Waking up to the sight of a beautiful beach in the Philippines is fantastic. Our beach bungalow was pretty basic but the location couldn’t be beat.

There was a really nice reef right off shore and we spent plenty of time swimming and snorkeling with the tropical fish and turtles.

Pandan island is also known as the closest you can get to the wonderful scuba diving on Apo reef. Many guests on the island do 3 dives per day for the entire time they are here. I signed up for a couple days diving and rode on their bangka boat out there.

Apo reef rings a very small island that is part of a protected sanctuary. There were huge walls of pretty coral and tons of fish (even a few sharks – they are way too fast and eager to get away from divers to get any good photos)

In between dives (scuba diving involves a mandatory rest period between dives to let dissolved nitrogen be released from your system) we snacked on food and coffee.

It was a beautiful on and under the water. After 3 tanks, I was ready to get back and relax on the beach.