We decided to spend another day at San Juan where we explored the beach and small village to the north - all very rural and basic but interesting.

Another long but interesting drive took us through small settlements and farmland between the mountains and the sea and eventually to Lucap, the gateway to the One Hundred Islands National Park. We easily found our accommodation - Maxine's is set on the harbour and juts out into the sea for all to see. The room was basic - although we knew that and at 950 pesos (around a tenner) was OK. We saw the whole of Lucap within a few minutes with a stroll along the seashore. But it was evident that a lot of work was taking place and we wondered why. We met Ray who we'd spoken to earlier and he told us that the local authority had just recently taken over the responsibility for tourism around the One Hundred Islands National Park and as a result investment was now being seen to be taking place. They were building a swimming pool and car park at the harbour area, and moving the market place and National Park booking offices to new and thatched accommodation.Other signs of progress were obvious with a new hotel, expansions at others and a general sprucing up of Maxine's. All very positive although one cannot help but notice the lack of a range of attractions for visitors. We popped into a small shack/cafe where we spoke to Felix.He was hopeful that the progress would be good but we could sense some concerns. His aunt owned Maxine's until she died last winter and it is now in his cousin's ownership - Felix said Maxine's was very expensive!

We spent the late afternoon planning our time in Lucap, enjoying the sun going and reading over a beer or two by the waters-edge. Our seafood meal at Maxine's was more expensive than normal Philippines prices but excellent.We retired to bed and to a night we will remember. Music is played everywhere in the Philippines and is predominated by big voiced women singers (that are just OK in small doses) and lounge type standards. Well, with Maxine's lounge music seeping beneath our door and a couple of places nearby blasting out either original 'big voices' or karaoke versions (sung badly by the way), and until after 1am in the morning, we were both tearing our hair out (even industrial strength earplugs were no use). To cut a long story short we decided that with the risk it would happen again that evening we'd cut loose in the morning and return to the relative serenity of Clark. In our low moments while trying to drown out the awful racket, we also decided to look again at our forward plans and made some radical decisions that will be discussed later. We said our goodbyes to Maxine's (they apologised for the noise) and Lucap and made our way out of town with 100 islands unexplored behind us.

Back in Clark/Angeles after another good run (the hired Kia did well) through some pretty countryside we got back to the Oasis and made the most of their facilities - the swimming pool, internet, bar and restaurant. We made friends with our waiter Gerry - who we spoken to on our earlier visit - and his colleague Nardi both of whom who have good senses of humour. Next morning we took a flight in a small single engine plane courtesy of Omni Aviation over Mount Pinatubo.This volcano erupted in 1991 which accelerated the USA withdrawal from the Philippines when it cause major damage and casualties. It is reckoned to be the worst and most powerful eruption after Krakatoa. As the clouds over the summit dispersed we took off and flew up through the jungle and lava flows to the crater rim.The impressive and wide cone is now filled with blue water which makes it all extremely picturesque but your conscious that you're looking into a 'sleeping dragon' that could all too easily spew forth fire and brimstone!! This alone made the Philippines worthwhile.

We'd considered golf the following day but in the end decided we had too much business to do and with it being Valentines Day - celebrated big time in the Philippines where you're greeted with "Happy Valentine's Day" like we'd greet Christmas - we decided to join in the celebrations around the pool (from midday it was unfortunately closed to swimmers). Well, the hotel put on a splendid evening with wonderful food - a huge range of Philippines dishes, sashmi, sushi, tempura, roast meats, salads, vegetables, soups, and a huge array of puddings - all for £10. The food, the setting, service (which was excellent) and entertainment would have cost us a bomb elsewhere.It was not the sort of evening we thought we would have enjoyed, but enjoy it we certainly did. Then it was off to bed. What a splendid way to spend our last evening in the Philippines.

E&M xxx