We have never been anywhere like that before, we stepped out of the airport and got into a cab, that was the easy part. We got to the bus place, I can't call it a terminal since it was just a place with a lot of busses but no ticket counter just a lot of people trying to get you into their bus. After a two and a half hour bus ride with people coming on and off trying to sell us things, we got off in Batangas, a port city where we were to take a boat to Puerto Galera but when we got off the bus we were once again swallowed up by people trying to get us to go on their boat but they told us that the last boat had already left and it was going to cost A LOT, 10 times what the regular boat would cost, we were exhausted, a day late because of the airport and just wanted to hit the beach, so we paid the man and got to the boat. We had to pay them first because they needed to buy gas for the boat so we gave them the money and then they left and we were sitting in the boat, in the water, and all these people kept coming up to us asking for tips, pushing off tip, boat carrying tip, it was a little scary and I thought for sure that we were screwed but they came back and we started off for White Beach, near Puerto Galera. They said it would only take one hour, it was late and it was starting to get dark, lucky us, we saw the sunset which was really beautiful but then it was dark and we were on this little boat in the ocean and it was dark, no light and other bigger boats around, we almost got ran over by a ferry and had to go very slow because they were waves and we couldn't see them because it was dark, the ride ended up taking 2.5 hours, but we made it.
Once we were there it was beautiful, we stayed in this overpriced hotel the first night because we were exhausted and just wanted somewhere clean with a door that locked, the next day we asked the front desk what the best way to get to the smaller beach that Lonely Planet had said was much nicer, they told us it would be 1000 pesos for a boat or they could drive us for 800, so we decided to take a walk. We found the beach it was just around the corner! Less than a 10 minute walk, that was the most frustrating thing about our experience in the Philippines, everyone is trying to rip you off. So we got our stuff and went to this other hotel, it was perfect. It was a much quieter beach, no boats, no hustlers, few people, white sand, clear blue water, and we were the only people staying at the hotel so everything was just for us. We went snorkeling and it was beautiful, like looking into an aquarium and there were sooo many fish, it was great until I saw a jellyfish! I had never seen a jellyfish, and didn't know that I was TERRIFIED of them, I saw a jellyfish and started hyperventalating. We saw back to shore and I was perfectly content to stay on the beach. Denis went back out and when he came back he said that it was beautiful, and he didn't see anymore jellyfish. So the next day I decided to go again, everything was beautiful again, until the jellyfish, I again freaked out and we started swimming back to shore. And then I saw a HUGE water snake, I jumped over Denis and took off - it was the scariest thing I have ever seen. I stayed out of the water after that. I decided that was enough for me...the beach was just fine. It was very relaxing, too bad it didn't last longer...
the pictures on sarahanddenis.toadfire.com
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