Hello to all you #hivers out there, today I continue with my series of places to visit in the Visaya region of the Philippines. We have traveled to southern Leyte a few times over the years and so far has been one of my favorite places.

To get there we took a ferry from the main port in Cebu city arriving in the town of Hilongos leyte, from here we headed south on our bikes towards the town of Padre Burgos. After a short time we arrive at our accommodation for the next few days.

Southern Leyte Divers.

Our beach bungalow.

This is a friendly resort run by Gunter and his family, they have been in business for over 30 years and employ a great team of staff from the local community. The comfy bungalows are right on the beach and are very well equipped with king sized beds and cable TV, which with the surroundings to enjoy I have never used.

As is often the case our main reason for coming here is the fantastic diving on offer but for the first few days we spent time exploring the area.

Having been on the road the day before we opted for a relaxing first day and chose to visit a waterfall that was close by. Busay falls also known as 7 falls is just a 15 minute ride north of the dive centre and a short hike into the jungle.

Busay 7 falls.

Consisting of 7 small falls which require a climb to see all, they are are not the most impressive falls you will see but with lots of deep pools and very few people they offer a place to swim and enjoy in peace. While Koz went for a scramble up the slippery rocks to explore further I snapped a couple of shots of the wildlife.

Koz reappeared at the top of the falls and it seemed she had made some new friends, while she acquainted herself with Richel, the boys noticing my camera put on a performance for me.

It's always nice to spend time with the locals, learning about their lives and they are always a good source of information for places to go and eat. Richel told us of a guest house with a restaurant back in Padre Burgos run by her cousin, more on that later.

After a couple of hours hanging out with the family they had to leave as Richel's husband was due home for lunch. We bid our farewell's and thought that we would get off on our way also but as one family left a bunch of girls from a local school showed up.

Full of questions and lots of cheeky chat we ended up staying a little longer, the girls were students at a charity based school, run and funded by a German guy called Jürgen Schneidt's. This charity goes way beyond just schooling and provides just about everything the kids need to set themselves up for a better life, I will leave a link at the bottom of this post, please give it a read it is a amazing story and charity.

The cheeky girls.

Time had flown by and we were well into the afternoon and hunger got the better of us, so with Richel's suggestion in mind we made our way back into town to check out J&D's restaurant.

A small place run by Local lady Joy and her English husband Derek, it has a few rooms to rent and a stunning setting facing out onto the ocean. The food served here is a mix of Filipino and western and all of a high quality at a fair price but the best part is the chilled vibe and view. It's a perfect place to sit with a book and soak in the surroundings...

In the shade.

Gazing across Sogod bay....

Towards Panaon island to the east...

and Limasawa island to the south.

Filled with good food and fully relaxed from our mellow day of doing very little we made the 5 minute journey back to the dive resort. The idea is to ride further afield the next day and see what we can find, no set plan we will just hit the road and leave the rest to chance.

But for the remainder of the day a bit of time in the bar/restaurant area of the centre reviewing photos and of course the obligatory end of day sunset shot.

Koz looking at my photo efforts.

Sunset from our bungalow.

Well, ladies and gents, it's fair to say not a bad first day on Leyte, join me next time for more road tripping and plenty of diving, until then safe travels folks!

This is the charity that I mentioned, it's really worth a read.
https://www.zdf.de/zdfunternehmen/zdf-kinderhilfe-philippinen-100.html