A Day Out

We chose to join the group going to "rocky beach" (our kids' name) to dive. We were going to go for the day and left our house at 5 a.m. after waking the kids and putting them straight in the car - via using the toilet, of course! We made good time but the weather was pretty rainy. It had rained all day the previous day and we knew it was a bit of a gamble but felt the day out of Manila was worth it.

The rain had mostly dried up by the time we arrived at the banca (type of outrigger boat) that we use to cross to the dive place. However, I think the waves were the biggest I have ever seen there and we bounced our way over to the resort - thankfully only a few minutes.

By 9:30 we were "suiting up", planning to dive at 10. The kids were very pleased as the swimming pool had been filled so they could swim there. Rose said the sea was too salty to swim in. I pointed out that the pool is also filled with sea water.

We had a good dive and the sun came out to light up underwater, which was beautiful. We were looking forward to our next dive at a new location with sunshine. However, after lunch we watched a huge bank of dark cloud and wind begin to drive over the horizon towards us. As the wind and rain lashed us Steve and I began to wonder if we shouldn't just pack up and go with a break in the weather so we didn't get stranded overnight! Our dive had to be postponed anyway, so we made the decision to leave.

We had a great journey for the first 2 hours back and then hit the traffic heading into Manila. We inched forward for about an hour and then cleared the worst of the traffic and made reasonable time the rest of the way. The children did really well although we were all hungry by the time we stopped!

Overall, despite the change in plans, it was a good day. I got another dive in, the kids and Steve collected shells and swam and played with their toy animals in the coral.

Despite spending 7 hours in the car altogether it is always worth it to spend time by the sea, in the quiet, in fresh air.