nice to dive in another different place, but the coral cover was nowhere near as extensive as Ampo (our house reef). The second dive was a bit mad, as there was a 1m surge on the surface. All adds to the diving experience I guess. Saw lots of new stuff during the dive including a sea snake, a collector urchin, saddled butterflies and much more. No sign of Tiki-Tiki (the whale shark) yet though. Day 14 - 19/12/07 Well, what a day! It has been lots of fun... When will the learning ever stop? A lecture on MPA survey techniques this morning. More practice dives today - doing these techniques. I reckon that the MPA survey is a bit of a mad one. Everyone was saying that it was easier, but I am not so sure - not after today's dives anyway! I was a bit worried about this morning's dive, as I had come out of the water yesterday with earache. Delia checked my ears for me, and the said that they are inflamed and so I have to take some medicine after my dives. Beginning to feel a bit like a walking drug store. Physical diver role for first dive again, but for an MPA survey, this involves laying a 50m measuring tape at a constant depth of 12m. Sound easy? That's what I thought. Trying to hold onto an SMB, and lay a 50 line with a 2k weight on one end is an interesting experience. I dropped the weight, and all of a sudden shot up as I forgot to adjust my buoyancy, then had to try and tie off my SMB for the next buddy pair to pick up. Only 37 mins under water to do this and lay the line. Needless to say, on my first attempt, only got 43m of line laid. Need a bit more practice on this one! Second dive was probably one of the most fun I have had since I got here. Max and I were doing the second set of roles for an MPA survey this time. We both had to record fish one way along the line, and then as we came back, I had to record inverts, and Max was reeling in the line. Again, sounds easy, and yes this time it was - sort of. The fish part pretty much went off without any hitches. Well, until a 1m long marbled grouper came out of a dark gully heading straight for me! I couldn't remember what it was, thought it probably wasn't dangerous, but remember things look 1/3 bigger underwater. Well, my heart was thumping as I tried to get out of its way, it sure wasn't scared of a little thing like me! What will I be like if I see a whale shark?? Anyway, after that, everything seemed to be going really smoothly. That was, until Max dropped the measuring tape she was winding in. She still had a hold of the 2k weight, so a comedy moment ensued involving Max desperately trying to grab at the line, while more and more was winding out. That started me off in fits of hysterics, which in turn made my mask flood like mad. When we eventually got to the surface, we both removed our masks and just burst out laughing! Day 13 - 18/12/07 Woohoo! Richard passed his viva yesterday - he is now a doctor! It is kinda weird, it is 7am here, but Richard is out celebrating at home. I feel a bit sad, as I really wish I was celebrating with him. His PhD has been a huge part of his life for the last 3 years, and the whole time I have known him, and I am so proud of him. More practice surveys today, and I was the most experienced in the team! Tomorrow we will actually start proper surveys. It feels amazing that they actually trust us to know what we are doing - I am still not 100% sure, and I have the most experience out of all the new ones! Day 12 - 17/12/07 Where on earth is the time going - I feel like I only arrived here a day or two ago! Today is Richard's viva, so I sent him a text to wish him good luck. Only prob is I have now run out of credit, and so can't send him a text to say 'well done' when he passes. Hopefully someone will pick me up some credit from Maasin tomorrow. Practice survey's started today. First dive I did the 'coral diver' role. This involves winding out the coral line, then as you are winding it back in, you record all the hard corals at the same time. On second dive, I was the 'physical diver' - this was even harder. I had to lead the survey team, fill a salinity bottle at depth (which involves filling it with water at surface, at depth fill it with air from octopus, and then refill with water). I also had to guide the fish person by their fins, and write down habitat/topography/temperature info. Far too confusing - maybe it gets easier with practice?? Last night we started making Xmas decorations. It was a bit like being back at school with tissue paper, glitter and glue. Hours of entertainment! The plan is to make the whole site as garish as possible. Day 11 - 16/12/07 I have to admit, there are some parts of this expedition that I am finding really difficult to deal with. The main thing is the mosquitos. I seem to be having an allergic reaction to them. When I get bitten, I come out in huge painful blisters! It has been another good couple of days. I am now a fully validated survey person. All I have to do before I can actually start working is a couple of practice surveys. Had a night out last night to celebrate the end of Science Week, by going to Gunthers (a local dive resort) for dinner. Food was great, and they even had flushing toilets! Day 9 - 14/12/07 What a crazy three days, filled with lectures, exams, underwater tests and lots and lots of studying. So much so that I just haven't had the time to write. It has been an interesting, but slightly stressful few days. Last night I nearly broke down in tears as I failed my fish test (by 0.01% I must add!) Both Fiona and Loz left in the last couple of days which has been quite sad. Now it is just the Xmas bunch - 4 vols and 5 staff. Today I did my first fish validation (underwater test) and found I couldn't swim in a straight line - hence I overprofiled again! To save me from being banned from diving, Tin-tin gave me extra buoyancy lessons. It turns out that I am overweighted. Anyway, this meant that I got a nice wee extra confined dive. Saw some really cool nudibranchs, and at one point Tin-tin was almost lying on a lion-fish. Tried to tell him, but don't think he understood me! Day 6 - 11/12/07 6am start today, although I was awake before that. The bread man arrives at about 5.30am on his noisy motorbike. Still not used to myriad of sounds we get here in the night. We are surrounded by rainforest, with the beach on one side. This means we get all sorts of bird, cricket and gecko noises. The days are still really busy, and my chore for today was dinner. Today is Fiona's last day which is really sad as she is a bright cheery face around the place. She is another scottish girl and is also interested in changing her career to marine science/conservation. The two dives today were fish pointy dives. Saw loads including spadefish, puffers, surgeons, the list goes on... Had to go see Delia today, as I have got something infected on my foot, so now I am on anti-biotics - grrr. Inverts test this evening, so another busy day of study - passed it ok. Max came up with a cracker, she tried to re-classify a hydroid as a sponge, don't think she'll live that one down for the rest of her time here! It is an interesting bunch of people I am here with. There are two groups - the youngsters who are on gap years etc, and the oldies (I am one of them!!) who are on career breaks. I am the only one who has a job to go back to. I would love to be able to live life like this. The staff are volunteers also, but only have to pay for flights here and spending money. I guess you would need to have a lot of money behind you to do this though... Day 5 - 10/12/07 What a day! Started this morning at 5.30am as Bas and I were on breakfast duty. We found one egg (which I ignored) which Bas decided to fry up - waayheey - fight between 12 people for an egg! Stuck on some toast and started hunting the porridge oats. Eventually we found a tin of Quaker Oats, followed the instructions, but it wasn't looking at all like oats. Bas tasted it, and thought it tasted a bit sour, so we added some sugar. Still wasn't looking or tasting right. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we had tried to make oats out of flour (which had gone off). What a fiasco!! Luckily, Loz had made cake last night, and so it was toast and cake for brekkie this morning! Yum Yum... Today we started on inverts and soft corals. Lecture then pointy dive, and the same again this afternoon. This morning Joe and I got so excited about a barrel sponge (which I could have fit inside) that we overprofiled by 1.9m. Ooops, a telling off from Tin-Tin the Scuba Instructor was in store for us. Second dive was even more fun - saw my first turtle! Also Rich (my buddy) and Fiona (James' buddy) got their SMB lines tangled, which caused much hilarity. Forgot to mention, passed my hard coral written test last night - woohoo! Day 4 - 09/12/07 Finally, the first relatively relaxing day of the expedition! Didn't get out of bed until 10am. The revellers kept me awake last night, in and out of the dorm, turning lights on and off for half the night. Thank god for the airline sleeping masks! Breakfast was a diy effort this morning. James had baked some bread last night (he learnt on his previous expedition), so it was a couple of slices of that and a cup of coffee for me. After that, it was straight into studying - corals exam tonight. Beginning to get the hang of them I think. It is raining again, hasn't actually stopped since I got here, but nice to get a day under cover. Day 3 - 08/12/07 Finding it hard to keep up the writing in my diary. The madness has started! First lecture started at 6.45am (this was after breakfast, and my chore of cleaning the toilets). Normally on a Saturday it is a bit more relaxed, but not for us Science week geeks. Corals II today - supposedly easier, but I am not so sure. Today was a bit exciting dive-wise though. Went off in Sanga (our boat) to South Limasawa (another island). Lots of organisation required for a whole day away. First dive was deepest of the day - 30m max. Very sandy bottom, and sporadic clumps of reef. Got more interesting the shallower we were. Great plans of getting in some photographs (the first dive was a fun one) but I forgot to put the silica gel in my camera, and so it completely steamed up - what a numpty! Second dive was brilliant too, first ever wall dive. This was another pointy dive - so learning was involved. Only prob is that I seem to go through my air when I have to dive and think! Had a good chat with Max today on the boat. She is a lovely girl. Day 2 - 07/12/07 Woken up early today, still not used to the time difference. Watch has gone to pot since I got here, so have given it to Dan to get fixed next time he is in town. Covered in bites this morning - they have finally got me - was wondering how long it would take. Needless to say, the anti-histamine cream has had it's first airing. Very busy day today - the start of 'Science Week'. This morning began with learning coral life forms, ie branching, sub-massive, encrusting etc. Seemed to get on ok with this. The science officers (Andy and Rich) are really good, and happy for us to ask lots of questions. Had a 'pointy' dive this morning with Loz (where he pointed out what we had learned earlier) but discovered my bcd was leaking and causing probs with my buoyancy. Luckily I managed to borrow a spare one. Saw loads of fish, and all the others who were also doing their pointy dives. There are 4 of us on Science Week - me, James, Max and Bas. It is amazing in there, I just don't know where to look - there is so much to see! Day 1 - 06/12/07 First proper day on base. Arrived last night despite a really mad and really long journey. Met James (new member of staff) at the hotel yesterday morning, and we travelled on together. Nice to have made a friend before I even get there. We started our induction proper this morning - me and James that is. A tour of the place, a word from the Expedition Leader Dan, a 'dangerous animals' talk and a meeting with the medical officer Delia. She is a local, and is absolutely lovely. Also met the boat guys and the guards. Have to do a check dive this afternoon - to make sure we can dive. Wow, just did first dive of the trip. It almost felt like I had dived straight into my parents tropical fish tank. Couldn't even begin to name everything I saw, but I did find Nemo! Got stung by lots of invisible stuff in the water, welcome to tropical diving Karen! The Journey Out - 03/12/07-05/12/07 OK, the expedition begins... I am on the train to Glasgow, just passing Kilchurn Castle which is shrouded in mist. I'm feeling pretty apprehensive - dont have a clue what to expect - but I have another 2 days travelling before I am even going to find out. I really dislike Heathrow Airport, I had to walk about half a mile between terminals and my 17.3kg bag is getting heavier by the minute. There are hardly any seats - is this because everyone in London is always in such a rush? Quick stop over in Doha - the furthest east I have been so far. It's very clean and spacious here, everything seems to be new. Three hours ahead, and already I am getting confused with the time! Finally landed in Manila, 11.30pm Philippines time. Never managed to get any money out, or buy a SIM card, but guess I can do that tomorrow. Feels like time has flown by, must be because I have lost 8 hours somewhere along the way. Got to dingy hotel where they are working on the road, at this time of night? Hope they get paid overtime - but if only they would stop drilling!

 

 

 

 

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