New Camera

New Camera

With the death of one camera and the use of our old camera, we decided to buy a new camera. We had been talking about a camera that can be taken under water. The popular action camera at this time is a GoPro.

On a recent trip to Ormoc for supplies we looked for a camera. Since we could not find one in Ormoc we took an early morning SuperCat ferry ( http://www.supercat.com.ph/AboutUs/our-fleet.asp ) to Cebu. We found a store with a GoPro. The cost of the GoPro was 25000 pesos (about $550 US), a lot of money. Next to the GoPro was a knock off, a Supremo. The Supremo was 5000 pesos (about $100 US) more our price. Comparing the specifications, the Supremo had the same specifications as the GoPro.  Needless to say,  we bought the Supremo.

We did not use the camera until our friends, Pat and Ester and their kids David and Violet came for a visit from Topeka, Kansas.

We went to the beach in Pondol to swim with Pat, Ester, David and Violet.

Here is Pat, burying JJ in the sand:

Below is Violet building a sand fort:

Pat, Violet, David and JJ building a trench:

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 Bonding time for the two stoogies.  What fun!

Our picnic food was ready when we came.  Thanks, Abett.

I found a starfish about 7 feet down.

And the fish were schooling.

That night a beetle came to visit.

The next day we went to the Fish Interaction, Barangay Calag-Itan. See previous post                         ( http://midlifewandering.blogspot.com/2016/04/wandering-tourist-fish-interaction.html ). The kids enjoyed swimming.

Sweet Violet finally was able to swim with the fishes.  She's a feisty little bundle.  Love you to pieces, Violet.

And David didn't want to be left behind, either.  He's a little bit cautious but had fun as well.  Love you to pieces, David!

Watch out JJ, the fishes are after you!

JJ has became a good swimmer and likes to jump off of the pier, about 10 – 15 feet up.

Then there was swimming with the fish. Mostly smaller fish, but they are for the most part colorful. It is encouraged to throw in bread crumbs that attract and keep the fish at the pier. Also, they seem to expect the bread and explains why they do not leave when people are jumping in and swimming.  It is like swimming in an aquarium.

Then there is my favorite fish. Do not know what they are called, but we call them bubble puppies. They hang out in the shallower water by the ladder. They act like puppies and swim around your feet like a puppy running around.

There were not many people there that day and we pretty much had the pier to ourselves.

And finally there was the sunset. I will be honest, I did manipulate the picture a little in a photo editor. I wanted a little bit more color in the picture.

Thank you for following and sharing our blog on FB.  We will be posting more of our jaunts from the new camera.  We love y'all and God bless.

Wandering Tourist – Sabin Resort, Ormoc City,, Leyte

Wandering Tourist – Sabin Resort, Ormoc

June 28 – 30 we needed to go to Ormoc for supplies to keep working on the house. We went to Citi in Ormoc because we knew they had the supplies we needed for plumbing. We planned to stay in Ormoc  for 3 days because we planned to island hop to Cebu to find an underwater camera.

We stayed at the Sabin Resort Hotel in Ormoc. It is a 5 star facility. It has a great swimming pool and good restaurant. It cost 2400 pesos (about 60 dollars) a night. The room was clean with good beds but the shower was needing replacement. The resort has a "no outside food/drink in the room" policy. Probably so you have to go to their restaurant. And, it has the added benefit of keeping the rooms clean and bug free.  Most rooms open up to a veranda with a view of the pool or the seaside.  It also has a sitting area for you to enjoy should you decide to stay close to your room.

The staff were very pleasant and very helpful.  There were a lot activities going on while we were there.  There was a bridal shower, a baby shower, a conference and something else but it was a quiet pleasant stay for us.  The restaurant faces the bay and we watched the ships and barges come and go from Ormoc port.  The hotel's ground is well kept and there is a view deck with lots of sitting area to enjoy the lazy afternoon or night.  We ordered halo-halo one night and settled on a bench by the sea.  The restaurant has an al fresco style dining with a band that plays nightly.

http://sabinhotelormoc.com

If we have to stay the night in Ormoc again, we will stay at the Sabin Resort.

Thank you once again for following.  Enjoy life to the fullest and God bless.  We love you all.

Wandering Tourist - Mainit Hot Springs, Anahawan, Southern Leyte

Wandering Tourist – Mainit Hot Springs

Being a volcanic island area, we thought there should be some hot springs in the area to soak in.

After a little research we came across Mainit Hot Springs located in Anahawan. It is about half way between Hinundayan and Anahawan and about half hour south of where we live. It is also about half way between where we live and where we sell copra which is in San Juan.  Copra is coconut meat either sun-dried or smoked.

After selling a load of copra a couple of weeks ago, we decided to check out Mainit Hot Springs. There was a sign on the highway showing it was 3 kilometers (about 1 1/2 miles) up the barangay road into the mountains. We headed up the road and the sign on the highway was the only sign. We asked directions at a sari sari store (convenience store in a house) and got some directions that included a turn off of the barangay road. After driving a little further the road turned into a goat path (or 4 wheel drive path). Once again we asked for directions at another sari-sari store where the hot springs were. The hot springs were another 15 minute walk down the goat path that turned into a sort of road that went steeply down into a mountain creek bottom. If we had a good 4 wheel drive vehicle, we probably could have drove down the road.

The hot spring facility is a nice facility with changing rooms and nipa huts that can be rented for 100 pesos (about 2 dollars US). Entry fee was 10 pesos (about 20 cents US). There is a communal cooking area.

 

Past the huts is a spring fed mountain creek. 

Above the huts the creek splits with one side going over a fissure that heats the water to about the boiling point. There is sulfur in the fissure so it does smell like rotten eggs.

The heated water then goes to several pools and cools off. The water is bearable in the pools. Our thought was to enjoy a soak in the hot mineral water. However, the water that flow through the pools is not sufficient to flush out any debris in them. In fact, one of the lower pools had fish bones floating in it.   Needless to say, we did not soak in the pools.

Below the pools, the heated water rejoins the creek and continues down the valley.

The hot springs is run by the barangay. It looks like they clean around the facility and a little bit of maintenance. We think there is a lot that can be done to improve the hot springs. First is to clean the hot pools. It would be nice if they cemented in one or two of them for ease of cleaning. On a side note, the people that were there did not seem to mind the debris in the pools. It is probably just our Americanization that finds it offensive. The pools may get flush towards the end of the rainy season. We may go back at that time and check it out again. But until that time, we will not be going back.'