Binicot Beach

Day 1 – This must be like living in paradise!

The next place we had decided to stay in Tablas was Binicot Bay where there was a place to go scuba diving, however this hotel was apparently fully booked but we saw there were a couple of others in the area.  So our two motorcycle taxi’s (June and his mate) arrived promptly at nine and once again our luggage were squeezed on the handlebars and us on the back and we clung on anxiously for the 30 minute ride to Binicot.  But to be fair they drove pretty slowly and we saw some great scenery along the way.

When we got there we first went to the hotel that was said to be fully booked, it wasn’t so we were given the choice of two type of accommodation a very nice cottage/hut or a very very nice large Octagonal Cottage/hut, even though Shell really liked the latter our budget dictated otherwise, although I said to Shell if she really wanted it we could spend two nights in the cheaper one and then one night in the luxury one (this didn’t happen as the cheap one was nice enough).

 

After checking in and unpacking we had a look at the beach which was drop dead stunning and we were the only ones on it and in front of our resort there was a floating pontoon that you could swim out to (very Eddie Grant ‘I don’t want to dance’ if you get my meaning).

 

We then went to the bar (although it was not much of a bar) and had a couple of drinks.  We got speaking to one of the female members of staff, Mimyong, and soon we were privy to all the gossip to do with the owners and resort.  Apparently the dive-master had had a falling out with the husband and was no longer working from the place and he and the dive master were currently attending a court hearing about it!. And the wife was a complete lunatic (“She’s Crazy!!”) who had a bit of a drink/drug problem.  She kept on going on about the woman owner and said she would be back later tonight and she was very interested on our opinion on her, we wondered what we had booked into!!

After chatting to Mimyong for a while we then decided to go for a snorkel, the resort supplied these free of charge. The water was like a bath but shallow and there was coral everywhere that was peppered with hundreds of black sea urchins, so we nervously snorkelled out to the deeper water with our bodies inches from these spinney creatures.  Once into the deeper water we were once again treated to Angel Fish, Parrot Fish, Trumpet Fish, Clown Fish and our yellow and black friends (I should really google them!!).

We snorkelled for quite some time and then returned to the beach surviving the sea urchin minefield and then decided to get a spot of lunch from the resort.  A very nice potato & tuna salad that we ate on the beach front where we was introduced to the male owner, a German Guy called Will. We didn’t mention the court case but did bring up diving where he said there was currently a ‘problem’ at the moment so none available. Shell asked him to help us out with a route for Tablas and Romblom Island and Ferry times back to Manilla which he promptly obliged us with.

 

In the afternoon we spent the time chatting to Mimyong, who was really nice, (her and Shell were like new best friends)  and having a few beers whilst waiting for the sunset which we heard was very nice.  We also asked about getting a scooter/bike for the next day and about sorting out the scuba diving. Mimyong said she would contact the dive-master who was now operating further along the beach.

After a spectacular sunset we decided to get changed and go to the resort/bar next door to get some dinner and drinks as it looked more like a proper beach bar and was rumoured to have very large draft beers.

 

The bar was not that busy but indeed it did very good draft pints of ice cold larger so we stopped there and had some food, which was OK but not brilliant.  We stayed there for the rest of the evening having a few pints before turning in for the night.

Day 2 – Mad Michaela

We woke up fairly early and went for a cigarette on our veranda, as soon as Mimyong spotted us she bought us over some coffee’s.  After a quick shower we then went for breakfast which was in an area that had a nice sea view.

Whilst Shell was finishing off her breakfast I went next door to rent a bike for the day and was very excited to see they had a proper dirt bike to rent.  So I then had a little practice up and down the lane as I hadn’t ridden a proper geared bike for about 30 years so just wanted to check if I still knew where the clutch, gears and brakes were before letting Shell get on the back.

 

We then got on the bike and headed for the capital of Tablas, Odiongan, as we needed to get some money out, some provisions and  book a flight ticket back to Manila to exit the Philippines before our visa ran out (They kept on having power cuts in the resort and their internet connection was poor).  We drove though some pretty countryside and after about ½ hour we arrived in the main town.

Locating and getting out money was fairly easy, but trying to sort out our flight ticket not so.  First we got directions to an internet café, who when we arrive said their internet connection was not working.  We then stumbled across the Philippines Airways ticket office who promptly told us they would not take credit/debit card payments and had not computer for us to book something online (we needed to keep hold of our cash as we did not know when we would next get to an ATM).  Finally we were pointed in the direction of another internet café which did have a connection and we were able to sort the tickets out. 

Shell also managed to buy a small watch (her’s broke and we did not have one between us) and we picked up some toiletries (recent hotels had not kept us stocked up enough) before we thought it was time for a beer.  Again they don’t seem all that keen on bars in Tablas so we found ourselves in a small Chinese restaurant in order to obtain a beer.

It was now around lunchtime so we thought we had accomplished quite a bit for one day so we headed back to Binicot to our lodgings.  Once parked up we then met the now infamous woman owner, Michaela.

 

First of all she appeared very friendly and lively and she gave us a grand tour of their accommodation upstairs, at which point she gave Shell a pair of tacky sunglasses saying she could wear them and have them, however this ultimately came at a price as she took Shell’s sunglasses and started wearing them (Shell would never get these back!!).  The next thing we knew she is offering us dinner on the house and showed us a large tuna fish that we could have, we deduced that she was slightly peeved that she had seen that we had gone next door to eat and drink the previous night.

 

We then felt slightly obliged to keep her company at the bar for the rest of the afternoon, watching the Mad Mikeala show as she got more and more inebriated, telling us how people would find her collapsed in a drunken stupor in different places around the resort, how she threw one of her customers over a table once when they were arguing (She’s a black belt in Tai Kwondo) and then throwing coins and packets of biscuits for her staff to scramble for (Which was slightly uncomfortable to watch).

Also during the afternoon I managed to speak to the dive master, Chloe, and arrange a couple of dives for us  in the next couple of days and I also spoke to the bike owner (Peter from the resort next  door) and asked if we could keep the bike for another day.

As it started getting late in the afternoon we decided to take our portable speaker over to the floating pontoon and sit and listen to some music as the sunset.  It was idyllic but I realised we really could do with a couple of beers to make it perfect, so I quickly swam back to shore and picked up two cold bottles from the bar and returned to the pontoon.

For the next hour or so we enjoyed a perfect sunset, this was until we were called for our free dinner, we were going to eat when Mikeala decided we should eat!, so we had to stop our little private party and have our evening meal.

 

The free food wasn’t that great to be honest, quite a dry tuna steak and some rice and salad, but hey it was free so we couldn’t complain.

Once dinner was done we then went back to the bar where Mikeala now decided that she would be wearing her Tai Kwondo outfit for the evening.  We ended up spending the rest of the evening at the bar watching Mikeala’s exploits including a lot of her saying she was going to bed only to come back down a short while later wearing a new outfit.  Eventually shell and I decided to go to bed for the night and stay there!

Day 3 – Dirt biking!

Today we thought we would take proper advantage of the bike and go and explore some of the island.  Also we had arranged to meet Mimyong later in the afternoon after she had offered that she and her husband would show us some of the local beauty spots (On her one day off a week, (which was very sweet of her) in her home town of Looc (where we had stayed previously).

So after breakfast we jumped back on my new pride and joy and headed for Santa Fe, first we passed through Looc and I thought I knew which direction to head for, but I didn’t we headed past some cemetery and soon found ourselves climbing a mountain with the road turning into a path and gradually a dirt track, so we had to turn around and head back to Looc.

 

Once back in Looc I then decided I had found the correct road and started off down this road and was pretty confident we were going the right way, fortunately as we were riding along another bike waved at us and it was June (Our bike cabbie from a couple of days ago), so we slowed down and he asked us where we were going.  He then told us we were going in the opposite direction and to follow him back to Looc and he would put us on the right road, which he did (again how nice was that!). He gave us clear directions and his number should we get lost again.

We then spent the next 1 – 1 ½  hours riding all the way to Santa Fe, some of the roads were OK but some were still being constructed and were just bumpy dirt roads, so it took us a while to get there and when we did we were not that impressed as it was again pretty much a one horse town and the beach area was not that nice.  So we just got off the bike, so Shell could get some feeling back in her backside (she was complaining the seat was too small and she was sitting on the tool kit behind it) and had a cold drink outside of one of the local stores.

Once refreshed we got back on the bike and thought we would try and find some other beaches in the area, so we ploughed on for another couple of hours, getting lost and not really finding the stunning beaches we were trying to find for ourselves, going up and down bumpy roads and dirt tracks and getting saddle sore and very dusty.

Eventually we gave up and it was getting later in the days so we had to head back to Looc to meet up with Mimyong and her husband.  Around 3.30 Mimyong met us at the local petrol station on her scooter and we followed her back to her home, unfortunately she had to do some babysitting but said her husband would take us out by himself.

To be honest we had done enough riding for one day, but could hardly refuse as they were being so kind, so we got back on the bike and followed Mimyong’s husband on his bike.  We turned off the main road and soon we were climbing a hill along more bumpy roads and tracks (It’s lucky I had the trial bike and not a scooter) and then he led us down a path which led to Aglicay Beach Resort which was a lovely sandy beach where we got off and walked around. At last, we (well  Mimyongs husband) had found a decent beach.

 

It was then back on the bikes and climbing up the hill/mountain again and Mimyong’s Husband (sorry cannot remember his name) would stop from time to time to point out the various vista’s along the way which were stunning.

 

We rode around for about an hour or two and then were asked if we would like to see a waterfall that was close to their house, so we rode on to see that.  However I am not sure what happened as we got to another holiday resort and Mimyong’s husband spoke to the manager, but I don’t think we were allowed to see it so we returned to their house.

Once back at their house we sat and chatted to them for a while and had a few glasses of water before thanking them for the trip and having to make our leave before it got dark. There was a fiesta that they had invited us to join but we were just too tired and didn’t want to face the ride back in the dark. My eyes by this time were red raw from the dust!.

We were then back on the bike and trying to make it back before nightfall and we were doing quite well, although it felt like someone had moved our resort and then the bike started coughing and spluttering and refusing to go up hill before finally dying.  It was now dusk and I had visions of us having to push the bike home (however far that was), but fortunately we konked out just next to a roadside store and after putting some petrol into the tank we were up and running again – phew!!

About 15 minutes later we were back in Binicot Beach Resort propping up the bar next door  for a quick draft beer and feeling pretty pleased to be off the bike, before going back to our chalet to shower the dirt and dust off of ourselves.

 

In the evening we decided to creep past Mad Michaela and go back to Peter’s bar to enjoy some cold draft pints of lager and some food.  The beer’s kept flowing all night and the last recollection I have is giving Shell a piggy back to our chalet under the watchful glare of our crazy hostess!

Day 4 – Whales, Blood & Turtles

We got up fairly early as we were due to dive today and were pleased to find Shell’s small cold had cleared up (you shouldn’t dive with a cold as its harder to equalize) so we got ready and went for breakfast.

When at breakfast we got chatting to an older French couple that we had said hello to the previous day (the only other people staying at the resort) and we soon found out that they were quite experienced divers and they too were doing the dive with us today.

 

We all headed down the road and met up with Chloe at the dive centre and she told us we would be doing one dive off the shore and one dive off a boat and she introduced us to another of her friends who was a dive master who would be looking after us too (I insisted we wanted 2-1 with an experienced dive master when I booked due to our lack of experience).  She then handed out all the scuba equipment for us to set up for ourselves which was good except Shell and I had never really put a weight belt together for ourselves, so we just loaded the belts with the same weight as we had used in our training.

It was getting really hot especially as we had to put on all our equipment, long wet suits and a lot of weight and then walk down the beach and then Shell got a bit worried about wading out across all the minefield of sea urchins and coral and took a bit of a tumble but was OK.  Also it wasn’t great that the other dive master had had a heavy session the night before and felt ill as soon as he got into the water so decided he did not want to do the dive!.

Anyway we continued out into deeper water where we then started to do our decent, the only problem was that Shell and I were having problems trying to descend as it appeared we did not have enough weight on our belts (Later we found this because we were wearing a full wetsuit which was more buoyant than the half-suits we wore in training).  However Chloe had some spare weights on her and she handed them to Shell and I to put in our pockets and we were then able to descend.

Shell had a broken mask that leaked in water (luckily Chloe had a spare) and I still had some issues with my buoyancy (maybe because we had left it a while since training) and my air-tank came loose, which the French guy noticed and sorted out for me. But in general we did not think the dive master had taken into account our lack of experience and did not pay the level of attention to us that our instructor had, so we were happy we had the experienced French couple with us as they were keeping an eye out for us.  I can’t say either of us particularly enjoyed the first dive that much, maybe because we were getting used to it again and we had a couple of little problems that we hadn’t previously encountered, plus the fact we did not see anything that special, normal reef fish and one scorpion fish, but never the less it was good to practice what we had learnt.

We went back into shore and rested for a while and chatting with the French couple you could tell they were not too happy with the way the Dive Master was handling us.

Around an hour later we set off on our next dive, again we were not exactly happy as our set up scuba gear was in one small boat and we were in the other and we were told once we got to the dive site they would throw the scuba gear into the water and we would put it on in the water (which was fine as we had learned how to do this in training), the only thing was we would have to swim to the gear with our weight belts on (with increased weights, shell now on the same weights as me!) and we were not sure how they were going to tell who’s gear was whose.

Well we managed to swim and get out gear on but as we thought someone had Shell’s set-up on and it took a while for the dive master to sort this out, (mucking fuddle!) but in the end weights from pockets were exchanged and we were ready to descend.

We started to descend and I was following the Dive Master and I had not noticed that Shell was not with me (Me being a bad buddy partner, I will learn from this), she was having problems equalizing her ears due to her previous cold and was having to go up to try and rectify it, fortunately the French lady had noticed this and was helping her with it. 

After a little while Shell managed to make the descent and luckily for all of us the delay caused by this meant we were right on cue to see a magnificent whale shark (Only a baby at 6-7 Metres long!!) swim by. Shell was a lot closer (and with the Dive Master who felt she should finally help her) the dive master even called out with Joy. She’s done over 300 dives here and this was her first whale shark! A really special moment for Shel and I and on only our 6^th ever dive together.

After this we carried on with our dive but after around ½ hour I was getting a bit low on air, so the dive master passed her spare respirator to me to share air, presumably so the more experienced French couple could stay down longer so I was swimming along by her side but not completely happy with it as I wanted to keep my eyes on Shell. Shell didn’t know this at the time and thought I was in trouble as we seemed to be ascending and then would go back down again, not good!  Plus at 10ft it makes you equalise more!.  Only when I took my own air supply back did she understand that I was okay.  

Another five minutes later and I got a tap from Shell and she was signalling she had a problem with her mask, I signalled for her to clear it just thinking she had water in it, but she signalled for me to come closer.  When I got up close to her I could see she had blood in the bottom of her mask, so I swam and quickly caught up with the dive master to signal a problem, like me she just though Shell needed to clear water out of her mask.  So I signalled to her that it was more than that and when she came to Shell and signalled to her to clear her mask Shell did,  I think she was quite shocked when she saw blood coming out of the mask.   Once she realised this all three of us surfaced where we found that because Shell had had some problems equalizing (because of the remnants of her cold) she had had a nosebleed into her mask.  So we told Chloe to continue with the dive with the French couple and we would go back into the boat.

Once the rest of them had finished their dive we were back in the boats and headed back into shore.  Although we were not terribly happy with the supervision we had had, we were pleased that we had had some problems and had been able to deal with them, especially Shell not panicking with the blood in her mask and felt that we had gained a lot of valuable experience due to this.  It was also fantastic to see a Whale Shark in its natural environment, a totally different experience to the one we saw in Oslob where they were being fed. The lovely French couple who watched our erratic path from below advised us to get a dive computer of our own and that it was one of the poorest Dive Masters they had experienced!. So much for trip advisor!.

After we had taken all our kit off and showered we headed straight to Peter’s bar and started drinking well deserved pints of draft larger and then we got speaking to a bunch of free-divers that were running courses on the beach further down.  One guy we were chatting to could dive to 40 meters on a single breath!, nutter!. Anyway we ended up drinking and chatting to them for most of the afternoon (one of them a bit too American for my taste!) and we saw Chloe again who helped me fill in our dive logs.

Earlier in the day Chloe had told us that there was someone at the end of the beach who was doing a baby turtle release, they had collected all the turtles as they hatched and were going to release them on the beach at dusk when they had a better survival chance.

 

So we headed down the far end of the beach just before dusk where there was a small gathering of people and shortly after we arrived a large container full of baby turtles was brought out and handful by handful they were put onto the beach for them to make their way into the sea.  It was great to see this but a few of them seemed to be struggling to get down the beach so slowly people were picking them up and placing them closer to the water edge to help them out, Shell included, and seeing them take their first strokes it the ocean some of them being revived by the water was really very special and something we won’t forget – let’s hope a few of them are still swimming around in a few years time!

 

We then returned to Peter’s bar (or it could have been ours) and finished off the night doing what we do best before heading for bed at some point to dream of Whale Sharks & Turtles & nose bleeds!