Crystal Steel's Christmas Party

Well, another year and another Christmas Party here in the Philippines..
As always a great time was had by all....

Mauit, hostess extraordinaire..!!

The two emcees of the evening, Tristan and Michael...

The raffle prizes... Everyone gets one... From breakfast fixins to refrigerators..!!

Waiting in the buffet line....

The food at the Christmas parties is always traditional Filipino food and I always enjoy tasting the unique regional foods here... And you can see, that everyone else does as well...

Tony in charge of "Crystal Steel's Got Talent"....

From the judges table "I'll give it an 8, you can dance to it"...

And the crowd gives it a 9..!!

One of the finalists, Grace hittin the hi notes....

Sheela, our office Girl Friday....

Playing the eggplant game... A favorite here in the Philippines... Native eggplants are rather stiff and phallic like... The object is to make it flaccid without breaking it... This one is always good for some embarrassment and some laughs... Hehe...

Some raffle winners..

Group photos...

Having some fun..

Quite a group....

All the beer is gone....

Maligayang Pasko!

Another Trip to Dive off Anilau

OK, another trip diving at Anilau... This time, I went with Tony and Jen...

Here is the resort, Balai, from the water...

Jen and I on the banka on the way out to the dive site...

Now this is a pretty anglefish...

A blue starfish and ....

A green starfish...

Here is one of the large Pacific clams.... With a beautiful iridescent mantle...

There are really a lot of colors down there....

Here I am feeding the fishies....

They are still hungry... (They are always hungry)...

Lots of fish....

Here is a stonefish.... Poison...

Getting ready for another dive...

Now this is a school of jacks.....

Lionfish....

Nice Colors....

Clownfish...

Colorful Fans

Another banka ride...

More clownfish...

Basket Sponge

Squirrelfish hiding...

Another Squirrelfish...

Steve saying hello...

Tony and Jen enjoying the dive...

Tony and Jen

The shoreline near Balai looking out to the South China Sea

Seaside living.....

And so ends another wonderful dive day at Anilau...

Boracay..!!

So my first trip to Boracay (probably the most famous of the Filipino tourist spots) happened in September and I met my cousin and girlfriend there... It was good to see Buzz here in Boracay as on my last trip to Australia, he and I were only able to see each other the last day I was there..!!

I stayed at "Hey Jude" and this is a shot of their bar which faces the beach...

I will forever be a steel geek....

The white sand beach of Boracay... Sailing, kite boarding, parasailing, etc.... All the toys.....

A view off the beach...

Buzz and Kim...


Buzz and I went out sailing one day...

Lots of free diving... Here is Buzz at the bottom....

Buzz and Kim out front of "Hey Jude"...

During "Off Season", the wind clocks 180 and blows the sand into all the bars, resorts, restaurants, etc... September is "Off Season" and as you can see, they build a barricade of sorts to stop the sand....

More of the sand barricades...

Early morning beach clean up...

Wow, is this country Catholic..!! Shrines everywhere....

More shots of the shoreline...

Early morning on the beach... Not many people up yet....

Beautiful shell....

Pleanty of Starfish...

And sea urchins...!!!

Closeup of the urchin...

One of the sailing boats...

Buzz free diving...

Steve saying hi..!!

Looking for Nemo...???!!!

Found Nemo..!!

Mermaid (Kim) on the beach....

More water toys to play with...

Group photo..!!

Cya Later......