HOME... (The UK)

Wow, so I made it home. It only took 56 hours of that most of it was spent in airports rather that in the air which I think is a novel way to travel BUT,sadly I do not think this trend will catch on. What do I have to report with regard to my international adventure? Well. In Bahrain, they have a big mac but instead of being made with beef patties they are made with chicken. I think they call it a Chicken Big Mac but I wouldn’t want to commit to that. It turns out that Bahrain was not all that warm either. In fact, despite it’s sandy almost lunar vistas indicated that it would be hilariously hot, the journey from the plane to the terminal was distinctly chilly. I was beginning to dread the Great British climate.

Another flight came and went and dispite my best attempts, I was not upgraded and was actually placed amongst a family of four children and their respective parents. Wooo. The young fella next to me decided that I would make a great foot stool during his deep and never ending slumber. Double wooo. Eventually I landed and was re-united with my family. Strangely, the only thing I craved was humus. This was provided in over-the-top abundance but I am not one to look a gift humus in the mouth although I was hit by my first pang of missing the home I called Liquid Dumaguete and Tim’s home made pita and humus.

Naturally I have been over fed and watered by EVERYONE. Picture this: mum’s homemade Moussaka, cheese board and chirstmas puddng cheese cake FOR BREAKFAST. It’s a tough life but someone has to live it. If you know me then you will know that that is not such a big problem. I don’t have much else to say apart from the skies in London despite being interjected by weird and wonderful buildings are usually grey and the temperature is cold. Much as I love this city and country I am itching to get back home. People seem less than happy and ONE of them now has my phone. Yep, my pockets were picked on my first day back. Now I have no means of listening to music which genuinely feels like loosing a limb¹. Thanks London. Thanks a LOT.

In my absence and to my surprise, it appears that life goes on in the Philippines. The thought that every single person this earth has their own life, thoughts and direction that carry on regardless of whether you are there or not still baffles me a little bit, if you also consider that there are many billions of people on this glorious planet then you are in serious danger of blowing my mind. Liquid life continues with a successful new intructor coming up through the ranks and therefore a humungous party and much celebration. I wish I was there for that. Congrats and well done fella. You deserve it and I am SURE you will make a superb instructor for many years to come. Secondly, a trip to the Suliman Islands to swim with Whale Sharks happened. I am not sure if you have seen all the photos BUT they look exceptional. I hope they are still there when I get back otherwise my many trips on the whaleways² at home with have to suffice. I have been promised by Gui and Alfred that it was one of the greatest moments of their lives. Liquid Dumaguete – where dreams come true. It’s got a certain ring to it huh?!

Until the next time my friends, I hope you are warm, comfortable and dry, surrounded by those who you wish to be surrounded by.

Take it easy,

Ads x

¹ Turns out my dad has insurance and I officially live with him so I now have a shiny new phone-based music device on its way (I hope). Thanks dad!!

2 I am so soo soooo sorry. That is a classic dad joke and I do not know where it came from but I hope it is not contagious.

Heading home (soon)

This week has been highglighted (for want of a better word) by the weather and if you want me to be more precise then I will specifiy the WIND in particular. If you imagine the scene, a glassy smooth ocean with the sun rising behind it and a gentle breeze cooling you to the perfect temperature then you will be and as I was imagining Liquid (I think that is the simplest abbreviation) on a normal day. HOWEVER, I had not factored in Beelzebub nor Aeolus. They are two fellas / mythic beings who should NOT be messed with. Naturally though, we had Roy, Vince, Julias and the rest of the boat crew on our side so we braved the high seas and went on an adventure to Apo. This is usually a fairly simple undertaking. The return leg was a lot of fun and most enjoyable with our implicit confidence in the crew. The seas were ROUGH with 10-15 foot swells. Having said all this, calm has been resorted to our little corner of the Philippines now and we are once again bless with glassy seas and sunny skies (MOST of the time).

Thursday 24^th November saw an away day for most of the staff and guests to the Drill Shack for a Thanksgiving meal. I am not American so you could argue that I am jumping on a bandwagon but if you ask me bandwagons are there to be jumped on sometimes. ESPECIALLY those that encourage togetherness, community and socialising with friends and family, close and new. Plus, I am pretty thankful in general at the moment AND I LOVE turkey. I consider this to be a warm up for Christmas – another time I love. I have pretty much finished my international christmas shopping so I hope (some) of you folks are looking forward to Filippino/Malaysian themed gifts!

I have recently made a new friend. She has gorgeous, glossy blond hair, blue blue eyes, a wonderful smile and she LOVES to use her tongue (bear with me)... She likes nothing more than lazy Sundays, long walks along the beach,swimming in the ocean and a drink at the end of the day. Her name is Polka and she is a golden retriever. Solymar and I WITH Polka’s assistance have been searching for treasure up and down the beach when we take her for walks. If we are lucky we have Captain Kai along for assistance. He is particularly good at spotting boats and the moon. He is pivotal to our success.

John and Ro left and to be honest, they were wonderful people and definitely brightened up the place with their laid back and cheerful demeanour. Don’t misinterpret that by imagining that Liquid is not still the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow BUT they helped us turn the joy-factor up to eleven. We have had a series of guests coming and going and we are currently fairly quiet with a fair few arrivals on the horizon.

I think I should probably start talking about diving a little bit seeing as that is pretty much my favourite passtime these days. Gui (with my assistance) has been certifying divers left right and centre and with James being the latest addition to the PADI Family (yuck, I can’t believe I just wrote that) having passed his open water and I now moving on to his Advanced Open Water cert. Chapel dive site at Apo? Yeah, I think so. Interestingly enough, Gui and I  were very lucky on our last trip to Apo because we (and by we I mean the boat crew) spotted a juvenile whale shark. I have heard rumors and stories of these beautiful creatures but I was not even close to being prepared for how majestic they really are. I named this one Andrew (in my head), he was roughly 4-5metres long and was quite content hanging out next to the boat while we gasped and excitedly chattered BUT for inexplicable reasons neither Gui nor I thought to grab our snorkels and jump in. This is something we mutually berate ourselves about often.

As for me, I have passed my first DiveMaster exams with 100%, yeah, I know, I am awesome and having assissted in enough courses to appease the criteria I am ploughing through my course while still managing to be in no particular hurry. I am heading home for a few weeks but fear not, not only will I continuing furninshing your internets with my thoughts BUT I will be returning triumphantly in January to finish off my certification and continue to make rainbow coloured waves in the PADI community. (Yeah, I know I look like a walnut).

Before I leave there is the important detail of Keith aka Lolo and his imminent depature. Being the gentleman that he is, and I use the term loosely, he has kindly bought a lechon for family, friends, guests and staff. I am hilariously excited about this. Filippinos know how to cook a whole pig. I will tell you in GREAT detail about it once it has happened. On a serious note, I will miss him for many reasons and the place will not be the same without him BUT is wonderful wife Claire arrives at the end of Jan so I look forward to that with excitement.