Batangas to Anilao

The ferry ride to Batangas was a little choppy. I guess these boats are really not meant for rough waters, so many people were throwing up around, poor people. As we got close to shore it started pouring down, kind of interesting as we had left Sabang in full sunshine and calm waters. I guess the typhoon is a weather system, circling around and just because the center is not close anymore, there are still remains of it here and there.
Batangas was very wet, so walking too much around was not an option. I had gotten instructions on how to get to the resort we were meeting at, but now I just had to find transportation there. Outside the ferry terminal there would be plenty of Jeepney drivers waiting  to take me to Bauan, from there on to Anilao. So I come out and stupid me ask some guy for a Jeepney to Bauan, follow me he says, that’s when I realized I was probably being cheated already. He points me towards a gate and turns around a leaves, wow, maybe he was being honest, never give up hope in humanity.

Through the gate and all these guys were trying to get me into their Jeepney or tri-cycle. I didn’t want to sit in a tricycle for hours, so that was one way of narrowing it down. Normally the Jeepney runs when there are enough people going, but these guys were selling me the upgraded Jeepney ride, solo, deluxe, exclusive. 2500 pesos. I had not even said where I was going yet, haha. Where are the other Jeepneys, the ones that drive to Bauan? They all looked at each other, like I was talking nonsense. 1800 pesos. Very far boss, I have to drive back empty handed. Far I said, I could get to the airport for that money and that was 2 hours away. Where are you going? Well, I am going to Bauan, then continue to Anilao. Where are you going? I just told you. Anilao. Where you stay? Ah, I am going to Pier Uno Resort in Anilao. I know where that is, said a guy. They all nodded and agreed, they all knew where this was. On the map it looked like maybe a 40 minutes drive away. The guys from Manila who had come yesterday had said it would cost a lot less than a 1000 pesos, so I turned my back and started walking away. 1500 pesos, 800 pesos said a guy in a tri-cycle. I turned around and looked at the guy. 1200 pesos said another, they were now arguing who was going to take me. I walked towards the tri-cycle guy and the driver of the closest Jeepney jumped in his vehicle and pointed to the back to get in. One of the other guys made a big sigh and said, 1000 and pointed to the back of the Jeepney. Oh well, that was the same amount I would have had to pay for the other guys to pick me up, I guess it couldn’t be all that bad.

The Jeepney looks like a mix between an old army jeep and a small bus. Not sure what kind of brakes and engine they have, but they can’t brake and have no power. They do however produce a lot of noise and leave a big smoke cloud after them. While sitting there moving slower than walking speed I see something on my leg. It is kind of painful and looking closer I notice a burn. Ah, that was from the moped the other day when it was raining. I just wanted to get to the dry as soon as possible and accidentally put my leg down on the wrong side. There was the same sizzling sound as from a food dish. Ouch. But I forgot about it, but that was a little difficult now, that will leave a mark for sure.

The guy is driving and driving and it takes almost 2 hours before I arrive at the place. We arrive to the water and he turns to me and says, Anilao Pier. Yes, I can see that, but I need to go to Pier Uno Resort in Anilao, not Anilao Pier. I noticed a tourist office on the pier, maybe they could help me, because this guy had no clue what I was talking about. I took all my belongings and jumped out, and went to him and said he was an ass taking me here, this is not where I was supposed to go. I reached into my wallet, took a 1000 bill and gave to him and hissed to get out of here. He looked very carefully at the bill turned it many times and then at me, then at the bill again. Something wrong I asked?
This is not 1000 pesos he said, and started talking a lot. Turns out I had given him a 1000 Wong from Korea, he was definitely not happy about that. When I reached for it, he pulled it toward himself and asked how much it was worth? Haha, should I just let him think it was worth a lot? Nah, I kind of felt sorry for him being such an idiot taking me to the wrong place. I gave him a 1000 pesos and went to the tourist information place.

They looked funny at me when I came in, but when I said I was trying to get to Pier Uno Resort, they smiled and told me to sit down. Talking a little to the ladies and it turned out they actually knew the guys I was about to meet, that was kind of funny. They made a phone call and said that someone would come to pick me up in a few minutes. Great.

I sat there for maybe 15 minutes, when they got up and told me they were here. I looked out and didn’t see any car. No no, they told me, there was a boat waiting. The cars couldn’t drive to the resort it this kind of weather, too steep and slippery.

On the boat I got to meet Albert, a friend of a friend who has been diving quite a lot and who was going to take me muck diving in Anilao and teach me a thing or two about taking underwater pictures and video. His two friends from Singapore were on the boat as well as were the captain and a local dive master. They had been doing the first dive of the day a little late because of the water and just when they were about finished, they had called from the resort that I was waiting on the pier. Good timing

We crossed the bay and arrived at colorful resort, all bright orange. I unloaded my stuff and went to the reception to check-in. There was a young lady called Anne, she thought I wasn’t going to show up, so now she was very happy that I had decided to come after all. She showed me to my room where I was staying the next few days, which was so much better than what I had been having in Sabang Beach. Here there was a real shower area with hot and “cold” water and it did not smell like sewerage.

I quickly unpacked and set up all my gear for the next dive which would be in an hour. Then we were on our way a moment later. All the guys were doing photography, so nobody were in a hurry, which sounded good.

When we first descended, I discovered the bottom was almost dead, it was sand and stone with a layer of dust on top of it. I thought to myself, this must be the worst dive site ever...
Oh well, don't judge a book by its cover. As I was diving with Albert and he had thousands of dives and especially in Anilao, he quickly turned all my worries into pure excitement.

I thought I had taken a few good pictures in Sabang, and on the first dive I thought I got a few too, but when I saw what he was shooting on the same dive, I seriously needed some hints and tricks. I had some problems getting the focus right and with my big octopus arms for the strobes, I had some problems getting close in tight spots

The last dive of the day was a sunset dive, go in around sunset and see all the different nocturnal critters come out to hunt. It was quite amazing, and longer dive than normal.
But so many interesting things to see crawling around, things I have never seen before and probably will need a long time to learn to find again. The guys know what animals live on the different plants, so if they go to take pictures of specific animals, they don't just have to search blindly. This was fun...