We had some good times here in Dauin and some interesting experiences.
It was Easter (holy week) which is the biggest holiday in the Philippines. We sat and ate hand shaved mango ice whilst a religious service continued in the stadium. The church was undergoing restoration or expansion, so it was closed. As people filtered out of the stadium, a candle light procession began around Dauin. Jesus and Mary being carried in glass ceremonial cases.
Easter sunday was busy at the beach with families enjoying the sea and huge picnics. A stage was set up and a great singer entertained us for the afternoon with some classic songs in both English and Visayan. Later in the day he was replaced by various DJs.
A huge golden ball appeared over the horizon and slowly rose into. the night sky. The colour was amazing but began to fade as it gained altitude and took on the usual diamond white colour of the moon. The DJs played on until late in the night with their 'thumping tunes'. It was quite unusual to have, what was just like a rave, with a family audience! The curfew siren cleared some of the younger members of the crowd at 10pm. We left too as we were semi deafened by then! Others didn't and some locals slept in their tents at the beach.
In the morning the beach was being cleared up. It was a mess and littered with rubbish. Mostly Tanduay bottles!
Darryl spend the last day on a special snorkeling trip. He caught a jeepney 6km out of town. There was no room inside so he had to hang off the back local style. The snorkeling on the pier was really special with loads of colourful sponges and sea fans. Totally different to the reef.
Our last 2 nights were spent eating at the divemaster trainees communal dinner. The first night a guy from Tahiti prepared an amazing raw fish dish which he said was their national dish. The following evening the meal was Tomyam soup prepared by Tommy from Thailand. He owns a prawn farm in the Philippines and ordered enormous prawns to be delivered from his farm. Once again it was delicious!
After an early breakfast, a few sad farewells, particularly to the two beautiful alsatians and the new puppy who had just joined the team, a quick walk to the main road, a jeepney to Dumaguete, a short pause in Jolibee, a run for the bus and Dauin was behind us. The bus took us on the ferry, drove us 6 hours to Cebu via Oslob (whaleshark city, where they are fed to draw them in unnaturally for tourists to see) to the southern bus terminal in Cebu City.
We waited for just over half an hour for the next airport bus. We sat in grid locked traffic a while, totally normal for Cebu City, before jumping out just before the airport. We flagged down a jeepney that whisked us off to the other side of Lapu Lapu to our hotel. We explored the area where lots of poorer people live, mixed in with very high end resorts. We ate at a BBQ street stall whilst we watched the locals buying secondhand shoes at a stall across the road before falling into bed after a whole day of travelling.
