15 – 22 March 2010
N12 39.856 E120 53.266 – Apo Reef Club
Sunset illuminates this charming dive resort in Mindoro Guenter Taus was my dive instructor for my PADI advance course many years ago. He also is part owner of Occidental Mindoro’s newest dive resort called Apo Reef Club. Michi Roos is the founder and operations manager of this resort in the Philippine tropics.
Michi in the yellow kayak and Guenter and I paddle around Apo Reef Club I - The Liveaboard! Slowly but surely, they are building an eco resort to cater to American, European and local Philippine divers. Apo Reef as well as the surrounding muck dive sites in Concepcion Mindoro is the star attraction for divers.
Tropical paradise at sunset 
Apo Reef Club staff and guests pose with the giant Panda We made a land trip to the surrounding area and photographed farmers and the indigenous Mangyan tribe living at the foothills of Barangay Poypoy, in Calintaan, Occidental Mindoro. It was a very dry summer and we could see how the farmers struggle with irrigating their fields. Here are some images of people from the fields.
A farmer's best friend - the hard working water buffalo pulling in harvests of rice stalks 
Watering hole of the water buffalos. In the hot summer heat, these beasts of burden need to be hydrated about three times a day 
An old Mangyan farmer walking two kilometers to the nearest town from their village in Sitio Tamisan 
Fire wood is brought home from the fields by the end of the working day 
A thin indigenous upland Mangyan man carries heavy sacks of rice to be received by a constantly sleeping lowland strapping young man 
Irrigating the vast Mindoro rice fields come from pumped out ground water. How long will it last, I wonder? 
This farmer looks at his dry field and wonder when the next rains will come 
At the end of our walk to Sitio Tamisan is this watering hole. It was a sobering thought to know there's still water amidst the drought this summer If you want to keep updated with our new expedition blog entries, please sign up to our RSS feed by clicking here or clicking on the “Subscribe to this blog!” link at the top right of this page.
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