Goodbye Philippines, hello Indonesia

On July 27, 2026July 27, 2026 By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Bucas Grande, The Phillipines & Tangkoko, Indonesia

July 2026

For our last day in the Philippines, we woke moored between the paradise of Sohoton Cove National Park, on Bucas Grande island and a large nickel mine on the neighbouring island, with barren, dusty hills and 8 huge ships moored up along its shores. The two could not be more different – a literal beauty and the beast

Thankfully, we were to spend our morning around the beautiful Bucas Grande Island, and we started by exploring the towering limestone cliffs and incredible blue/green water, interspersed with perfect palmed lined white sand beaches.

Our zodiac meanderings followed around the coastline, spotting flora and fauna and even a few jellyfish in the perfectly clear water and we ended at a pontoon where we were given helmets and we transferred to small local outrigger boats and are local guides took us through a low cave. You can’t get through it at high tide and I could see why, I ended up in the bottom of the boat to avoid hitting my head.

We came out into a hidden Tojoman Lagoon, a literal wonder-world, surrounded by lush jungle covered limestone cliffs. Below us was was clearest emerald, green water and in that water was the pièce de résistance, hundreds, possibly thousands of jellyfish. Not just any old jellyfish, but golden, non-stinging spotted jellyfish (or mastigias papua) that are believed to have evolved in isolation.

I had seen photos of the jelly fish but could not image that it would be as amazing in person – but it exceeded my expectations. It was incredible! And just to be clear, despite saying that they are non-stinging, technically they do sting. But as their prey is the tiny phytoplankton, it really has no affect on humans. That said, the most sensitive of us did feel a little stinging from time to time as we swam with them. I have been lucky enough to have done a lot of pretty special things in my life, and this was right up there.

After this incredible experience, we headed back through the cave to the pontoon, and guess what, there were snacks and fresh coconuts ready for us. I do love this hospitality (and the snacks lol)

Back on the ship and we set sail south towards Indonesian waters which would take around 1.5 days. I took some time to do a bit of a room reset and do all my laundry. I am not sure how I would have coped with sharing a room as it is currently resembling a laundry room lol.

I also spent some time writing up the trip so far, and of course we had lectures on our coming visit to Indonesia. Our time in the Philippines was amazing, and we had such warm welcomes everywhere. We were also always gifted with a necklace of some kind, many with seeds and wood beads which I can’t take home but it is the thought that counts.

As we travelled south, there were a number of calls for whales, more often than not, by the time I got to the best viewing point, I did not get a good view but this time the captain turned the ship around so we could spend a bit more time with a pod of short-finned pilot whales which was awesome. (Just to clarify, there are several whales in this photo!)

Our first stop in Indonesia was Tangkoko Nature Reserve, an 8,700-hectare sanctuary in North Sulawesi and a chance to see some more unique wildlife. I was raring to get off the boat and explore.

We arrived via zodiac on the beach and set off in small groups with our local guide. The first thing he spotted was the vulnerable Sulawesi Bear Cuscus – an animal I had never heard of! As you may have guessed, it is not a bear, it is in fact an arboreal marsupial endemic to this part of Indonesia. It was named “bear” after its thick, dark, bear-like fur and it’s cute, bear like face. (That last bit is my opioion rather than fact lol.)

Next up was the incredible Knobbed hornbills. Our guide heard them and we charged through the forest (ignoring the monkeys that we would go back to) to find them. And find them we did. They are also known as the Sulawesi wrinkled hornbill – neither of these names give you any indication of the beauty of these birds!

They are endemic to Indonesia, found on only a few islands where here is elevated evergreen forest and we were so lucky to spot a pair high up in a tree. The stuck around long enough for us to get a great view with binoculars and camera zooms.

As we wandered back through the forest, we came across the monkeys again – this time, the critically endangered Sulawesi Crested Black Macaque. They did not sit still for long as they passed us along the track, going in the opposite direction to us.

The Crested Black Macaque’s claim to fame was as the star of the viral “selfie” of 2014, actually taken in this park by one of the macaques with a trial camera. It sparked a legal debate as to who owned the copyright to the photo – the person who owned the trail camera, or the monkey. I have included the photo here (so give credit to whomever credit is due – although it was ruled that the image was in the public domain so could be freely used).

I was then really excited to see another Tarsier. This time, a Spectral Tasier. Related of course to our tiny Phillipine version, but this time, endemic to a few Indonesian islands. Accordingly, to our guide, we were seeing a male, and inside the small hollow he was sitting outside, he could just see a female inside. I took his word for that lol.

It was a great walk, not too hot, not too hard and we spotted the ‘big 4” we had hoped to see. A “highly commendable” must also be given to the amazing trees we spotted along the way, including a huge ficus tree.

Back at the beach we were rewarded by … you guessed it, snacks! This time including some of my favourite fruit, mangosteen, snakeskin fruit and rambutan, and some freshly made pandan pancakes wrapped around a delicious coconut filling.

The wind picked up when we were back on the ship, so the afternoon’s snorkelling was a little choppy. This meant the visibilty was not great, but it was still nice to be out in the water. There were lots of little fish and we spotted what I called ‘fireflies’. Tiny iridescent dots of blue, or yellow or orange lighting up randomly. With thanks to by “boat bestie” who did some research, I now know that what we were seeing was tiny shrimp like animals called sea sapphires. They are translucent when they are not shining (and only the males shine) so it was impossible to get any photos of them!

We were now sailing through the land of FADs – fishing aggregation devices and had already snagged a couple along the way! I will probably go into these in more detail in another blog.

Samar Island – town and country

On July 19, 2026 By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

The Philippines, July 2026

As we continued south through the Philippines, we left the large island of Luzon behind and reached the less visited Samar Island in the Eastern Visayas and the day started with the most beautiful sunrise.

We landed in Catbalogan City, a city with a population of just over 100,000 and it was an assault on my senses –commuter boats (which look like creepy insects to me), fishing boats (and the accompanying fish), the usual morning harbour sounds and of course, welcome music and dancing.

From the wharf, we were bundled into minibuses and whizzed off under police escort into the hills and the Samar Island Natural Park where I had opted for the nature walk. The park is a lowland forest reserve and home to the largest tract of relatively intact lowland forest in the Philippines.

Despite being home to a number of endemic species, I did not see much during my walk up the 1,200 steps, dotted with rest/viewing areas. Again, I think part of the problem was too many people and walking to fast, rarely taking time to stop and just be still. I did manage to spot a couple of birds, loads of beautiful butterflies and a little lizard and really enjoyed the walk in the relative cool of the forest.

After the walk, we were transferred to the visitors’ centre where we were greeted by some more beautiful dancing, this time, what I believe to be a dance that showcases the Philippine Eagle and the other bird life of the natural park.

There was also a huge spread of local food, and …. free massages and even more dancing! The welcomes we are getting are just getting bigger and bigger!

Back down in to the hustle and bustle of Catbalogan city (population of around 107,000) and we had a little time to wander around the harbour area. One of the few downsides of a trip like this, is that there is little time just to wander and absorb the local atmosphere so it was nice to get a little time to do that here. I might note the dances that meet us this morning were still on the wharf to dance us off as well!

We spent the afternoon sailing past beautiful, mountainous islands and I spent most of the time out on the deck as one of the aircon units was broken so it was pretty warm inside! To help with this, slushies were provided – I may have enjoyed the vodka and orange slushies a little too much lol.

Too many slushies meant I missed the lecture on fishing in the Philippines, but I did go to one about ex-President Ferdinand Marcos, given by Stella, an expedition crew member who was there, on the streets, when it was all happening.

In summary, Ferdinand Marco was President of the Philippines from 1965 until 1986 when he was deposed by the People Power Revolution. From 1972 to 1981 he ruled under martial law when many people when arrested for speaking out against him, including the opposition leader, Ninoy Aquino, who was eventually assassinated.

And if you don’t know about him, you may know about his beautiful wife, Emelda who had thousands of pairs of designer shoes. Or perhaps his son Bongbong, who is the current President of the Philippines!

Yet another beautiful sunset ended the day, before a hot and sweaty night as the air con was still not fixed. It is crazy when you have to open doors to let in air when it is a humid 30+C outside! Sadly my cabin has no windows (actually I only have port holes) that can be open – just a little fan to circulate the warm air.

Bat caves & corpse flowers – Philippine exploration continues

On July 12, 2026 By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Polillo Islands & Caramoan Peninsula, The Philippines

June 2026

Our next stop was Patnanongan Island, the largest island of the Polillo archipelago group of 24 islands and islets and it was an overcast morning as we moored off the coast.

What was supposed to be an earlier morning start turned into a very slow one as we waited for officialdom to take place. Every stop we make, requires the local officials to come on board before we can disembark to do anything! At least all the waiting around meant the rain had cleared for the time being.

We are very much the centre of attention wherever we stop, with locals coming out in their boats to take photos of us, taking photos of them lol. I must admit, I like that the photo taking now goes both ways.

Finally through the formalities, we jumped into the Zodiacs to head to our landing point and in the choppy seas we all got soaked in the crossing to the coast, but then it was much calmer as we zipped through the narrow channels of the mangroves to our landing point.

From the Zodiac we transferred to the local transport – here it was a Habal Habal, which is basically just a motorbike taxi. Everyone and anyone with a motorbike had shown up to shuttle us from our landing point, down the narrow concrete “road” into the village hall where we were greeted by a hoard of local tourism board employees, fresh coconuts, music, dancing and request for selfies. I think they were taking more photos of us, than we were of them.

The downside in being in one of the first boats is that we have to wait for everyone else to arrive before the formalities started, but on the other side it gave us time to wander around the small community and chat to some of the people. It seemed the whole town was out to greet us (that will be a recurring theme)!

After the dancing and speeches, we jumped back on our Habal Habals. Initially the plan was that we would find the same driver, I managed to do that as I was one of the early ones, but as people were trying to find their drivers it started to rain and the ‘organisation’ turned into chaos lol. I was still already damp from the zodiac ride so didn’t even bother put my coat on!

We continued down the concrete path, until that turned into a dirt path and then in to little more than a mud track through the jungle which took us to our destination – a cave complex. Disorganistion continued as some people got hard hats, some didn’t have torches and everyone was trying to shelter from the rain and finally I managed to find my way into a group that entered a cave full of bats and giant Cave Wolf spiders. Not everyone’s idea of a good day out, but I loved it.

Sadly, there were no great photos of the bats (as it was dark lol) but I did take a video. I didn’t realise just how many bats were flying around us until I watched it back. I do have a great photo of a Philippine Sheath tailed bat from a lovely boat friend (also called Elaine, and we are basically the same person lol).

By the time we exited the caves, the rain had subsided and after a quick snack of boiled banana we were back on the bikes (the plan to stay with your same driver had gone out the window), zipping back through the slight more muddy and changing dirty tracks and back on the concrete path, down to another town, Sinintan, with more music and dancing and speeches!

So many more selfies and fist bumps with the children as we made our way to the zodiacs and back to the ship to dry off and have lunch. It is nice to see the excitement our visits bring to the small towns we visit, particularly with the children (who seem to have time off school to see us). We are most definitely the spectacle!

This afternoon was our first snorkel opportunity, and I almost didn’t go as it was overcast and let’s be honest, I could not be bothered! But at the last minute I changed my mind, got changed, grabbed my gear and jumped in the last boat to the beach on Anilon Island. I am so glad I did as the water was warm and were lots of fish to see. I am also very glad that technology geotags photos taken on my phone, so I know the names of places I have visited!

Again, the local tourism board staff had arrived at the beach earlier and set up shelters and were walking around with snacks (snacks in this part of the world are next level – particularly if you like things made with coconut and glutinous rice, which I do!).

We are now in the Coral Triangle, an area approximately 6 million km sq that spans across the Indonesian-Philippines region and across to the far southwestern Pacifc region and contains more coral reef species than anywhere else in the world. It is recognised as a global epicentre of marine biodiversity. With that said, I hope for lots of great snorkelling in my future. (Map from WWF). get map from photos (credit WWF)

The day ended with a beautiful sunset

As always, we travelled overnight, and the next day we awoke near the Caramoan Peninsula. It was another beautiful morning as we moored off the jungle capped towering limestone cliffs, dotted with stunning palm lined beaches.

The area is the location for filming of a number Survivor shows and as filming was currently taking place, we were limited to where we could explore. I thought it would be hilarious to walk through the filming of a scene that is supposed to be completely isolated – until a bunch of tourists trek through lol. Sadly, that was not to be.

I had opted to go on the ‘long’ walk, approximately 4km long but with some altitude and scrambles so it was a little more adventurous. The adventure had started before we even got to the beach, with my zodiac having to return to the ship before we even made it to the beach to pick up a late comer! Then, the zodiac broken down and we had to swap mid ocean to another one, which thankfully was close at hand. All part of the fun, I guess.

It was a lovely walk, though a very sweaty one. Through jungle with trees growing straight out of the limestone rocks and then through a farm, right in the middle of the jungle where they were working the rice paddies with water buffalo (the national animal of the Philippines), and then on through coconut plantations.

The highlight for me was some beautiful dragonflies and two carnivorous corpse plants in flower. They rarely flower and people queue to see them in flower in botanic gardens around the world – and here were two! They are called ‘corpse’ flowers as they have a pungent odour, but I did not get close enough to smell them!

At the end of the walk we ended up on another beautiful beach from which we were transferred to yet another beautiful beach where there was a resort who had put on a huge spread, including a suckling pig or lechon (which was delicious). Apparently, the resort is only in existance because of the TV filming, but it is such a beautiful spot, surrounded by beautiful bays and water. (How many times can I use ‘beautiful’ in one paragraph? Time will tell.

In the afternoon we had a zodiac to zodiac snorkel, which always tend to be in deeper water. There was a lot of sea grass and not so much coral, but it was still very enjoyable and the water was so warm. Great for me, maybe not so much for the planet!

As the we set off for our evening sail, we passed Mt Mayon (an active volcano) in the distance and dolphins same in our wake as the sun set beautifully in the distance.

What a welcome to the Philippines

On July 9, 2026July 9, 2026 By cockneykiwi15Leave a comment

Calayan Islands & Divilacan Bay, Philippines

June 2026

As I didn’t close my curtains, I woke to sun streaming in my porthole. I jumped out of bed and headed up stairs (I am on deck 3, the gym is on deck 7 – some might say it is a workout just getting to the gym lol). I just did 30 minutes of cardio this morning as other things seemed way more challenging with the movement of the boat.

I also wasn’t feeling 100% – was it the movement of the boat, not enough water, all the food I have been eating or perhaps too much wine last night. May a combination of all of these. Either way, after an early breakfast I went back to bed lol. We don’t reach our destination today till around lunchtime, so the morning was going to be a slow one anyway.

I had also already decided I was not going to have dinner (which does not start till 7.30 tonight) so started squirrelling away a little food so I had something to eat. Dinner is wonderful if you want 3 course affairs with wine, but I definitely don’t want that every day, particularly when it starts so late (for me anyway)!

Our first destination in the Philippines was the island of Calayan. One of the Philippines northern most islands. Officially know as the Republic of the Philippines, the country is made up of over 7,500 islands and has a population of over 114 million people! Hard to believe as we are going to be avoiding the desensly populated places on this trip. I had applied for the visa online and thankfully the ships crew did all the rest of the formalities for us.

The Philippine population is a mix over the years of the early Negritos, Austronesians, Chinese, Spanish (who colonised in 1543 and named the country Las Islas Filipinas after King Philip II of Spain). More modern history saw the Japanese invasion during WWII, liberation by the Americans, and finally independence in 1946.

Calayan Island sits in the Luzon Strait and is in the Babuyam group of islands and I was excited to get out on the zodiacs and on to land.

As in most places where we are travelling away from the landing point, we travel by the best available transport. In Poblacion, this was motorbikes with small “side cars” attached. I used the word “side car” loosely as it was not much more than a shelf with a plank to sit on. Call it what you will, it was great fun wizzing out of town, down the concrete road and out in to the countryside.

I had opted for the nature walk, more of a nature march as we were a fairly large group, moving rather fast and loudly so most wildlife had long gone before we had a chance to spot it!

We did spot an ants nest made of leaves stitched together, huge black and yellow butterflies, beautiful red dragonflies and a tiny sunbird (apparently a purple throated one). We also saw a very old Narra Tree, the Philippine National tree. Often cut for wood, so you don’t often see one this large.

I didn’t get many photos, but it was lovely to be off the ship!

We jumped back into the side cars and headed back down to town where the town had put on a spread of local snacks, had a band playing and put on a show of one of their local dances, showing the fight between good and evil. It seems the whole town had come out for the event (though I think our visit was the event)! I love it that now days, it is not just us taking photos of the locals, they are taking videos and photos of us!

As we were on land a bunch of the local kids where on the ship enjoying ice cream served by the captain. A zodiac that takes about 10 of ‘us’, took around 20 of them and they all seemed very excited to be aboard.

Back on the ship, we had now settled into the routine, often with a late afternoon lecture and then the briefing about the day we had had, as well as what was waiting for us in our next port of call. These briefings are best when accompanied by a gin and tonic from the bar!

Travelling overnight as we normally do, we woke the next day in Divilacan Bay in the northeast of Luzon, the Philippines’ largest island. We were near the Sierra Madre mountain range which stretches 540 km along the eastern coast of Luzon and acts as a natural barrier from the east coast to the hugely populated capital city of Manila just on the other side of the ranges.

On the eastern side (where we were) the protected forests run from the mountains to the sea and has few roads or any other forms of transfer other than boats. (Though I learnt in a conversation with some of the many tourism staff who are everywhere we go, that there is a road under construction, though it will still take at least 4 hours to get here from the nearest large city).

Our first activity was a zodiac cruise around the coastline and mangroves. Incredible big sky and glistening blue ocean. Unfortunately, the tides were against us, and my group did not get much of a mangrove cruise as the water was too shallow (some of the earlier zodiacs had to row out), so we were some of the first to land at the first village we were going to be visiting.

As with every visit we were to make in the Philippines, we were welcomed with a rosette of some kind and a large sign welcoming us and the ship. This village was different though, as the people who live in this area are the Dumagat people, also known as Agta, the indigenous Negrito group of the Philippines. There darker skin and curly hair makes them more akin to their Aboringine or Austronesians roots rather than other people we see in the Philippines.

They welcomed us with dances depicting their daily lives, including fishing, crab hunting, farming and pig hunting (thankfully the poor little pig at the centre of that dance was not hurt!).

From our first landing point, we walked a short distance and emerged in to a much bigger and more modern village of Dimasalansan, where we were welcomed with fresh coconuts and another huge spread of local snacks including sea snails (which I did not try) and my favourite gluttonous rice cake things.

There was also more formalities and dancing, this time including an audience participation ‘solidarity’ Dance. It was interesting to see both communities participating here and apparently their integrate well and the Dumagat children come here to go to school.