Southern Leyte

I did spend 2 weeks in Southern Leyte mainly because I wanted to see the whalesharks. Leyte is one of the places where they do not feed the whalesharks. So I did go on 4 whaleshark trips and saw 16 whalesharks 😉

The resort, sogod bay resort, was okay, but not more. Don’t expect a personal touch there. You are just a person staying there. The food is okay, but for what you get far too expensive. The bungalows are okay as well, but you don’t have much space for wet and dry clothes. I had a look at the apartments and they are much nicer for a lower price. Sadly there are not that many good resort yet on Leyte, so there are not yet that many choices.

I learned during my stay that they grow cacao on Leyte. As a chocoholic I needed to get some. So I took a bus to Maasin. In Maasin they have a nice market where you also get pure cacao. It smells so good. Maasin is a nice city where you can do some shopping, get a haircut and good food. The bus from Padre Burgos costs 30 Pesos (one way) and needs around 1 hour to get there.

After Maasin I did take the bus to Sogod. On Wednesday and Thursday they have a big farmes market there. I was there on a Saturday and the daily market was impressive as well. I wish I would have had a possibility to cook there. They vegetables looked so great.

Moose & Squirrel is a cute restaurant just next to the resort where you get super yummy food for more or less nothing. Try the Kinilaw if they have it. Kinilaw is raw fish „cooked“ in lime juice, coconut milk, ginger and chili. This is so nice. From time to time they prepare Mango Float. Such a wonderful dessert.

If you ever go to southern Leyte, especially Padre Burgos, and your resort doesn’t offer daytrips, here are some tours you can do using public transportation:

• Padre Burgos – Maasin – Bato – Sogod – Padre Burgos: you should be able to do this tour within one day with the bus. You have time enough to visit the cities and their markets.
• Padre Burgos – Maasin: go to Maasin and take a tricycle from there to the waterfalls and caves next to Maasin. As the tricycle driver to pick you up after a certain amount of time
• Padre Burgos – Sogod: you can visit the market in Sogod and have a good Pizza at Doc’s Pizza place. Close to Sogod there is a volcano with a lake. I honestly have no idea how you can reach the volcano with public transportation. Somebody told me, that it is possible.

If you have been in the region and have some more tips, just drop them as comment.

Peleliu

After a week on the Aggressor I went on to Peleliu. This was like moving from hell to heaven. The cottages of the „Dolphin Bay Resort“ were really wonderful.

The resort also rents bicycles, so I got one twice for a half day to cruise around the island. This was really great. After the first ride I knew most of the people on the island.

The diving at the resort was wonderful. Small groups and always 2 dive guides. Isaac and Massako did a great job in showing us everything they found under water. The service above the water was also great. I really liked diving there.

What I didn’t like so much was the bottled water. They call themselves „Eco-friendly“ but I haven’t seen too much “Eco-friendliness”. You get per day 2 bottles of water in your room. Why not use a container you can re-use? So there are still some small things you could do to become really „Eco-friendly“.

Palau Aggressor II

I was for a week on the Palau Aggressor II. A big yacht made for divers. The slogan of the Aggressor fleet is „eat, sleep, dive“.

1. EAT: the food was simply amazing. Cameron, our chef, was preparing 1st class food for us during the whole week. The lamb curry was one of the best I ever had. The day started with a cold breakfast at 6am, followed by a warm breakfast at 8:15, after the second dive we got buffet lunch and in the evening a wonderful dinner. You always had 2 meals you could select from. Like said, the food was amazing 😉
2. SLEEP: the room were big enough for 2 people and had plenty of space for clothes, bags and so on. So sleeping was fine, but don’t forget that you have to get up early every day for the diving
3. DIVE: this was the not so good part on the yacht. We were 17 divers and they didn’t split us in groups. So 17 divers with different levels were in the water at the same time. Sometimes it was okay, but most of the time it was just painful. It would have been so easy to form 3 groups, but somehow they didn’t want to.

What else to say? The trip to jellyfish lake was cool and the land tour on Peleliu was full of history.

Would I go again on the Aggressor? Probably not, as I love to dive in small groups with people who have a similar level like me.