Leyte Vacation (DSLR)

We went on a vacation, finally after these lockdowns. So we went on my girlfriend's hometown at Leyte, Philippines because we, especially me who haven't traveled far for two years, desperately need a vacation to get away from stressful stuff.

I brought three types of cameras: Canon 7D (DSLR), SJCAM SJ4000 Air (GoPro clone), Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (smartphone). My DSLR use is really limited because I'm afraid that it might get wet and it's difficult to use the DSLR in some places that have very rough and uneven terrain. Also it's unfortunate that my SJ4000 Air doesn't have any memory card I just unboxed it and it's a last minute addition to my camera gear so I'm not prepared. I hope to buy a micro SD card in Leyte but there are no gadget stores near my GF's place, it will take 30 minutes or an hour to reach a more commercialized area.

First, we landed on Tacloban airport. From there, we have to travel two hours on a vehicle to arrive at our destination.

This is our first stop, General McArthur's monument. It's near the airport so we checked it out.

Next, we went to Hulyana's to eat lunch. The place have a nice view. That photo I took reminds me of Windows XP's wallpaper.

After arriving to my GF's home we stayed and rested for the night. Morning, and it's raining heavily, we didn't go to our island tour. The next day, it's still cloudy with a bit of rain but we still went to our tour to Dinagat Island. It's a wavy 2-hour boat ride but we arrived safely to our first stop. Dinagat Island is located at Mindanao, Philippines.

There are so may islands here, big and small. This is our first stop, Jelmar's Resort. This is where we will spend our whole day.

The place looks nice and the water level is low so it's good for small kids to swim here

The water is clear and blue which is rare for my eyes to see in person.

There are other houses and private resorts here too. They also offer island tours.

The view is so nice, the wind is clean and that nice smell of the sea feels good in my lungs.

I took some wallpaper-friendly photos here.

There are so many fishes here like these little school of tiny fishes. The folks there warned us that we should not go near that group of fish because they have tiny spikes around their bodies.

This other group of small fishes are safe to reach and swim with. There are other aquatic life present here, like starfishes, sea urchins and jellyfishes (not the dangerous types like box jellyfishes).

After staying at Jelmar's resort, it's time to go island hopping.

This place is remote, there are very few people living here, as far as I can tell.

Some of the islands are inhabitable because they have no beach to set foot on. You'll need a helicopter or climb the islands' cliffs to reach the top.

These views kind of reminds me of some video games I've played.

We're nearing our second destination, the island rock formations.

This is the first time I saw these rock formations. I only see these in magazines and travel websites.

These rock formations are naturally formed by the water currents and rain, erosions.

The sun is shining behind the island so shadows are present and the details of these rock formations are hard to see in the photos.

I took another wallpaper-friendly photo here.

I took a closed-up shot of the rock formations. They look alien terrain.

If these are formed from a higher ground, does that mean the sea can rise really high, or big waves due to storms caused these?

Another wallpaper shot. After this, we went to another island where I had difficulty using the DSLR. Luckily my smartphone is lighter, compact and water/dust resistant. I will post more of our vacation and scenery photos taken from my Galaxy S21 Ultra in a new separate post. so stay tuned.

Cheers!