trip list

Because I wasn't posting while we were in the Philippines, here's a list of things that would have made this blog:

• Business class makes a huge difference when you're taking six flights, two of which are over ten hours long.
• The long-haul flights didn't have to make any refueling stopovers.
• We caught an earlier flight once we got to the Philippines, so that we arrived six hours early to the resort in Dumaguete.
• The outdoor shower in our room in Dumaguete was actually quite nice. I have no idea how they keep an outdoor shower so clean in the tropics.
• The dive shop in Dumaguete was run by Swiss guys, so it was the most organized dive operation I've ever seen. 
• Dumaguete has the most amazing muck diving (diving in small, sandy areas to look for tiny, mindblowing critters that are sometimes the size of a fingernail clipping).
• Despite the fact that I can get seasick in a swimming pool, for some reason (I am guessing magic), I experienced no seasickness the whole trip -- not on dives, not on the week-long liveaboard. Nothing.
• The mangoes. Oh, the mangoes.
• There were small scuba tanks available on the boat, which meant that for the non-strenuous dives, I was able to tool around with a less cumbersome tank on my back.
• I racked up another 25 dives.
• I made it through seven books.