Lights

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After our morning chocolate Energen, we headed  for breakfast at the little stall over the road. The food is always good and it set us up for our morning walk.

It seemed to take us forever to reach the Coral Garden dive spot. We stopped for coffee, cakes and clothes browsing. There are a lot of second hand clothes stalls which sell all sorts. Outside a shop was an egg plant which we were assured was only a Christmas decoration. Most items on the stalls seemed to be sent from the USA.

To find the diving spot we headed past a cemetery and behind the resort buildings to the beach. There were fisherman going about their daily routines but we found two German men filling a bucket with stones. They must have been building something. One of them knew the area really well and he pointed to the exact spot we needed to be in to enjoy the best of Coral Garden. He said we might spot some turtles and he was right!


Snorkelling was nice and the coral in good condition. It was at about 5m plus and the visibility changed with weird waves of hot and cold water. We each had a couple of trips out on to the reef where the divers and free divers were exploring too.

A quick walk home to drop off our bags and it was time for us to head to the BBQ stall for pork, rice and sausages! After we had eaten we walked across the road to the park and grabbed a couple of seats. Tonight there's a big event in the park - turning on of the Christmas tree lights!


At about 7 the crowds started to roll in and we are glad we grabbed a seat. Speeches from the mayor and various other important people was followed by the lighting of the advent candle, then candles by everyone which were placed around the central pool. The national anthem and Siquijor song was sang by the crowds. 
Each set of Christmas tree lights were turned on 1 at time following a count down from 10. At the end they were all on together and lit up the park. It was very pretty.  Each tree was made from recycled or sustainable material and made by a different group of local organisations.

A live band followed and people took to the huge dance floor placed over part of the pond. We partied hard and danced like a local before we returned home to sleep.



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