Dive Malapascua

Before I forget the details of my recent trip to Malapascua Island, Phillippines, I should state that I got here via Cebu Pacific airlines, a budget carrier in the wee hours of the morning (4am to be roughly exact :) ) on a nice balmy Thursday.  Mactan international airport does not really have anything much so I just go some local breakfast and sat down to finish my National Geographic magazine while waiting for my dive buddy and transport to Maya harbour.

The boats they use in the Phillipines

Me smiling cause I am so happy!

The beach near our dive center.

Gato Island.  We saw a pair of white tip sharks sleeping in an underwater cave here

View of the beautiful sky

Sunset picture by my dive buddy

Thresher shark divers, where we signed up for dives.  Nice folks there.

Beach is usually empty since the guys who come here go diving all day

Another nice shot.

On one of the days we were there, we interacted with the local kids when they were picking starfish and eating sea urchin.  It was after a very fulfilling early morning dive to see the thresher sharks at local fish cleaning station.  We saw three that morning!

Sea stars!

Baby blue ringed octopus

He threw something I don't know what

A close up shot of the octopus.  It changes colour when touched!

Conch

What happens when you flip a starfish over? 

They flip back!

Actually most of the interesting stuff I saw was underwater, especially during night dives.  I personally think you see a whole lot of activity at night, especially from crabs, prawns, octopus, cuttlefish, squid and mandarin fish.  Pretty amazing stuff.  On the last day of our holiday, we had a short trip to check out Cebu city.  We did not have much time but there wasn't anything to see anyway so we just had a short stop to check out their main cathedral and the Santo Niño basillica.

Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.  Wedding mass on Monday

Santo Niño basillica front gate

Santo Niño de Cebú, Holy child of Cebu

Magellan's travel path

One of the many christmas trees in Cebu

Inside the basilica

Taksim, Galata and the Grand Bazaar

The second day, we walked along the main streets and squares in Istanbul, namely İstiklal Avenue which starts at the Taksim square and sort of ends near the Galata bridge.

Breakfast by Nazlı

Glass art by the children in the Taksim metro station

Great music coming out of the kanun, a string instrument similar
to the chinese gu zheng.

Beautifully painted tiles

Ataturk's monument at the Taksim square 

Baklava

Along the istiklal, a major shopping street in Istanbul.

Turkish ice cream seller with bell =).

Lady making mantı.

Seasonal fruits in Turkey in the summer.

View from the Galata tower.

An amazing number of sport fisherman.  The fish they catch are
reallysmall, just the size of the palm of your hand.

Children swimming the crystal clear waters near the Galata bridge
on the golden horn.

I forgot what the dish with rice wrapped leaves were called.  We
had this for lunch, together with Ayran which is yogurt with water and
salt.

Inside the grand bazaar.  You can find almost anything here.

Again... too much food.