Trip to Donsol

 Over Easter we went to Donsol-another city in the Philippines to swim with the whale sharks-in tagalog called butanding-it was a lot of fun!  First are some pictures on our hour drive from the airport to Donsol.

 We saw this big right outside our car window

!

 We arrived at our hotel, had some lunch, settled in and the kids were ready to see the beach-here the sand is dark brown/black because it is volcanic sand.  They had a great time catching little crabs, building/decorating castles, and playing in the water.

 There were pretty flowers and hammocks at the beach too.

 Our hotel had a terrific pool-11foot deep section for diving classes and this cool bridge in the middle

 On Friday morning we were off to get on a boat and see the whale sharks.  We rode around for our 3 hours and were about to go back in when one of the boats found a "small" whale shark-6-9 feet long.  They are not really sharks but the largest kind of fish, eat plankton and small fish, have mouths about 3 feet wide but are very non-aggressive especially for their size.

Unfortunately Ashley jumped in with me and with her snorkel already in her mouth got a mouthful of water and was too busy crying to look down and see the whale shark.

 Here is Scott all ready to go!  He and Ryan each went in with Greg and got to see the whale shark and swim alongside it-for such large animals, they move pretty fast.  We had been hoping to get to see more from the boat and get pictures but with so many boats out and people in the water they wouldn't come up to the surface.

 

 Greg and I went diving on Thursday afternoon and that night we all went on a boat ride on the Donsol river to see the fireflies.  In some of the trees there were just HUNDREDS of them.  The guy on the boat with us caught some for the children to hold and they thought it was fun to see so many all together

 

 Above is Ashley showing off her braids that Ms. Dali made and Below is Ryan showing off the hole from the tooth he lost while we were there!

 Now that Ryan is 8, he is old enough for a PADI bubblemaker dive in a pool so he and Greg had a class before they started the pool exercises

 This is the outside of the hotel where we stayed

 

 Ryan and Mr. Rowell in the pool!

 Greg jokes that he HAD TO get certified to dive before Daddy would let him marry me.  He loved it so much that he wants to start Ashley learning at not quite 5 yet.  Her problem is that she starts giggling and talking and the regulator falls out of her mouth!

 Everyone giving me the ok! 

 Ashley did think it was really fun to breathe underwater and swim around with her daddy!

 Below is Ryan underwater with Mr. Rowell

 and they are all giving me the ok at the end of Ryan's class

 We posed for a goofy picture with the whale shark picture on the wall of the restaurant!

 Below is where we went to get on the boat again on Saturday afternoon to try to see more whale sharks

 

 

 Again we had been out riding around for about 2 hours beginning to think we weren't going to see anything else and someone spotted a "medium" sized whale shark-24-27 feet long.  We came home and measured with the kids-our van is 15 feet long and the whale shark we saw was nearly as long as our pool here!

 I jumped in and was swimming to where I saw other people in the water when the guide told me to stop and look down-the whale shark was swimming RIGHT under me-he was so close I was afraid he was going to touch me!  They had told us to stay 3 meters from the body and 4 meters back from the tail.  Ryan and Ashley didn't get in the water today because it was afternoon and the waves were bigger but Scott and Greg swam along with this huge whale shark several times and thought it was really great!

 

 Above is the hotel van and here is the main street that the hotel was on

I took these pictures from the hotel roof-Uncle Alvie, the below picture is for you of Donsol Central Hardware just across the street. 

 They are building a bar up on the roof of the building

On the way back to the airport

 At the airport, below is the baggage claim area-the carousel did actually turn, but men drove a cart of luggage over from the plane and threw the bags on the carousel

 This is how close the plane comes to the waiting area-this one is the plane before ours

 and when your flight is called you just go outside, walk up the stairs, and get on the plane.  Not much like the Atlanta airport or even our little teeny one in Greenville!

 Ashley wanted this t-shirt but this was the smallest size it came in so she has worn it more as a nightgown! We had a great trip and enjoyed family time over the Easter break!

I asked the kids what their favorite things were about the trip and they said
Scott
1.  the night the power went off at the hotel when we were eating dinner (thankfully they did have a generator)-I would not have minded eating by candlelight but I wanted the air conditioning!

2.  seeing the big whaleshark on Saturday

3.  Fireflies on the Donsol river

Ryan
1.  his bubblemaker dive in the pool at Giddy's Place

2.  their cool swimming pool

3.  going to the beach the first afternoon we were there

Ashley
1.  the pool

2.  diving with the whalesharks-not that she really did it but that is what she said

3.  watching cartoons on tv in our hotel room in the afternoon while Greg and I were out diving