Fun Diving With Jellyfish

On our last day together, I go diving with Dave and Miri. We take the little Bangka from 3P out to Logbon Island. The weather is finally good again – it has often rained heavily over the last few days. We dive at Coral Canyon: a few small fish, colourful corals, nothing special. The dive is twice as expensive as in the Red Sea – and there’s much more to see. I’m a little disappointed.

Suddenly there are lots of small creatures floating in the water. My face immediately starts to burn badly. I protect myself with my hands. But it’s too late. We dive through a nice swarm of jellyfish. All the open areas of skin are covered in nettles. It’s bearable on my hands and ankles. It burns badly on the face. Great souvenir.

The boat doesn’t have any vinegar with it, although Dave and Miri had already brushed against a jellyfish yesterday. We lie on Logbon Island for a while before it comes back. I walk around. Poor fishermen, laughing children, lots of rubbish. I’ve got my kite and board with me, but the wind is pretty lousy. I don’t want to drift off again. The burning of the jellyfish nettles can be intensified by too much sun, I realise when it’s already too late. In the afternoon, heavy rain sets in again.

This is the end of our round trip across the islands north of Boracay. There would be a bangka to Sibuyan every day, but from there to Roxas on Panay there is only a very unreliable and often cancelled ferry three times a week. Not convenient to get back to Boracay in time.

So I only inspected three of the four planned islands for kiting – but found a fantastic, unspoilt spot on each of them. I am satisfied, but very tired of travelling. Easily 20 emails from customers every day – and often emergencies that would have been easier to plan. My diary shows a few days with 12 hours of work on Boracay from 14 January.