Dumaguete and Apo Island

After work on Friday, Ali and I walked down to the pier and took an overnight boat to Dumaguete (a small college town on a nearby island called Negros). We later learned that the boat ride was about 6-7 hours long. Our boat left Cebu City around 7:30pm and arrived in Dumaguete at 2:30am, which is fine if you are from Dumaguete and have somewhere to go. Not so fine when you were planning on arriving at 6 or 7 in the morning, not 2:30. Thankfully, the boat didn't leave again until 7am, so we were able to stay on the boat for several more hours and get a little more sleep. We got off the boat, bought our boat tickets for our return to Cebu City the next night and hit the town. Dumaguete is a college town known for Silliman University. Each year, there is a week long party celebrating the founding of the university. This past weekend happened to be the end of the founder's day celebration so there was tons going on in the town. Ali and I walked around for a bit, up and down Rizal Blvd (a pedestrian walkway that runs along the water), went to a cafe, and checked out the church and bell tower next to it. There was something about the bell tower that just caught my eye. I must have taken dozens of pictures of it from all different angles.

After that we took a tricycle cab to the bus station, a bus from Dumaguete to Malatapay (tiny town on the southern tip of Negros), and a small boat from Malatapay to Apo Island. Apo Island is so incredibly beautiful and deserted. It is only 1 mile long and 1/2 mile wide, but offers some of the best diving in the Philippines. After settling in, Ali and I and Ruel (the dive master at the place we were staying) walked to the other side of the island and went snorkeling at the marine sanctuary. It was so beautiful and everything was only 10 - 20 feet underwater. So, if you wanted to, you could just swim down to something to see it up close. There were huge table corals and schools of clown fish. We saw several trumpet fish and giant groupers. After snorkeling, Ruel took us up to the top of the island to see the lighthouse. We were dripping with sweat, but totally worth it. There are several families who live near the lighthouse. After that was just reading and relaxing. There were tables and chairs right on the beach, near the water. It was so peaceful and beautiful. It didn't seem real.

The next morning we woke up early to go diving. Ali and I met up with Ruel and went diving at a nearby divesight called Chapel point. So pretty. The highlight of the dive was the two sea turtles we saw. The first one was swimming in open water and only kinda close. I didn't even see the second one at first, but Ruel kept motioning and pointing, and then, all of a sudden, it practically swam out from underneath me. It had been hiding in the corals and I just didn't see it. Ali decided to relax for a bit while I went on a second dive at a dive site called Largahan. One thing that was cool about this sight was you would swim to a flat plane where there was nothing but sand and then there would be all these streams of tiny bubbles rising out of the sand. Apo is a volcanic island, so those air bubbles are coming from underground. After the dives we relaxed for a bit and then took a 4pm boat back to Malapatay, then a bus back to Dumaguete.

We had to hang out in Dumaguete for a bit since our boat didn't leave until midnight. So we walked around a bit more, went back to the main square, people watched, etc. We decided to go to a contemporary italian place for dinner that was recommended by our trusty lonely planet travel book. However, it was quite difficult to find when (1) it wasn't where the book's map said it would be and (2) it had changed names since the book was written. But we eventually found it and it was delicious! After dinner, we were walking down Rizal Blvd when we stopped at a crowd that had gathered. As part of the Founder's Day festivities, it was essentially Dumaguete's best dance crew. There were 8 or 9 groups of students/young adults who performed routine make up of hip-hop and crunk with some high-flyin' aerials thrown in for good measure. It was cool. After the dancing, it was time to board the boat and head back home. We arrived in Cebu City around 6am.

Please click here for more pictures posted on facebook.

(Rizal Blvd in Dumaguete)

(Bell Tower)

(Apo Island Beach Resort, where we stayed)

(Apo Island)