📸 — San Juan, Siquijor Island, Philippines

We’ve been looking for a place to recover from the hike, chill out, get a bit of work done and we found the most perfect place — Siquijor Island.

We initially booked just 3 nights here, but have already extended our stay to more than a week. The vibe here is so peaceful and friendly. There is enough development for you to enjoy a wide-variety of food and still enough of a hidden gem that you need a scooter to get around as there is very little touristic infrastructure.

Most of our time was spent in a similar routine: breakfast 8:30–11am, Scuba diving for a few hours, working/relaxing, eating dinner and then some walking around the beaches for sunset.

It is beautiful here, and we feel very grateful to have found this place before its airport’s construction is finished. When that happens, this island will definitely change a lot.

See more on our website www.alittledetour.ca🌏✈️👫

First sunset upon arrival.

Our guesthouse was right beside a kids school and basketball court. Basketball is a big deal here and the kids asked if Maeghan would come and shoot some hoops with them.

Coco Grove Beach Bar.

So we went to one of the fanciest hotels on the island to learn a bit about a dive trip on nearby. Our initial plan was to have dinner there, but the front desk told us the restaurant was closed to outside visitors for a special event. We went to the dive shop and then stopped at the bar on the way back to ask if there was another restaurant we could eat at. She said that we could stay for a drink until dinner started… it was unclear why.. but we did anyways.

Then when dinner time rolled around, Maeghan went to the restaurant and asked if they had any tables for two… the hostess replied “Oh my god…. no reservation?” I said no… and she ran off. Another waitress came by asked the same question and gave us the exact same response…

Maybe 15 min later, a new table was pulled out and placed over a garden area. They assumed that we were guests and set us up at an impromptu table right in front of the action! So we lucked out with a great sunset, BBQ and a fire show!

The beach dogs know Maeghan is a sucker who might give them a treat.

Some actual guests of the hotel didn’t reserve a table but ours was so big that we offered to share. Turns out, they are from Calgary and Montreal — and all live in Vancouver now! We have similar friend groups and hilariously had a great addition to our already random evening!

Baha Bar — craft beer made in house and 3$ a pint.

We were ready for some diving. Oli had his brand new watch but this group actually gives you a dive watch so Maeghan was in the know too.

We did some shore dives and the house reef is incredible. By far the nicest we’ve seen in the world!

Oli loving his new dive watch.

Diving from Cliff walls to coral sandy floors — everything here was filled with life and new animals we’ve never seen!

You need a special filter for your camera to capture the colors of the coral. So some pictures it looks bland, but when we get close it is filled with color!

Nudibranch collection from the dives!

Poisonous Lion Fish

(Left) File fish — blending into the coral. They change colour in an instant which is pretty cool! (Right) Indian Walkman also hiding

Last weird fish we saw : Flying Gurnard blending into the sand.

(right) the tiniest nemo we’ve ever seen!

Sardine school in the thousands swam by and weaved in between us.

HUGE Saddle fish and clown fish

Giant puffer taking a break on some coral.

Maeghan’s favorite — turtle friends!

Blue banded sea snake hidden in the coral. Their bite has enough venom to kill 50 people.

Grass bed also hides some fun finds. A Spanish Dancer Nudibranch.

See more on our website www.alittledetour.ca🌏✈️👫

We dove with an awesome dive shop called Mystic Divers. Sara, our guide, had a fancy camera and took some incredible pictures of the wildlife below that my GoPro couldn’t. Here are her pictures — best diving experience! ❤️

Nudibranch collection

Dive crew.

Maeghan does two things under water… (left) pretends she is in space and moves around weirdly. (right) finds turtles and tries to become friends with them.

Mantis Shrimp. These guys can punch with their claws at the speed of a shot gun being fired!

Puffer fish and his friend.

See more on our website www.alittledetour.ca🌏✈️👫