Duain is famous for its muck diving, basically diving in sand and mud to look for rare macro life. But Dauin is also close to Apo Island, a rare pristine coral area full of turtles and some opportunities for ripping drift dives.
This was an interesting dive where we went through a field of argon gas bubbling up from the sand. At one point a friend decided to stand and stare off into the deep blue and I had to go back and fetch him.
Duain is a sleepy resort town. There wasn't a whole lot to do at night until we found FINBAR, a lively spot out on the main highway that became our nightly meeting place.
We also made time for some waterfall visits.
Kuhl's Maskray / Bluespotted Stringray - On our last dive of the trip we passed over a reef section as we drifted along in the current and these kept popping up out of the sand, one-by-one.
On one of our last nights, we had dinner at the KooKoo's nest, a tiny eco-lodge down near the southern tip of the island. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner as we watched storms roll across the ocean.
A quick layover in Taipei for a day of attempting to eat a lot of beef noodle soup, before heading over to Okinawa for a day of diving and a weekend with an old friend.
Some traditional Taiwanese food.
Okinawa was an interesting place. I had previously only been to Tokyo in Japan so I assumed public transit would be just as good elsewhere. You could really see the American influence in Japan. Not only from the most obvious part of half the main highway being a military base, but when I showed up and told my hotel I was planning on taking the bus, they laughed at me.
Okinawa night life...
A shrimp cleaning an eel's teeth.
