The first time I ever went scuba diving was in Acapulco during spring break 2005 with my college homies. Memory isn’t great but I don’t remember receiving much training, or signing anything. Our guides probably weren’t even certified, now that I think about it. But being in college, we were young and dumb. (Now I’m older and not as dumb. Progress.) They took us out on a boat, threw some gear on us, tossed us in the water, and just dragged us around. Visibility was limited so we didn’t get to see much, if anything at all.
My experience with Philippine Fun Divers was very different. First off, I had to go through some reading material, pass a test (I could have made this up but I think I took a quiz…), walkthrough our gear, did some training in the pool, and then got to go out on the boat to the ocean. On top of that, I got my very own Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Frank Yamamoto, who was kind of a badass. Actually, come to think of it, everyone working at the scuba center was really cool. Maybe it’s a living on a beach thing.
Before we went off to the ocean, we did some training in the pool. Frank had me put on all my gear and taught me several basic things like swimming with flippers, regulating depth, and even something as simple as breathing. Having slow, controlled, and constant breathing was important. Things such as swimming was not as easy as I thought it would be. Took me some time to get used to swimming with flippers.
We eventually made it out to the ocean, where as soon as I got into the water, I started to freak out. Being only 10 meters deep wasn’t that bad, but looking up and seeing all the water above you just made me signal to Frank that I was not going to be okay. I wrote about this on Instagram, so won’t repeat myself.
I also ate a balut pinoy this day as well, so won’t repeat that either.
I don’t know why but I cannot write today. Let me just tl;dr this.
TL;DR: Went scuba diving. It was awesome. Ate balut pinoy, it was not as awesome. End.
Not sure why but this day, I woke up at 2am. I was in and out of sleep until around 6:30 and decided to get up then. I spent the morning packing up, had some breakfast, chatted with a nice couple from Florida, and hung out with Manol and his family. Manol told me some stories, as his daughters and wife came in and out of the conversations as they went on their day to day, and his grandkids were running around asking us questions or doing whatever kids do.
After a couple hours, Manol took me to a beach where I caught a ferry to Bohol. During the ferry ride, I actually thought back on my conversations with Manol and ended up writing a little blurb about him on my phone.
***** Had a wonderful time in Oslob! A big reason was because of Manol and his family. He owns the MWR Pension House that I stayed at. He is a God fearing man and shared many of his testimonies. One such story was when he got hit by an 18 wheeler while on his motorbike. His helmet broke on impact and he was tossed 20+ meters without it. He said he felt someone holding him and bracing his fall. He walked away with only a broken arm, and not a single scratch on him. Another time, when he was serving as captain on a military ship, a thick cable on deck came loose during bad weather. It hit his shins, but he was able to walk away with only cuts. Most times, these accidents end with a lost life or limb. He also told me about his many angelic dreams. He truly believes he has an angel watching over him. I almost don’t want to believe some of his stories, but when a man shows you scars, and conviction in his eyes, you believe.
He is truly a great man and it shows through his family. They all treated me like family. I had dinner with them every night. I didn’t meet everyone (he has 8 siblings), but everyone I met was happy and chatty with me.
Whenever he’d drive me through the town, many people would wave or honk to him. He says he just wants his community to be happy and lead a good life.
One thing I thought was strange was his hostel/home. It is not as nice as it could be. He owns the hostel, karaoke bar, and the only licensed cock fighting ring in the area. I wondered where his revenue was going. I wasn’t going to ask this but the answer came when sharing his story. He’s been building a shrine on one of his lots. He made a statue of Mother Mary and Jesus and had them placed there. He goes there every week for worship and is slowly building out the building. It looked huge in pictures. He says he’s also looking to sell the cock fighting ring. He says God told him to sell because it is money made from gambling. His friends think he is crazy since there is so much money in that business. He says he just knows this is what he must do.
Meeting Manol and hearing his testimonies was very powerful. I am truly grateful to have met him. *****
Selfie with the deep blue sea.
Hm. I wrote more than I remember. Well, the ferry ride was 3.5 hours long. Anyways, I was really moved by this man. I hope he’s doing well and I hope to be able to visit him again one day.
Land ho!
Once we got to Bohol, I checked into my hotel, the Lost Horizon Beach Dive Resort and grabbed a bit to eat before heading to get a hair cut. Afterwards, just hung around the resort reading by the pool and possibly took a nap. I had dinner on the beach at the resort, walked along the Alona Beach, smoked some shisha at Alia Hailey Reggae Bar, then hit the sack around 11pm and fell asleep watching Tremors. You can never get away from Kevin Bacon.
“Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to…” – TLC
Dang, this song came out in 1994. Wow, that was 15 years ago. Nuts. Anyhoo, this song is an expression of how people chase intangible dreams with no thought of consequences. If you’ve read yesterday’s post, I literally chase waterfalls. Contrary to popular belief, I actually do think of the consequences, such as “if I hit that rock, it will hurt” and “if I miss that point, it will hurt”. This proves that I am actually responsible for my consequences and will continue chasing waterfalls. So, onto more waterfalls today. I apologize in advance for all the gifs. I really like these things.
I got to sleep in till 7am this morning. It was nice because my body felt a bit sore. Not sure from what. I think it’s partially riding a motorbike for so long. It actually takes a toll on your body. And no, I don’t think any of the soreness came from cliff diving.
Today was quite tame compared to yesterday. I visited three falls, Tumalog, Aguinid, and took another route in the Asyong Falls. I ended the day at the Mabugnao Mainit Hot Springs.
From land.
Tumalog on viewing from afar, wasn’t too impressive. But up close is where these falls become unique and beautiful. From afar, there doesn’t look like much water at all is falling. However, once you get near there, you see a wall of water droplets falling form the sky. I used the GoPro a ton during this stretch and really just want to say again that gifs are awesome.
Approach to the wall.
Standing under the drops of water was really pretty. I enjoyed it but thought, “hm, wouldn’t it be nicer from higher up?”
Hm… I’m stuck. But look at the water fall. Pretty neat, eh?
View was actually nicer, but then I couldn’t go up any further. I initially thought I could jump off, but thought better and climbed down. Also, decided to use both my hands to climb down. See. Responsible.
Bite.
I told my tour guide that I just wanted to climb more waterfalls so off we went to the Aguinid Falls.
Much of the hike was like this.
There were parts where you needed to scale rocks to get up. It might look hard, but really wasn’t. There are groups of tourists going through here after all.
Okay, this portion I could see being a little scary for some who don’t like to climb. I was really glad I wasn’t with a group of people cause this would have taken quite awhile.
Yellow guy don’t need my help.
Then I told my guide, i want to jump off the highest one as possible around here. So he suggested we go back to Asyong Falls but take a different tour. I was not disappointed. Can’t even remember how many jumps I did. Here’s a few of my favorites.
Maybe 25 feet? Not too bad.Gotta practice my flips, ya know? They aren’t great, but they’ll be insta worthy soon enough.Maybe a little higher than the one before, but this one you also gotta clear the ledge.
Okay, now here’s the one that my guide saved for last. All these last ones were small compared to the next.
Showing me where I’d be jumping from.
This drop was 65 feet. He said I could chose to drop from 60, but that seems like a waste. Just add the extra five. Before we climbed up, he informed me that when I jump to plug my nose if I wanted, make sure to point your legs, do NOT dive headfirst, cross your arms across your chest, and clench your butt. Just kidding, he didn’t say the last part, but someone else told me this. Not sure if it’s a myth, but sometimes the impact on water can give you a surprise cleansing. I don’t think it’s true, but I clenched anyways, cause.. well, ya know. No one likes those surprises.
Climb and scaling to get there.
Once we got up to the point and were in position, he tossed my helmet down telling me to land there. If you’re not far out enough, you’ll hit rocks. Sweet. Overall lesson learned so far is, jump further if you don’t want to hit the rock wall. Makes sense to me.
Fly helmet, fly.
I won’t lie. I was scared here. Almost as much as the Binalayan fall. 65 feet is a lot higher than I thought. I nailed the landing though. Look at how close to the helmet I got. Also, side note: the helmet comes off at higher dives.
See ya down there.
That was the last one! I don’t think I went cliff diving again the rest of this trip. If I did, it wasn’t as memorable as these couple days. Then finally on the way back, I got to really enjoy the Mabugnao Mainit hot springs. Here’s me just simmering in 42.6 degrees Celsius water. Felt nice to relax.
After almost an hour in the springs, we headed back to the other side of the island, where again, I ate two dinners and fell asleep by 10pm.
This might have been my favorite day of my entire trip. Did I already say that before? Well, if I did, add this to the top 5 list. I’m the most excited to write about this day. Below’s the high level recap:
6:30am – breakfast watching the sunrise at MWR
7:15am – Met my all day driver, who was Manol’s brother. I apologize for not remembering your name. You might not even be his brother…
Took our motorbike to the other side of the island
8:45am – Hiked Osmeña Peak
10:15am – Started my Alegria canyoneering tour
1:30pm – Canyoneering tour ended and headed straight to Kawasan Falls. Took about 10 minutes.
2:50pm – Chilled (or simmered?) at Mabugnao Mainit Hot Springs for 20 minutes.
3:45pm – Visited the Binalayan Hidden Falls
4:45pm – Headed back to the other side of the island
5:45pm – Ate some BBQ for dinner
7:00pm – Got back to MWR
8:00pm – Second dinner with Manol’s family
9:00pm – Pass out
Let’s begin. Are you guys ready? Don’t worry, it won’t be that long. I think.
My first stop was Osmeña Peak. Hike was great, the views were better, and the guide who was in rain boots and walked as if the wet mud and water didn’t bother her at all was even better. I slipped and almost fell multiple times. She would turn around and laugh at me with her hands in her pockets. What was also great about her was that she offered to take pictures of me during the entire hike. So nice to not have to take selfies all the time. I’d like a photographer to follow me around one day, but NOT a paparazzi.
The other positive of having a guide was that she knew exactly where I needed to stand to take the best pictures. I was very pleased. Except the one time she kept telling me to stand up on a ledge and put my arms in the air. One slip and I would have fallen to my death. She kept laughing at me cause I was scared. Also, a cute dog followed us. I wanted to keep him.
Pretty windy up here.
Water’s fine! Come on in.
Next was Alegria canyoneering tour. This was awesome. Got to hike and swim through this canyon for a few hours. Viewed best in gifs. Actually, a lot of these next images will be gifs. You have been warned.
He said “jump over the rocks.” I agreed saying “yes, i’ll avoid those rocks.”
I thought at one point I’d be cold and uncomfortable, but I surprisingly felt okay through most of it. I had been living in SF for a few years by this point and had lost all my Midwest blood.
I’m just putting words in here to space the gifs out a bit. My head hurts looking at all the movement jammed together.
So for real, I’m just making up anything to say at this point. You don’t even have to read it.
The drop’s not much here, but going headfirst makes this quite fun.
Next up was Kawasan Falls. No jumping of any kind here, but the area was really beautiful. Look how blue that water is. There were rafts you could take across by pulling on some ropes. You can see a guy pulling his raft back below.
Pull me in, homie.Lots of swimming to get across.
I didn’t want to wait for the raft, so I just swam across. It was actually tiring. I was worried for a split second I could drown. Just kidding. I never thought that. I’m just being dramatic to spice up my writing.
Underneath the falls. So cool.
After the falls, my tour guide suggested I go to some hot springs to rest and warm up. I thought this was a good idea, until I got there and thought “naw, i want to go jump off more cliffs.” I actually came back to Mabugnao Mainit Hot Springs the next day, so I’ll write more about this tomorrow.
No caption needed.
The next waterfall and cliff dive is what made this trip so memorable. Welcome to Binalayan Hidden Falls.
There are multiple levels you can jump from here, all at varying heights. The dangerous thing about this spot is that the pool is not very deep. It may only be 8 feet at its deepest point. I jumped initially from 10 feet, and then 20 feet just to get a sense of how deep the pool was. Not very deep. I touched the bottom from the 20 foot jump.
There’s also a cool jump you can do from behind the waterfall. Here’s my guide showing me how to actually get up there. I laugh when he explains how to swing your leg up to catch the ledge. Then I say “what” to the camera after I see him spiderman up the wall.
Seriously. What.
Anyways, did it. In hindsight, it was easier than it looked.
Not actually too scary. The climb up was more fun.
This next jump actually made me feel a new sensation of fear. It was a mix of “I might die” and “I’m pumped.” It was a 45 foot drop, which actually isn’t too far. But it felt so much higher. Even climbing up there was a bit of a rush.
Just don’t look down?
It took me a few seconds to really convince myself to jump (want to hear me yell, go here). But when I finally did, I didn’t regret it. I mean, once I landed in the water anyways. If i went again, I’m 80% sure I’d do it again. What’s insane is that people actually jump from the TOP of the waterfall at 60 feet. That is insane. I don’t know if I could ever do that. Or maybe…
OutsideTheWell 