Back on long distance buses we travelled from Manila to Alaminos, a rather nice introduction to Filipino bus travel in an aircon bus with frequent loo stops! Arriving in Alaminos we took our first tricycle the 6k to Lucap on the coast. The tricycles are the Philippines' answer to Thai Tuk Tuks and are clearly not designed to westerners of James' height and particularly not those with giant backpacks. Anyway, we miraculously crammed ourselves in to the side car along with our luggage and were soon bumping our way along the road.

Lucap is a pretty uninspiring place with a few guest houses and restaurants dotted along the waterfront. Just off shore however is the One Hundred Islands National Park, aptly named as it comprises of over a hundred little islands only three of which are inhabited. The islands are accessed by wooden boats with bamboo strapped to the sides for balance, steered with a combination of long bamboo poles and a little engine. The islands are home to giant clams and some good snorkelling spots, unfortunately the fish aren't as plentiful as they once were due to over fishing of the dynamite variety. The national park restrictions should help the area regenerate in time. There was still some coral to be seen and even with the cloud the water was crystal clear.

We witnessed one of the most bizarre swimming styles we've seen, snorkelling with life jackets on and floating around just off the beach also with life jackets, it appears to be the norm for Korean tourists, everywhere we looked bright orange things were bobbing around in the water.

That evening as we were sat admiring the view we were treated to a huge thunderstorm with torrential rain. The rain was so heavy the islands were completely obscured from view. We are now heading further north to the Cordillera Mountains.