Puerto Galera

Jon flew up to Manila saturday night. We met up with his friend Athen his girlfriend Pip to go to Puerto Galera for a couple of days. Athen's family have a place by the water there. It was about a 4 hour trip to get there; 2 hours by car and 2 hours by ferry. Puerto Galera is a nice place...the beach isn't as nice as Boracay's, but the atmosphere is more laid back and less touristy. The weather wasn't that nice though...I seem to be unlucky when going to beachy areas...overcast weather for the third time. At least it only really rained at night.

I tried wakebaording for the first time. I doesn't seem to be my thing...I never managed to get up on the board. I tired myself out trying to hold on to the rope and never figured out how to orient the board and myself to get out of the water.

Also did a cliff jump from about a 50 ft height...I don't like heights so it was a feat for me. The climb up was ok except for the jagged rocks. I didn't like being up there so I jumped almost right away...man it looks higher when you're up there ! I didn't fully commit to the jump so I was leaning backwards when I hit the water with total lack of grace and beauty. I'm still feeling the effects of the impact. Jon took some pictures of the jump on his phone but accidentally didn't save them. He wanted me to go again but I didn't...once was enough.

There was a guy at the beach selling balut. I had to try it...it's definitely an acquired taste. Some people eat the little duckling, but I opted not to. It's got an eggy taste, but mushy...hard to explain.

We spent so much time out in the water so I didn't take any pictures of the place. The sun came out on the day we left but we went out to wakeboard again. I tried it again, but was too sore from the cliff jump to really hang on.

We did a neat thing though...submarining. You hang on the rope without a board or a ski and go flying through the water. The water gives you a good massage as you go faster...if you go fast enough you can feel your face get dragged down. It's pretty cool...you have to make sure you're in deeper water though so you don't come to an abrupt end at a rock.

We left tuesday afternoon and after spending one more night in Manila we flew back to Cebu.