Getting a little cheeky in Donsol

We cruised down to Legaspi recently to dive with the

whale sharks. They migrate every year to the plankton

rich waters. They were hunted in the past for their meat

but thankfully the locals are making more money out of

tourism than fishing for them, so they look after them.

We are spoilt at home diving with dolphins

and seals so we are hard to please and initially thought this

whole thing may have been over rated. They are called

sharks but they are definitely placid whales. We were

amazed at these gentle giants. One was over 11 metres long and let

us swim along with it for ages.When they get sick of you

they just cruise deeper into the murky water

One of the best experiences we have had. A must

for any ocean lover

The view from the beach at Sangat Island is as good as it gets

Off with Fred , Sandy and Craig to the underground river, classic Filipino trip
The surf at Sabang of course JB did not have his board, the body surf was ok though

• Within the Philippines- there are over 7100 islands :)
  Our first real trip was in October with our good friends Sandy Van Nooten ( who actually grewup going to school 10 minutes from JB) and Fred Biggar ( the first Haggarsville local we have met) to Palawan - an island chain south west of here. We started at a place called Sangat Island for diving and relxing, check it out on this link; http://www.sangat.com.ph/
  We then traveled to El Nido another beautiful beach location; http://www.elnidoresorts.com/accommodation3.aspxWe then followed typhoon swells and rain past Port Barton on a truly epic trip

• Check out our school on this link; http://www.ismanila.org It is a great place to work with awesome facilities, especially compared to what we have been used to. It is like a college or University rather than a school. Tara has a great art room and JB loves the great fields for PE. The staff are great and we enjoy the weekly 'slurp' social hosted each week at a different appartment or house. Our apartment is two storey and located in the commercial centre of town. The bonus is we are only 10 minutes drive from work in the morning. In the arvo a bit longer but we weave our way through the traffic on our motorbikes. Yes that's right bikes, baby. Not exactly Hogs, but they get us around town swiftly. For out of town use we hire drivers and taxis to escape. We will bring you up to date with some postings of where we have been and what we have have been doing this year, which continues to go so quickly.

• Gidday to everyone that knows us. We have finally got organised and joined the world of the blogger. The links are to Picasa so you can happily enjoy the photos and movies from the last three years goings on
  Our website www.jbandtara.com will be around for a while(if JB can get it fixed) but this will be the main conveyer of useful and useless information to the world. We are outa the Middle East where we had some amazing experiences and met some fantastic people. We moved to Manila in The Philippines in July 2006 and we are so happy we made the move. Close to home, well sort of, at least we are the same time zone. Lots of amazing places to visit and the people in this country are very welcoming.
• Hope you can put up with our ramblings as we get this blog happening.