shugar
Contributor
This is long overdue (as well as being looong) but here goes...
Before I found ScubaBoard I found divingobsession.com. I helped organize and fill in the data on Philippine dive sites as well as became a regular fixture of their small dive community forum.
There I met Dave (one of the co-owners) who recently said that he was coming over to the Philippines with his (very pretty) Filipina fiancée Nicole to attend her sister's wedding. Having a "Philippine contact" and already having heard of the great diving we have here he made it a point to squeeze in even just 1 day of diving amidst all the hubbub of wedding preparations and (you have to be Filipino or about to marry one to understand this) the seemingly endless slew of relative hopping that was required of Dave and Nicole.
I retained Norman Garcia to provide dive pro services as well as assist in the logistical arrangements with Aquaventure Reef Club. We were to do 3 dives with Dave while Nicole would snorkel around.
Dave also said that they had to drop off a couple of relatives before heading for Anilao and expected to arrive at around 10am. Norman said "perfect", let's do Mainit before they arrive and then take Dave on his lower-octane dives. I was ecstatic! I had never had a chance to do Mainit and had heard a lot of great things about that site.
DECEMBER 8
The 8th began like the 7th ended - cold, wet and miserable. It was raining pretty steadily and word from Anilao was that it was raining small domesticated animals too; but continue the trip must as there was no word from Dave that he wasn't hot about diving in the rain.
My real worry was visibility (I had never done a rain dive yet) and that Dave might not get to enjoy his 1st Philippine dives.
Norman and I geared up and boarded the bangka for the trip to Mainit. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be... 26C on the surface with some wind chill thanks to the moving bangka - but the surface was dead calm as there was no wind
There was a chop though at Mainit and Norman decided we were going to do a negative descent. Back rolling I was still worried about viz but was surprised at what I saw underwater - clear viz! We pretty much had 30-40ft in most cases with some areas lending us 50-60ft! And Mainit did not disappoint - there was amazing life everywhere! Walls of small red fish making it look like it was raining fishies, the usual cast of angels, idols, triggers, surgeons, and so many others.
There was also barely a current at Mainit! so we had a very leisurely swim through the mounds with a slight current picking us up and drifting us a bit to the next spot - what a relaxing dive on one of Anilao's high-voltage dive sites.
There was generous number of titan triggers swimming around and some even nesting... we weaved our way around them to save our ears from being munched off unnecessarily.
Then Norman starts tapping his tank with his knife, he points and there is a small school of about 8 midnight snappers - they where huge - around 4ft each swimming above us. Mainit was keeping its promise of big fish sightings!
Then Norman starts to bang his tank again excitedly pointing out to the haze - SHARK!!! a blacktip reef shark!!! my first one! I’m no longer a shark virgin!!! YAHOO!!!
A couple of minutes later he bangs his tank again - SHARK! another blacktip - 2 sharks already! this site rocks!!!
Then Norman starts banging another hole in his tank (I’m thinking "what the...") - SHARK! NO WAIT - 2 SHARKS!!!!! about 20ft apart in the haze, 2 black tips - 4 shark sightings on my first time!!! WOW!
It was getting hard to hold my reg in place with the huge grin my face was plastered with. this was a great dive and I just couldn't wait tell all the boys and girls back home who were currently at the office pretending to work and surfing SB in the process.
Then Norman bangs again (I’m thinking "another???") then he points out... and there it was... in crystal clear viz... the biggest freaking fish I had ever seen (this is dive #26 for me so give me a break)... my eyes were popping out of my mask... I didn't want to blink... all that escaped my reg was a very awe-struck and well-enunciated "hoe-lee-sheet".
Glowing silver against the azure backdrop was one huge mother of a jack! and I mean HUGE - roughly the size of a kitchen door! it hovered there for a good minute allowing us to really see that we weren't narced or anything - it was HUGE! then it relaxedly swam away...
How do you top that? we ended the dive with a pretty big unicorn surgeon fish but... well... you can imagine it's like driving in NASCAR after you've just done a stint on F1.
All we could babble about on the trip back was that fish... and a welcome SI at AquaV brought Dave and Nicole to our doorstep.
DAVE AND NICOLE
A lovely couple; both all smiles and a sincere happiness radiating from each one - although I believe for slightly different reasons - Nicole was home and being home always is a good thing, while Dave was with Nicole and they were both about to enjoy some Anilao diving.
We got Dave’s stuff squared away and he promptly suited up. weather was still dismal but with calm seas and clear viz the sunshine was only really missed because we wouldn't get a tan in the process.
Just as we boarded Dave goes: "oops, I forgot to pull out a tank", we answered: "oh no, it's already here, your gear is all rigged up"... thus we welcomed Dave to the wonderful world of Philippine seniority diving.
DAVE'S DIVES
Dave had already said he was more into the relaxed, macro stuff; I figured this being his first-ever dive in the country it behooved us to put one of better feet forward. we decided on diving Cathedral.
Cathedral is a favorite dive site of both newbie divers and experienced pros. its relaxed currents, good depth range and amazing marine life makes it a winner in any book; and it being a rainy weekday in the middle of December, the fish were already missing the company of these strange black beings with bubbles.
The fish were everywhere and within the first few seconds of the dive Dave was already being mobbed by a myriad of small fish - so up close and personal it was proving very difficult to take decent photos as some fish or another would obscure the lens.
We eventually surfaced and Dave’s grin was ear-to-ear. Nicole had already concluded her snorkel stint and was waiting on the boat for us to get on. We headed back to AquaV for another SI and lunch.
Coming down from the bangka at the resort we told Dave: "just leave all your stuff here, it will all be ready when we get back", Dave just goes: "I can get used to this" (little does he know that we're not just used to this... but can't imagine diving without it hehehehehehe such spoiled divers we Filipinos are hahhahahaha).
Over lunch he showed his photos to us as well as recounted to Nicole how the fish were everywhere and all. It was apparent his trip was not in vain...
In the Philippines the word for this is "sulit".
After lunch we sailed off to Koala where there was a lot of coral variety and a lot of little critters to shoot. Nicole had a better snorkeling experience as the growth was shallower here and the weather had cleared up somewhat.
It truly is the Christmas Season here at home and even the creatures of the deep are feeling it. I had never seen so many Christmas Tree Worms ever and in so many different colors! If I had a better camera and was a better u/w photographer I would have more shots of blues and oranges and browns and whites and yellows and stripes and spots and... and... wow.
After a 50-minute dive we headed off to Balai Resort for a surface interval on the way to our last dive of the day. At the resort the sun came out for a while and we sipped drinks while sunning ourselves out on the deck and shared stories of trips and dive experiences and other stuff that divers seem to talk about when not actually diving.
With drinks done and nitrogen loads off-gassed we boarded again for the short boat ride to Twin Rocks. we began our dive at the sunken barge, moved to the twin mounds and worked our way back to the barge. Twin Rocks' denizens are also quite accustomed to humans and they came out in their multitudes to greet us. bigger than the residents of cathedral we had surgeon fish and bat fish coming up and tempting us to reach out and touch them. the little ones made it also challenging to take more photos as, like a bunch of hyper children, they all seemed to want to crowd the lens - jostling for position closer and closer to the camera till there was no photo to be had.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Showering up and stowing the gear away we brought an end to a wonderful diving day. Dave and Nicole were headed off to Nasugbu where Nicole's sister was to be wed; Norman and I had the trudge back to Manila to look forward to.
It never ceases to amaze me how the world has been made infinitesimally smaller with the advent of the internet; yet getting the chance to meet a person who you'd only met online still gives the semblance of your being from totally different worlds.
A person who I began as being "friendly" with on the internet has been met and is now a friend. Maybe it’s the term "buddy"... or maybe that what you have in common is relying on a tank of air many feet underwater that binds you... or maybe the fact that together you experience something that God in his wisdom chose to make unattainable to humans. Whatever it is, it's a bond between divers that is not easily broken, nor easy to trivialize.
Dave and Nicole returned to the US December 10. Hopefully they take home with them great memories of home, family, friendship and a wonderful little place we call the Philippine Dive Paradise. They're getting married in January and already considering having a 2nd honeymoon here when the sun's out and diving even more unbelievable.
Before I found ScubaBoard I found divingobsession.com. I helped organize and fill in the data on Philippine dive sites as well as became a regular fixture of their small dive community forum.
There I met Dave (one of the co-owners) who recently said that he was coming over to the Philippines with his (very pretty) Filipina fiancée Nicole to attend her sister's wedding. Having a "Philippine contact" and already having heard of the great diving we have here he made it a point to squeeze in even just 1 day of diving amidst all the hubbub of wedding preparations and (you have to be Filipino or about to marry one to understand this) the seemingly endless slew of relative hopping that was required of Dave and Nicole.
I retained Norman Garcia to provide dive pro services as well as assist in the logistical arrangements with Aquaventure Reef Club. We were to do 3 dives with Dave while Nicole would snorkel around.
Dave also said that they had to drop off a couple of relatives before heading for Anilao and expected to arrive at around 10am. Norman said "perfect", let's do Mainit before they arrive and then take Dave on his lower-octane dives. I was ecstatic! I had never had a chance to do Mainit and had heard a lot of great things about that site.
DECEMBER 8
The 8th began like the 7th ended - cold, wet and miserable. It was raining pretty steadily and word from Anilao was that it was raining small domesticated animals too; but continue the trip must as there was no word from Dave that he wasn't hot about diving in the rain.
My real worry was visibility (I had never done a rain dive yet) and that Dave might not get to enjoy his 1st Philippine dives.
Norman and I geared up and boarded the bangka for the trip to Mainit. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be... 26C on the surface with some wind chill thanks to the moving bangka - but the surface was dead calm as there was no wind
There was a chop though at Mainit and Norman decided we were going to do a negative descent. Back rolling I was still worried about viz but was surprised at what I saw underwater - clear viz! We pretty much had 30-40ft in most cases with some areas lending us 50-60ft! And Mainit did not disappoint - there was amazing life everywhere! Walls of small red fish making it look like it was raining fishies, the usual cast of angels, idols, triggers, surgeons, and so many others.
There was also barely a current at Mainit! so we had a very leisurely swim through the mounds with a slight current picking us up and drifting us a bit to the next spot - what a relaxing dive on one of Anilao's high-voltage dive sites.
There was generous number of titan triggers swimming around and some even nesting... we weaved our way around them to save our ears from being munched off unnecessarily.
Then Norman starts tapping his tank with his knife, he points and there is a small school of about 8 midnight snappers - they where huge - around 4ft each swimming above us. Mainit was keeping its promise of big fish sightings!
Then Norman starts to bang his tank again excitedly pointing out to the haze - SHARK!!! a blacktip reef shark!!! my first one! I’m no longer a shark virgin!!! YAHOO!!!
A couple of minutes later he bangs his tank again - SHARK! another blacktip - 2 sharks already! this site rocks!!!
Then Norman starts banging another hole in his tank (I’m thinking "what the...") - SHARK! NO WAIT - 2 SHARKS!!!!! about 20ft apart in the haze, 2 black tips - 4 shark sightings on my first time!!! WOW!
It was getting hard to hold my reg in place with the huge grin my face was plastered with. this was a great dive and I just couldn't wait tell all the boys and girls back home who were currently at the office pretending to work and surfing SB in the process.
Then Norman bangs again (I’m thinking "another???") then he points out... and there it was... in crystal clear viz... the biggest freaking fish I had ever seen (this is dive #26 for me so give me a break)... my eyes were popping out of my mask... I didn't want to blink... all that escaped my reg was a very awe-struck and well-enunciated "hoe-lee-sheet".
Glowing silver against the azure backdrop was one huge mother of a jack! and I mean HUGE - roughly the size of a kitchen door! it hovered there for a good minute allowing us to really see that we weren't narced or anything - it was HUGE! then it relaxedly swam away...
How do you top that? we ended the dive with a pretty big unicorn surgeon fish but... well... you can imagine it's like driving in NASCAR after you've just done a stint on F1.
All we could babble about on the trip back was that fish... and a welcome SI at AquaV brought Dave and Nicole to our doorstep.
DAVE AND NICOLE
A lovely couple; both all smiles and a sincere happiness radiating from each one - although I believe for slightly different reasons - Nicole was home and being home always is a good thing, while Dave was with Nicole and they were both about to enjoy some Anilao diving.
We got Dave’s stuff squared away and he promptly suited up. weather was still dismal but with calm seas and clear viz the sunshine was only really missed because we wouldn't get a tan in the process.
Just as we boarded Dave goes: "oops, I forgot to pull out a tank", we answered: "oh no, it's already here, your gear is all rigged up"... thus we welcomed Dave to the wonderful world of Philippine seniority diving.
DAVE'S DIVES
Dave had already said he was more into the relaxed, macro stuff; I figured this being his first-ever dive in the country it behooved us to put one of better feet forward. we decided on diving Cathedral.
Cathedral is a favorite dive site of both newbie divers and experienced pros. its relaxed currents, good depth range and amazing marine life makes it a winner in any book; and it being a rainy weekday in the middle of December, the fish were already missing the company of these strange black beings with bubbles.
The fish were everywhere and within the first few seconds of the dive Dave was already being mobbed by a myriad of small fish - so up close and personal it was proving very difficult to take decent photos as some fish or another would obscure the lens.
We eventually surfaced and Dave’s grin was ear-to-ear. Nicole had already concluded her snorkel stint and was waiting on the boat for us to get on. We headed back to AquaV for another SI and lunch.
Coming down from the bangka at the resort we told Dave: "just leave all your stuff here, it will all be ready when we get back", Dave just goes: "I can get used to this" (little does he know that we're not just used to this... but can't imagine diving without it hehehehehehe such spoiled divers we Filipinos are hahhahahaha).
Over lunch he showed his photos to us as well as recounted to Nicole how the fish were everywhere and all. It was apparent his trip was not in vain...
In the Philippines the word for this is "sulit".
After lunch we sailed off to Koala where there was a lot of coral variety and a lot of little critters to shoot. Nicole had a better snorkeling experience as the growth was shallower here and the weather had cleared up somewhat.
It truly is the Christmas Season here at home and even the creatures of the deep are feeling it. I had never seen so many Christmas Tree Worms ever and in so many different colors! If I had a better camera and was a better u/w photographer I would have more shots of blues and oranges and browns and whites and yellows and stripes and spots and... and... wow.
After a 50-minute dive we headed off to Balai Resort for a surface interval on the way to our last dive of the day. At the resort the sun came out for a while and we sipped drinks while sunning ourselves out on the deck and shared stories of trips and dive experiences and other stuff that divers seem to talk about when not actually diving.
With drinks done and nitrogen loads off-gassed we boarded again for the short boat ride to Twin Rocks. we began our dive at the sunken barge, moved to the twin mounds and worked our way back to the barge. Twin Rocks' denizens are also quite accustomed to humans and they came out in their multitudes to greet us. bigger than the residents of cathedral we had surgeon fish and bat fish coming up and tempting us to reach out and touch them. the little ones made it also challenging to take more photos as, like a bunch of hyper children, they all seemed to want to crowd the lens - jostling for position closer and closer to the camera till there was no photo to be had.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Showering up and stowing the gear away we brought an end to a wonderful diving day. Dave and Nicole were headed off to Nasugbu where Nicole's sister was to be wed; Norman and I had the trudge back to Manila to look forward to.
It never ceases to amaze me how the world has been made infinitesimally smaller with the advent of the internet; yet getting the chance to meet a person who you'd only met online still gives the semblance of your being from totally different worlds.
A person who I began as being "friendly" with on the internet has been met and is now a friend. Maybe it’s the term "buddy"... or maybe that what you have in common is relying on a tank of air many feet underwater that binds you... or maybe the fact that together you experience something that God in his wisdom chose to make unattainable to humans. Whatever it is, it's a bond between divers that is not easily broken, nor easy to trivialize.
Dave and Nicole returned to the US December 10. Hopefully they take home with them great memories of home, family, friendship and a wonderful little place we call the Philippine Dive Paradise. They're getting married in January and already considering having a 2nd honeymoon here when the sun's out and diving even more unbelievable.
