Monday 3 November – off to Piaynemo geosite

Rowan managed to find a Homestay around the corner that would take us to Piaynemo in a long boat. It is famous for its Limestone island landscape and has great snorkelling too. There is nowhere easy to anchor PolePole nearby, so this was a great option. The longboat picked us up before 9am, it was about 6 miles away and the waves were pretty big, there has been a cyclone in the Philippines which is not that far away, definitely has some knock on effects for us. The driver with his red betel nut stained teeth, drove very considerately trying not to splash us. The lady Rowan organised it with came with us too, which was lucky as she could speak some English.

We entered the Geosite which is spectacular with its colour water and limestone cut out islands. We went to a visitor centre that had some very good steps that took us up high for a great view. We had no idea this is what we would be doing, luckily it was wooden steps all the way up as we had not brought shoes, I wore my reef shoes which were luckily in my snorkel bag, mainly because the wood was so hot. The views were very impressive, it was worth the steamy hot steps up. We went to a second look out, those steps were more challenging, blobs of cement over sharp eroded limestone. I was very glad for my reef shoes here. Another great look out.

It was a relief to get in the water to do some snorkelling which was just outside the Geosite around some small islands. The current was roaring, so they dropped us off and they picked us up at the end. Thank goodness they had a very nice ladder for getting back in the boat. The coral and fish life were amazing, vibrant and varied, with loads of fish again. Rowan jumped into the water with the battery door open on his GoPro so that has died. We have no underwater photos from our snorkel which is sad, next time. Luckily Rowan’s brother Clinton is coming out here at the end of the month and can bring a new Go Pro and Drone with him! We did two more snorkel stops, the second one was particularly good, everything looking so healthy, and stunning coral colours on the limestone walls that run straight into the sea. We were all done by lunchtime. Amazingly our guide has never snorkelled and never seen what it looks like under the water. I suspect few local woman have seen the life under the water.

It was a relaxing afternoon back on board, followed by another delicious meal prepared by Alex, plus another round of Alex’s card game 5 Crowns which he won again!