Scuba diving in the Philippines

[rick_rine]

Well the sale of my house has finally gone through , everything I've worked hard for and built from scratch over the last 13 years has been sold . Good-bye to the workshop , the pig stys , the chooks , the orchard , the walnut tree which fruited for the first this year . Its been a long haul and I've enjoyed it all very much . Its been difficuilt but a real challenge to build my own house and develope a hobby farm but time to move on .
Off to town for a while while we sort out some last minute things and then in about 3 months we are off to Punta Ballo where I have an old run down resort I hope to redevelope . It has fantastic scuba diving sites with corals , shipwrecks and a huge variety of fish . View the beach at our neighbours web site www.nataasan.com/ and imagine our resort is halfway along the beach .
So the question is , do you scuba dive ?

[ozwinner]

Good luck with it all..
Its good to chase your dreams, I hope they come true..

Al

[Tonyz]

best of luck with this new venture. May you be SO busy that you dont have time for the view or scuba diving. Ha Ha Ha .... man I envy you .. Tonto

[Wongo]

Scuba diving doesn’t interest me. Plus my watch only goes as deep as 200m so it is probably not a good idea.

Good luck buddy

[Iain]

I used to but gave it up years ago, Wongo's comment reminded me of an incident with my watch, I had a Bulova diving watch that sucked in a case full of water first time I used it at about 3 metres, sent it back and got it fixed, next time I used it it did it again, not happy Jan, took it back in person and had a rather vocal grizzle.
It was suggested that I may have voided the warranty by exceeding the maximum depth.......1000 fathoms.
At that point I realised I was dealing with blonks
Eventually the watch was fixed and I promised the tech (who I finally got to meet) that I would never exceed 1000 fathoms again
Try high altitude diving, thats good fun............
Just realised where you are, dived at Port Arthur, God it was bloody cold down there, 1/4" wetsuit and couild only stayn in for 15 minutes, used to get some great Ling down that way though.

[KevM]

Rick,
Follow your dream, hope you are not doing it to get rich ......the neighbour's (competition) most expensive room is 2,000.00 Philippines Pesos = 50.7534 Australian Dollars on the current conversion rates.

[ozwinner]

..1000 fathoms.
......

How did you hold your breath??

Al :eek:

[rick_rine]

Rick,
Follow your dream, hope you are not doing it to get rich ......the neighbour's (competition) most expensive room is 2,000.00 Philippines Pesos = 50.7534 Australian Dollars on the current conversion rates.

Certainly not Kev . It is just a lifestyle thing and we hope to live off our investment incomes from Australia but it shocked me when I found out I would get taxed at a higher rate because I wasn't living in Australia . Shoot I'm not using the roads or hospitals so why should I pay a higher tax rate . Makes no sense to me .
People think its cheap in the Philippines but its not really the case , wages are really low ( just like John Howard wants ours to be ) but white goods etc are just as expensive as here . An example , we stayed at a resort last year and the gardeners were payed $2 / day , yet a can of coke is still 50 cents . A kilo of rice is still 50 cents so I can't work out how the locals live . Its quite sad to see the gap between the rich and the poor but hey , we'll see it here within the next 20 years with the IR laws so no need to travel to see how the third world lives as we can all experience it first hand !!! . Thanks Johnny .

[craigb]

I prefer to be in an environment where I can perform a basic bodily function,
ie breathe.

Snorkeling works for me though.

One of the best holidays I've had was spent on Heron Island.

Right on the edge of the Barrier Reef. The only thing to the east is the continental shelf! :eek:

(Note to self: It's time for a return visit)

Tassie to the tropics eh? Quite a change. Good luck with it.

[rick_rine]

[quote=craigb]I prefer to be in an environment where I can perform a basic bodily function,
ie breathe.

Snorkeling works for me though.

I agree Craig and thats what really sold me on the place . I was just snorkelling about and there was so much to see , turtles , corals , nemo ( clown fish ) . It was just brilliant . You dont have to scuba dive to enjoy the underwater wonders .

[KevM]

Certainly not Kev . It is just a lifestyle thing and we hope to live off our investment incomes from Australia but it shocked me when I found out I would get taxed at a higher rate because I wasn't living in Australia . Shoot I'm not using the roads or hospitals so why should I pay a higher tax rate . Makes no sense to me .

Rick,
There are ways around it......become a non-resident if you no longer have an Australian home (I did that for two years), then don't need to also declare your Phillipines income in Australia....invest any earnings overseas..... Canary Islands have been used by some that I know.

Kev M

[DavidG]

Rick
Keep us informed.

Require a 2 bedroom unit (2 adults 2 kids)

Decent food (Food I can recognize and name )

Snorkling, Resting, Sleeping and plenty of coke (the cold liquid kind in a can)

Sould be picked up at air port and delivered to door.

Should have day trips available.

Should have shopping trips available.

Fill the above cheaply enough and we are interested.
Dave..

[Termite]

Did most of my diving in the Phillipines off the coast of San Fernando La Union Province and had planned to retire there about 10 years ago except SWMBO came along 15 years ago.

Did a little bit of diving in the Visayan region mainly off Cebu, and a bit off Legaspi City, Southern Luzon near Mayon Volcano, fond memories of a certain Bicolana.

PS The Visayan song "Matadoro" still brings a misty film over my eyes.

[Bodgy]

Rick

Funny how our lives always seem to reflect each other's. I went diving with a Fillipino mate a few years back, a place outside Anilao. The resort was a bit run down, I remember some poor caged Eagles and other sad looking birds. We were the only people there! It was up for sale and I toyed with the idea, but pinched myself and went back to the grind.

Lucky and brave bastard! Good luck with it.

[Auld Bassoon]

I hope that your dreams come to fruition. Good luck mate!