My Journey to the Philippines 1999, lead me to Retirement and Scuba Diving.
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Nipa House at the foot of the Sleeping Lion, Legazpi City Philippines (1999)
In December 1999 I found myself on an airplane heading to the Philippines to meet my new wife's family. I had no real idea what to expect I had just finished taking Spanish 101 at the Jr. College hoping the few words I learned would help me with the family. (30% of Filipino language is Spanish) But was it the right 30%. LoL
Most things that the Spanish introduced there like plato, baso, mesa, yellow, silla, kabayo, bano, and time was in Spanish, and a lot more. But the spelling and sentences are not the same.
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Sleeping Lion Mountain and Bay - Albay Gulf - Legazpi
First house I bought that got me to thinking. I could live in this place and retire! 2 story 70sq meters (700 sq feet)
I left to go home December 30th, (remember the Y2K scare? planes crashing, computers crashing, life was to end) well non of that happened. January 2000 the Mayon Volcano did erupt.
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That is a picture from our roof the Mayon is about 12 Kilometers away. (8 miles)
When I got back home over the next 4 years talking with my friends all of us married to American/Filipinas the plans to retire to the Philippines started to take shape. My best friend and I spent hours then days and now years planning. But what can I do there to not get bored? My friend said "you need to learn to scuba dive", I had always loved swimming and the water so in 2005 at the age of 40 I learned to dive and am loving it every chance I can get in the ocean.
Monterrey Bay, California getting my Naui Open Water Certification and Nitrox card.
Just found this post. We moved to the Philippines in 2013, spent over 4 years there traveling around the country, and finished building our home. We have since retracted to Guam and live in a condo here and will travel back and forth from now on. Scuba on Guam is much better than in the Philippines BTW! Check out my blog Retired in Samar where I documented our entire journey - from when we first made the decision to liquidate everything, and where I continue to document everyday life in the Province... One Day at a Time!
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(Keywords: family, lead, water, 1999, retire, lion, philippines, journey, diving, retirement, scuba, spanish, friend, learned, house, mayon)
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