Dive-Monster Rhoody

The resort mend it good with us and we could not order cold beer so we went to bed around 8:30 pm what is a kind of ok as we needed to be up for our dive at Monad Shoal in the morning at 6:00am to see the Thresher sharks at Monad Shoal.

We had a new guide this day who also gave us a good briefing before the boat departure. The ride to Monad Shoal took about 40 Minutes and the boat anchored on one of the many mooring lines. Monad Shoal has most of the times some surface currents,  so it’s a good thing to be ready when entering the water, either to go down immediately or to hang on the line until the rest is ready to dive.

The mooring-line goes down to about 22 meters. Down at the plateau is no current anymore and the guide navigates us to a cleaner-station where the Thresher Sharks are supposed to come to get their morning cleanup done by cleaner wrasses. Not this time. We were kneeling in the sand for about 35 minutes in 3 different spots but none of this wonderful creatures showed up. The visibility was also rather poor, so we ended the dive rather disappointed.

Back on the boat we decided to skip the afternoon div on the same spot to see the Mantas as it is just no fun to sit in bad visibility watching green soup and staring into the nothing.

Kim and I decided rather to have a walk up and down the beach to gather Information for several web-projects and give the Thresher sharks another try the next morning. The beach of Malapascua is soft with sand and it is a real postcard scene. Life is slow and relaxed.

We found a couple of nice Resorts on our way and will definitely stay in one of them whenever we visit Malapascua Island again.

Here some impressions of our walk.

Tags:

The small Island of Diwaran next to Coron, Palawan, is supposed to be transformed in a new Luxury-Beach-Resort until 2012. As this would support the local-tourism industry it’s still a question how that will end.. The whole Island should compete or stand aside Phuket in Thailand.

I don’t know if that is the way the Philippines want to go in the future. On the other hand 12.000 jobs is a lot. Below the article I found in a local newspaper. Lets see how all will develop…

CORON, PALAWAN—Stand aside, Phuket. Here comes Diwaran.

By 2012, the 55-hectare Diwaran Island, part of Coron Reefs in northern Palawan, will be transformed into the “single largest integrated island resort in all Asia.”

This is the hope of Ho Kwon Ping, the Singaporean executive chair of Banyan Tree Holdings, a big developer of resorts, hotels, spas and residential homes in the Asia Pacific.

He spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony of the planned resort on the largely uninhabited island Wednesday attended by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Dressed in casual attire, Ms Arroyo came with Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and Trade Secretary Peter Favila.

Challenge to Phuket

Ms Arroyo said that the project, which is estimated to cost $240 million, would be the next Phuket, the popular resort in Thailand. Ho’s company pioneered the development in that area.

“What he had been able to do there, he can certainly do here,” she said.

Ho showed the master plan of the Isla Diwaran project to Ms Arroyo under the shade of tents.

The island’s map shows that the beach with only fine white sand and few indigenous trees will have three hotels with villas, a marina with facilities for arrival by boat or by seaplane, and a town center where there will be recreational facilities and retail outlets.

“All together, if fully developed, these (hotels) will have 600 rooms … At its full occupancy, we will have more than 1,500 tourists on this island alone,” Ho said.

About 20 minutes by speedboat from Coron, the island will be a sure attraction for tourists. On the way, overhanging limestone cliffs are seen. Coron Reefs, a favorite site for divers, is also known for its diverse marine life.

12,000 jobs

As soon as the resort is completed, 3,000 people will be hired to work on the island, Ho said.

“We are expecting at least 12,000 people to acquire jobs directly and indirectly from this project,” he said.

Ms Arroyo told a fisherman in the crowd, Joel Saclet, that on nearby Amanpulo, residents no longer fished but worked in the high-end resort.

“Is that what you are also expecting?” she asked.

Saclet replied “yes, ma’am.”

“It’s not only in the operation but as well as in the construction and a lot of the people around … are expecting that as this island resort is being built, roads will be constructed from the airport to the Marcella port,” Ms Arroyo said.

2012 opening

Ho said the resort would open probably by 2012.

Based on Banyan’s statistics, Palawan will benefit from the total tourists’ spending of $200 million per year.

“This is generally a big help for Coron,” he said.

The company already has hotels in some of the world’s most exclusive and popular holiday spots such as the Seychelles and Maldives.

It will develop the project, its first in the Philippines, together with Filipino businessman Salvador Zamora of Tranzen Group.

Banyan Tree was founded by Ho, a former journalist, and his wife in 1994 and was one of the first resort chains to offer guests the seclusion of their own villa equipped with a private pool and a tropical spa.

Lets see how all will develop…

cheers

Rhoody

Tags:

I was waiting for the day when the price-tag of a Bikini is bigger than the material used to produce it. hmmm untill today it did not happen, just a sweet dream. But finally what did happen is that the sunglases are bigger. For political correctness I just posted the Bikini-Top.

thinking about it twice, … even that sice is totally big enough for most of the lovely magandas in the philippines….

cheers

Rhoody

Tags:

I wanted to write a longer report about Linaw Beach Resort, but have a look at the video I found on youtube, I am sure you will enjoy if you decide to book there.

the roomrates are around 4000 Peso, I know it is not cheap, but Linaw has only 6 rooms and you have 100% privacy.

cheers

Rhoody

Tags:

I just came back from a three day/night trip from Panglao-Bohol. I went there to meet my friend Kim Beermonster the BIG boy of www.Dumagueteinfo.com.   

He is on a working-vacation there to kick-start his new project www.boholboard.com .

I planned to stay there for one, maximum 2 nights Man, it’s been a while since we met and my plan was to go there just over night as I am covered with work here in Dumaguete.

I took the OceanJet from Dumaguete to Tagbilaran for 520 PHP at 7 am in the morning. I would never take a ferry at that time on a Sunday morning suffering from a bad hangover due to the grand opening of Dumaguete Springs the evening before, but I had the choice between OceanJet and WEESAM Express 10 Minutes !!!! later.

Who in the wide wide world of sports makes a schedule like that.

The Ferry was nearly empty (no wonder at that time) and of course delayed. I arrived in Tagbilaran on Bohol at around 10 am where a driver was already waiting for me. It is only a 30 minute ride from the Pier to Linaw Beach Resort.
The resort is new and under Belgium ownership. The rooms are spacious and the staff very friendly. The only real complaints I had was the beer-temperature. It was way too warm…

The staff tried hard during my whole stay to get that sorted but somwhow it never worked really out.

The Dane booked me in a place called Linaw Beach Resort which is a nice quiet Resort on Panglao of away from the crowded Alona Beach, but still only a 5-10 minute ride to the Restaurants there at Alona.  I guess I am not that kind of a stabled person as right after the “Hello” I changed my mind and decided to stay 3 nights instead of one or two.

My room and the view from it was outstanding and there was no doubt that this gonna be 3 awesome days. Like I promised my friend I also brought the sun from Dumaguete and after checking in we went on a daytrip to Virgin-Island. But this is the next part of the report, what should not be missed…

Cheers

Rhoody

Tags:

I am usually not going to bed that early, so it was not really a surprise to wake up with the sun around 5:00 pm. In Dumaguete I would boil water for my coffee and start the computer to go through my daily routine. Here in Siquijor I went for a walk and enjoyed the fresh breeze from the sea. I heard birds singing I have never heard before and I spend an hour or so just sucking in the energy of the young day…

At 7:00am Kiwi Dive Resort slowly woke up, and I ordered my first cup of coffee and a ham cheese onion omelet. I started the computer and prepared for Jean, my French Rescue-Diver-Student. The knowledge reviews were done fast. That guy did not only copy the book, he brought in other ideas from his experience Tracking through Nepal and other remote places of the world. At 10:00 am we finished the first three chapters and were ready to set up our gear for the first confined water sessions.

The first exercises are a review of skills each diver should have anyway, including cramp removal, alternate air-source use and tired diver tow. I had Dive-Master-Candidates who were worse. The next skills are about assessment, evaluating the situation and approaching diver on the surface. The Victim could be tired or even panicking. Being the panic diver is one of my favorite role in a rescue course. I love the face –expression of my students when 100 KG plus Equipment grasping them holding them and climbing on top of them. Followed by some underwater practice we had enough time to practice already how to surface an unresponsive diver from the bottom and had a small excursion before we returned to the resort for a lunch.

After lunch the sky became cloudy and the waves higher, so we spend the afternoon in the open air classroom and finished all Knowledge Reviews. Jean decided to go through his Final exam, and he passed it with flying colors. He was actually my first Rescue student who had 100% in the final exam. By 5:00 pm we finished the working part of the day and Jean went for another 15 km run. I was lazy like always and checked my mails ordered my dinner and went for a shower.

When I came back from the room to the restaurant I have been told that there is a strike going on at the Dumaguete Pier and many tourists are stucked on Siquijor. I did not really mind and my Chicken Curry was yummy. Two SMB and back to my room. I forgot to mention that my room is on the top and you need to climb up 56 “steps of  death” … No wonder that there is not so much drinking going on at KIWI dive resort. These steps are sober a nightmare… (to be continued)

Tags: