Let me start with telling you something about the country and its inhabitants.

The Filipino culture has been created through the centuries by oppression by foreign entities and their immigrants. The Malay, the Chinese, Spanish and the Americans.

Features of these cultures are: amiability, tolerance, courtesy, a way of thinking, good understanding, belief, sports, the schoolstystem etc. The Spanish ruled the Philippines for over 400 years and around 1900, the Americans took over. After the Japanese military regime from 1942 up to 1945 and in 1946 the Republic of the Philippines was born.

Because of the American presence, a lot of Filipinos speak English. This makes communication with the locals easier. The official local language is Tagalog. But every island, or tribes also has their own dialect which means that there are also over 100 dialects.

The first president was Manual Roxas but the country really became famous because of its former dictator Ferdinand Marcos who became president in 1965. His political opponent Ninoy Aquino was killed under suspicious circumstances when he returned from exile in 1983. In 1986 Marcos was ousted and the widow of Ninoy Aquino, Cory Aquino, became president. She was later succeeded by Fidel Ramos, Erap Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has is the current president.

The Philippines are mainly a long stretched archipel of thousands of islands and tiny little islands, from which only eight are really important in size. The isles in the south, the Sulu-archipel, are located north of Borneo, which is part of Indonesia. The isles completely in the north are very close to Taiwan. From north to south is about 1900 km.

In total, there are over 7100 islands with over 74 million inhabitants. Every island is different and has something special to offer like remote white beaches, green forest but also snowy mountains. The underwater world is magnificent and truly very divers. It is not without reason that the Philippines are known as one of the best diving spots in the world. Add up the beautiful weather, nice water temperature, and friendly locals, and you know this is the place to be! You can explore and explore the beautiful underwater world without any worries with good instructors at our well equipped diving school. But culture enthousiasts can also get their share. There are century old buildings, musea and churches all over the country.

The capital of the Philippines is Manila. The so-called "Metro Manila", covers the old city of Manila and all the surrounding suburbs and accomodates up to 16 million people. Is is located in the middle of the most important island Luzon. There are plenty of that offer flights to Manila, or even to Cebu, the second city of the Philippines.

You might have seen something on tv or read an article about the gap between the rich and the poor. This is indeed true but don't worry about being harrassed. You might indeed encounter some beggars in Manila, but most of the Filipino's are very friendly and will do anything to help you with the famous Filipino smile. They are always in for a chat and are happy you come to visit their country. This is especially true outside Manila. The fact that the Philippines is a third world country, makes it cheap destination for tourists.

Sabang Beach, home of Triton Divers, is located on the island of Mindoro. Mindoro lies south of the port of Batangas. Batangas is approx. a 2 hour drive from Manila. In Batangas, a boat trip from about 30 to 45 min. will take you to the beautiful island of Mindoro. If your lucky, you will even see dolphins on your way to Mindoro! Mindoro has plenty of magnificent diving spots. There are lots of great diving sites for both beginners and advanced divers. But you will also like Mindoro if you don't dive. You can go for a swim in the cristal clear water, go snorkling so see the beautiful underwater world, enjoy the white beach, visit some of the local tribes, do some shopping at the local market, rent a motorbike and visit the island, and much more!

From all islands, the biggest in size is Mindanao, which is in the south of the Philippines. This is a wonderful big agrarian production area with loads of pineapple, bananas and rice. Landreform is a hot issue here. The far south of Mindanao, is mainly inhabitant by moslims who want to become self-regulating. The rest of the Philippines is mainly christian.

In between Luzon and Mindanao you will find the Visayas archipel which is composed of many islands. The main island from the Visayas is Cebu City, the second most important city of the Philippines. Cebu has over 4 million inhabitants and attracts a lot of tourists.

However, the most beautiful and pure island, Palawan, also attracts more and more tourists. Nature is still very pristine because the island is rather remote.

The Philippines export a lot of agrarian products such as sugar cane, dried coconut, coconut oil, bananas and a lot of canned pineapple. It also exports raw materials like timber, copper, chromium and gold. Other important export articles are the plated baskets, wood carving, shells etc.

They produce corn, rice and sweet potatos. They catch a a lot of fish, as local food and also for exportation. If you like fresh fish, like shrimps and and tilapia, you will surely like the Philippines.

The country has two seasons: dry and wet. The dry season is generally from November to May and the wet season is from June to October. The country has its share of natural disasters like typhoons, earth quakes and volcanic eruptions on a regular basis. This causes big damage which cannot always be repaired because of lack of funds. Population growth and lack of industries, are the reasons that especially the rural areas are rather poor.

The time is + 7 GMT. It is a tropical country which makes it very attractive for people who live in countries with cold and dreary winters. Temperatures are generally around 28 C but in summer (April, May) it can be very hot, up to 40 C. When its hot like that, plunging in the nice water becomes even more attractive!

Just in case your single and traveling to the Philippine you might want to see also this Philippine Dating page which offers plenty of good links to various dating sites.