5 Days and 7,000 Islands

As a new father, it is seldom that I get two uninterrupted hours of time to myself.  I occasionally will take the afternoon off and go to the library for a few hours to get some work done, but that is a special treat.  Since alone time is such a scarce commodity, I was stunned and very touched that Jessica gave me 5 days in the Philippines as my 30^th birthday present.  I won’t know how to act without a baby strapped to my chest!

To say I’m super psyched up for the trip would be an understatement.  I have already signed up for a SCUBA certification course and hopefully I’ll have another day to kayak in a volcanic crater lake.  Even if I do nothing but eat seafood on the beach, I will be very happy guy. 

Of course one of the coolest parts of the trip will be experiencing the culture of a very unique Asian nation.  Although the Philippines is very close to Taiwan, it is incredibly different culturally, geographically, and historically.  Over 7,000 individual islands make up this nation which has almost 200 distinct living languages.  It is by far the most Christian country in Asia with 90% of the population belonging to the Catholic church.  Beautiful beaches, stunning mountains and volcanoes, incredible cultural diversity, and cheap delicious food – Jess obviously knows what I like. 

Since the trip is relatively short (although it will be the longest, by far, that I have been away from Abel), I won’t be traveling around to see many different parts of the country.  Actually, I will be staying and diving in Subic Bay which is only a short drive from the airport - minimize transit and maximize activities.   

Subic Bay is supposed to be quite a nice place, maybe not the most naturally beautiful in the Philippines, but it does have some incredible wreck diving.  I’ll be exploring ships from the Spanish-American war and WWII, along with natural reefs and coral.  I’ve only had one dive experience before (Great Barrier Reef in Australia) but honestly I remember little to nothing from the dive, so I am basically starting from scratch.  I’m taking the online learning portion now which consists of 10-12 hours of vidoes and slides to teach my about dive equipment and protocols.  Better get back to studying . . .