May 25th: Nearing the end of the DWC Experience.

Ah we are nearing the end of the trip :(

We have had such an amazing time on the boat with Eric (from Let's Share) and his crew, and everyone would like to just keep on going!

After a quick breakfast in the morning at the resort where our group was staying (a taxi away from the sandy beach, with a great cliff view out over the sea and sun), we headed straight back to the boat.

A few of us (Gabe- someone from Rise Above- and Megan and I) went out for a little scuba diving trial with Eric and just loved it. After that, the crew set the Bering to home (a port in Cebu), and we just hung out on the boat for about five hours.

When we got back to Cebu, we gave Eric and his crew a card and our thanks and traveled back to the city in a couple of vans from Rise Above. After a little "musical vans", we all managed to get Jeff to a doctor to look into his ear infection, pick up the bags we had stored at Rise Above during the boat tour, and check into the Waterfront hotel for our last night all together before Greg, Angus, Andrew and Devon head back tomorrow to Canada and the rest of the group travels to Negros to begin their little extra trip together to some of the islands to the west and north of Cebu.

We had a great night together- we got a really nice room to share for the evening and had a bit of a birthday party for Tory and an early one for Greg. After birthday cake, cards and some drinks, The group of nine caught taxis to the port at about 4:00 am to go to Negros, and Greg, Andrew, Angus and Devon caught a few minutes of rest and cleaned up before heading out to Canada the next day at noon!

What a fantastic experience! Thanks to everyone for making this possible.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 24th: Whale-sharks and a movie for the kids.

An INCREDIBLE day. While the group slept till about 8am, Sonia and Devon woke up quite early- around 6:30- to go to the local fish market with the boat crew to pick up fresh tuna as well as some chicken and pork, rice, and coke for a beach barbecue on Limisawa (a nearby island almost untouched by development) in the afternoon.

After the group had breakfast, we all headed out to the boat and started the day by traveling to a spot where whale sharks (the biggest non-whale fish in the world!) are sometimes seen by the lucky.

Amazingly, within 2 minutes of pulling up to the bay, we spotted not one, but three of these gigantic animals, and most of us were able to swim with them around the boat as they moved majestically through the sea at a pretty leisurely pace. These animals were awesome- massive- about 12 to 15 feet long, and very stalky- but don't worry- they only eat plankton :)

After we tired ourselves out trying to keep up with the whale sharks, swimming frantically to keep up with their lazy oscillatiory back fin, we got back in the boat and travelled to Limasawa for a beach BBQ lunch with an open fire on the beach and turtles and Nemo (clown fish) in the reefs just off the shore!

As if we hadn't had enough amazing experiences in one day, on the way back to Southern Leyte (where we are staying) a couple people (one of Eric the boat owner's friends and Andrew from our group) got to go out and try scuba diving for the first time ever- Andrew was very excited!

Finally, we headed back to the beach, ate dinner at the beach resort and were picked up by Jergen, a 70+ German man who has lived here for about 25 years and runs a shelter/ village for children from rough backgrounds. We went with Eric (Let's Share) to show the kids a movie on Eric's projector and also to make a donation to the children's village which appears to be run very effectively and transparently with little in the way of overhead costs or hidden agendas.

Naturally, everyone was exhausted by this point, so it was early to bed for everyone once we got back to the resort!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 23rd: Snorkeling in Southern Leytes

Up REALLY early this morning (around 5:00am!!) feeling a little haggard with the sun just peaking out on the horizon. Some of us snoozed on while we waited for Eric (yes- another Eric! That makes three on the boat!) and Rose who were staying in the resort on the beach to get back on board before heading out for another beautiful boat trip.

Almost everyone slept on the trip from the Camotes to Southern Leytes (padre burgos)- about four hours! We were definitely all a little sleepy, but still thrilled to be snoozing in the sun on a trimaran in the Philippines.. There can't be a better way to see more of the country!

We arrived at yet another beautiful beach in Southern Leytes just before lunchtime. By then, we were a bit more awake and most of us opted to swim ashore rather than take the little "taxies". We're still all enamored with how incredibly clear the water is, and what a PERFECT temperature it is (in some spots, it's even a little too warm!)

We ordered lunch right away, but ended up waiting nearly two hours for all the food to arrive- slow but super good food! Nice to have something in our bellies after just a few bananas for breakfast.

After lunch, we went back to the boat to head to another great snorkelling spot. Eric seems to continually out-do himself: today's spot was a huge coral reef with a big drop off. We all saw SO much really beautiful coral and sea life, and some of us even found Nemo (a clown fish)!

Afterwards, we headed back to the main resort on the beach where we were picked up by Jurgen (a 70ish year old German gentleman) who runs a non-profit children's village that he started over 25 years ago! He gave us a tour of the village where 87 kids from impoverished backgrounds live in a little village of houses and school rooms, with about 10-12 kids and a house mother in each house. The kids were so excited to have us there, and it was so good to see such a successful non-profit project being run for kids who really deserved it.

We hopped back into the bus to head to where we would be staying for the next 2 nights- the Manaya resort. We had a quick swim in the pool, showered, and then hopped in the back of the resort's little shuttle truck to meet back up with Eric and the rest of the crew.

Got a tour of the village and then checked into the manaya resort, quick swim and shower. Back to Southern Leyte Diver's for a tasty BBQ and some slideshows from Eric on all the fundraising events they put on.

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010

May 22nd: Leaving the Cebu and the Boat.

We are so sad to leave the Mayflower! Our stay in Cebu is at an end now. We got up early (like pretty much every other day!) this morning for our last breakfast at the Mayflower :(

We said our goodbyes to the really nice staff and to Chris who was heading to the airport later on in the morning to catch his flight back to Vancouver (poor guy had to get back to work at home for his co-op pharmacology job).

We were all packed up and ready to go by 7 am when Abi and Elisabet from Rise Above came to pick us up to take us over to the coast of Mactan Island to meet our new friend Eric from Let's Share (an exciting new not-for-profit here in the Philippines) and the boat that is taking us on a wicked 4 day tour of some of the surrounding islands.

After a long, cramped two- van journey to a really pretty little port in a bay, we loaded a classic Philippino trimaran canoe with all our luggage and shuttled luggage and people two by two over to Eric's big boat (Tory swam).

Eric's boat is the Most amazing boat ever- the classic philippino Bamboo trimaran style but instead of an oar powered canoe, it is a truck V8 powered fifty odd foot diving boat.

Once we were all settled in on the boat, we were off to head to the Camotes islands!

It was a three(ish) hour trip - we saw dolphins within the first thirty minutes and very cool flying fish all the way! Everyone could not stop talking about how excited they were as we ate dried mango and Eric turned on his boat sound system and started pumping some techno!

We arrived in Santiago bay just after lunchtime and headed to shore to grab a bite to eat- the resort was full with people who came for a massive wedding- not only were there no rooms, but there were also no tables available at the restaurant!

We met a nice military couple that had just retired to the island. Their son owns the restaurant bar, and they let us order food to their bar- we stayed there all afternoon and into the evening! Afterwards, we headed to karaoke and then started swimming back to the boat.

Megan held the flashlight for people climbing the ladder up to the ship and Hilda directed everyone to their respective sleeping areas.

What a busy day! Can't believe we woke up in Cebu this morning!

Sonia and Devon
DWC Student Team Leaders
Philippines 2010