Snorkelling

Panglao Island is famous because it is a great place to scuba dive. Matt and I, being completely lazy, didn't go scub diving because we would watch the divers get up in the morning and put on full wet suits, including booties and head gear, and it did not look fun, so we decided to go snorkelling instead. One night we were walking on the beach and this man approached us and asked if we wanted to go snorkelling and watch the dolphins from his boat. He showed us his little trimaran and said he would pick us up at 5:30 (!) the next morning, and we agreed. His name was LouieGie, and his boat was named that too.

Going out to watch the dolphins was really funny. Matt and I probably didn't need to do it, since we have both seen dolphins before and alot closer than the boats could get. There were 4 or 5 trimarans chasing these poor dolphins around, and none of us could get close, and we were all trying to beat eachother. It was hysterical. One of the other boats was full of Chinese women, and everytime we got close to them, we heard squealing and saw cameras. We finally told LouieGie to stop chasing the dolphins and just take us to the snorkelling area. When we went snorkelling, it was amazing. It was infinitely better than any scuba diving or snorkelling I have done before. There were about a zillion different types of fish in a zillion different colors and a zillion different sizes. It was truly amazing. and there were all different types of coral too. At one point we say a huge spiralling mass of silver jack fish, and you could swim through the spiral and they would all be around you. LouieGie went snorkelling with us and it was very fun. Then we had breakfast on an island and LouieGie told us a little about himself. His wife was only 19 and they already had 2 kids and she was 4 months pregnant. He was telling us how if he was president he would make it a rule that all Germans had to leave the Philippines and none could ever come back. They really don't have good feeling for Germans on Panglao Island! The taxi driver couldn't stop taling about how ugly they were. But there were tons of them around! Every morning we woudl hear them saying "Guten Morgen". LouiGie said that they married all the Filipina girls because their own women were fat and ugly and wouldn't even say hi to you when you walked by. Hmmm...I hate to say it, but it was strangely gratifying to finally be the nationality that was not reviled most by the locals.


Trimaran on Alona Beach