Travis reaches Dauin, Philippines

G'day!

Phew, now I had to rest a bit before I could tell you anything here again. The journey here, to Dauin on the Philippine island of Negros, was really long. Luckily, this was the longest single leg of the entire trip. At least that's what my older ones say. And they have to know it.

From Brisbane back to Melbourne, from there via Bangkok to Manila, then to Dumaguete and then half an hour of a sometimes quite adventurous drive.

But then we arrived safely at the Pura Vida Dive Resort in Dauin. And we immediately got a delicious - attention, English - welcome drink. So a drink to say welcome.

And that fits. Everyone here is so friendly and always has a kind word to say. And they smile a lot.

Someone said that Filipinos always face difficult things with a healthy mix of positivity and faith. And that probably helps.

So I'm still researching the issue of faith.

But I can confirm the positivity thing. Since I approach water with curiosity rather than rejection, it seems less frightening to me.

My older ones are diving here a lot again and always come back very excited because they have met some creatures underwater, some of which seem quite strange.

And that's just a small selection. Most of them are found by the guide, who looks after them underwater and always knows where to go. His name is Jude and I think he's very nice. Maybe he'll like to take a photo with me sometime soon.

So, I'm becoming more and more curious about the "being underwater" thing. But in the end the two big guys went too far. Imagine them talking over dinner about how they can get me under and out of the water safely. And I'm sitting next to it and I'm not even asked!

They were talking about bags and diving bells and stuff like that. Oh man, I was really glad that a dear friend of my oldest gave me some good tips on how to approach going into the water slowly and carefully. She had great ideas and suggestions for swimming tires and water wings. I was then able to throw that into the discussion.

And even though, according to my oldest, my arms are probably too short for water wings (and anyway - what now, swimming or flying?), maybe with the swimming ring it could work somehow. And the friend even had ideas on how I wouldn't get so wet right away. Let's see what happens with all of this.

Well, anyway, they have funny boats here:

They have something like carrying rails on the outside - probably so they don't tip over or something. My older one is currently saying it's called an outrigger. Definitely because they are relocated to the outside. People here have had boats like this for a really long time. In all possible sizes. So I think I can let my two older ones ride on it without hesitation.

In between, my oldest had to stop diving because she had that migraine thing again. This time it seemed pretty big and she had to get off the boat very quickly. But the boat couldn't help it, she said. And the next day it worked again.

My oldest usually wakes up early in the morning and once she took me to watch the sunrise.

I really liked that. Great colors, the sound of the sea and all of this basically all to ourselves. Splendid.

So much for our first stop in the Philippines. I'll keep you updated on what happens next.

Until then, best wishes from Travis the Buddy Bear