Spoon
Contributor
Me Mons and chip decided to take the weekend off and do some diving in apo island. We stayed in Bais, an hour north of Dumaguete where Monique’s ancestral home and sugar ops was located. We stayed in a 100 year old Spanish style “bahay na bato” with old world vibes right beside the sugar mill. Aside from the beautiful scenery, we were constantly lulled to sleep by the incessant whispering of the breeze and the cold soothing climate. Smoking a couple of cigars, playing cards and drinking SMB pale pilsen was the order of the day, retired early for the night because of the long day we were going to have. Not to mention Chip was totally out of his element and was actually sick, which could probably be attributed to locking himself at home with a stash of adult flicks.
Woke up at around 4:30 and left bais for Malatapay port which is located in Zamboanguita as a pick up point for Apo island. Arrived in Zamboanguita at 6:30 and were met by Rastaman Lemuel, no other than our hippie divemaster and headed for Apo Island. The waves were crashing and the sea was a wash of grey undulating grey dunes that would not cease. We were battered with spray the whole length of the ride. We had to assemble, change and configure our gear enroute to the first dive site.
DIVE 1:
As we donned all our gear( Mons first time to use her new H eclipse, I on the other hand was using the first early 90’s halcyon pioneer) we noticed that the shoreline around the entire apo island was being savagely ravaged by the waves. The waves were pretty large in front of coconut point so we all decided to dive another site called Cogon point. The minute we decended we drifted along the reef at a surprisingly fast speed (faster than any at anilao) In fact I was quite surprised that we were going so fast and couldn’t set up my camera properly. One thing I distinctly noticed was that the viz was not as clear as I expected it to be HOWEVER the pelagics were huge. 5 minutes into the dive mons points and tells me to look behind and I saw the biggest school of jacks I have ever seen. These guys were! The school migrated upwards toward the surface like a mad train and circled our group several times. They were roughly 2 meters away from us and saw a couple of other big game crashing the party. I saw several barracudas and black fish that joined the herd. Mons swears that they looked like shadows and had to shake her head several times to make sure she wasn’t narced. Also saw a 4 foot brown grouper foraging at the bottom. That was pretty much the highlight of our dive and ended the dive drifting for what seemed like miles.
Dive 2:
Dove in rockpoint area. The viz was clearer in this site. There was also hardly any current so we got to explore the reefs more extensively. Was greeted by a turtule at the beginning of the dive. Followed it for about 2 mins before we decided to follow the contour of the reef to the very bottom. saw the usual jacks and groupers along the edge of the reef. Mid dive mons pointed out the biggest yellow snapper I have seen. Clearly the biggest, healthiest single fish I have seen. Was easily over 4ft. in length. Was thinking of lemon buuter sauce the whole time. Towards the end of the dive we saw another turtule catching some z’s. allowed us to get closer for some pics before it left feeling a bit annoyed that we invaded its privacy.
After this mons took a banca back to zamboanguita to pick up her friends at the airport.
Dive3:
Coconut point: Of all the dives I have done this is by far the craziest most dangerous dive I have done. This is the dive that jarred by senses. Immediately after doing the backroll entry we were sucked down the reef like skydivers jumping of a plane. I was quite surprised at the intensity of the current but did not pay much attention since we were generally drifting along the countour of the reef. Before I knew it we were at 111ft and this was all in a minute since we did our entry. Stabilized at this depth and had time to marvel at an upward migration of jacks, noticed lone barracuda at the end of the pack. Pointed at chip and looked downwards to get a glimpse of the black abyss I looked back at the last location of chip and he was gone. At this very moment, the DM and I were sucked by a whirl wind like current that tossed us like ragdolls to 70 ft in an instant. I thought we got caught in an up current but at 70 ft I noticed that the current began to shift and it turned into a downcurrent. I held on to a rock with my bare hands and couldn’t not believe the strength of the current. I held on with all my strength but I couldn’t hold on and got swept back to 100ft. I was quite lucky to get a good grip on a outcropping of rock at the very edge of what looked like an underwater cliff. I planted both of my fins ssecurely on some rocks. When I was confident with my position I peered at the edge of the cliff and could not see the bottom. I knew if I lost my grip I knew it would be futile to fight the current as it would have sucked me to say 200, 300 or even 400ft who knows??? Looked like a scene from aliens wherein Sigourney weaver opened the ship’s cargo bay in space and got the living hell sucked out of it!! Stayed at this position for 5 minutes before I saw the dm at about 80 ft signaling me to crawl up. Mustered my strength to crawl up to 85 ft. was breathing heavily and knew we had to do something quick. I inflated my bc but I wouldn’t budge and even noticed my mask coming loose from the constant battering of the current. Me and the dm decided to find the intersection of the up and down current and. After crawling 45 degrees to about 70ft we felt a change in the current. Like synchronized skydivers we released our grips, as we did this we instantly got sucked by the vortex of downcurrents and fought to swim for the upcurrent. At 80 ft we found it and got sucked upwards like tumbleweeds. From 80 to 30 in say 5 secs. as we were getting dragged up i had to use my hands to get my body far away from the rocks and corals. it was like navigating in an asteroid belt. i would have got injured for sure had my body slammed into those jagged rocks at that velocity. My computer was beeping the entire time for violating the ascent rates. Couldn’t do anything about that and decided o finish the rest of my air by doing 10 min safety stops at 30, 20, 15 feet respectively. Saw chip at 20 feet near the shoreline and apparently he had the same experience. Whatever they say about the ocean, this dive made me realize that we are ants,, im definitely humbled. I would never bring an open water diver here. One hell of a n experience id go back in a heartbeat.
http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=28915
* local dive guide said he never felt the currents that strong in his years of diving in coconut point.
Dive 4:
Chapel point was a very mediocre dive. It was quite boring, highlight for me was when I entered a small cave like formation at the side of an underwater cliff. Got to play with my light and decided to annoy some groupers and snappers who were taking their siesta. Saw lots of nudis but nothing like the ones we have back in anilao. Overall another bag under the belt
Went back to bais and had a feast that evening with moniques friends. Chilled out drank a couple of beers and passed out early. BTW chip try to add some info on the dives and post some topside pics.
Woke up at around 4:30 and left bais for Malatapay port which is located in Zamboanguita as a pick up point for Apo island. Arrived in Zamboanguita at 6:30 and were met by Rastaman Lemuel, no other than our hippie divemaster and headed for Apo Island. The waves were crashing and the sea was a wash of grey undulating grey dunes that would not cease. We were battered with spray the whole length of the ride. We had to assemble, change and configure our gear enroute to the first dive site.
DIVE 1:
As we donned all our gear( Mons first time to use her new H eclipse, I on the other hand was using the first early 90’s halcyon pioneer) we noticed that the shoreline around the entire apo island was being savagely ravaged by the waves. The waves were pretty large in front of coconut point so we all decided to dive another site called Cogon point. The minute we decended we drifted along the reef at a surprisingly fast speed (faster than any at anilao) In fact I was quite surprised that we were going so fast and couldn’t set up my camera properly. One thing I distinctly noticed was that the viz was not as clear as I expected it to be HOWEVER the pelagics were huge. 5 minutes into the dive mons points and tells me to look behind and I saw the biggest school of jacks I have ever seen. These guys were! The school migrated upwards toward the surface like a mad train and circled our group several times. They were roughly 2 meters away from us and saw a couple of other big game crashing the party. I saw several barracudas and black fish that joined the herd. Mons swears that they looked like shadows and had to shake her head several times to make sure she wasn’t narced. Also saw a 4 foot brown grouper foraging at the bottom. That was pretty much the highlight of our dive and ended the dive drifting for what seemed like miles.
Dive 2:
Dove in rockpoint area. The viz was clearer in this site. There was also hardly any current so we got to explore the reefs more extensively. Was greeted by a turtule at the beginning of the dive. Followed it for about 2 mins before we decided to follow the contour of the reef to the very bottom. saw the usual jacks and groupers along the edge of the reef. Mid dive mons pointed out the biggest yellow snapper I have seen. Clearly the biggest, healthiest single fish I have seen. Was easily over 4ft. in length. Was thinking of lemon buuter sauce the whole time. Towards the end of the dive we saw another turtule catching some z’s. allowed us to get closer for some pics before it left feeling a bit annoyed that we invaded its privacy.
After this mons took a banca back to zamboanguita to pick up her friends at the airport.
Dive3:
Coconut point: Of all the dives I have done this is by far the craziest most dangerous dive I have done. This is the dive that jarred by senses. Immediately after doing the backroll entry we were sucked down the reef like skydivers jumping of a plane. I was quite surprised at the intensity of the current but did not pay much attention since we were generally drifting along the countour of the reef. Before I knew it we were at 111ft and this was all in a minute since we did our entry. Stabilized at this depth and had time to marvel at an upward migration of jacks, noticed lone barracuda at the end of the pack. Pointed at chip and looked downwards to get a glimpse of the black abyss I looked back at the last location of chip and he was gone. At this very moment, the DM and I were sucked by a whirl wind like current that tossed us like ragdolls to 70 ft in an instant. I thought we got caught in an up current but at 70 ft I noticed that the current began to shift and it turned into a downcurrent. I held on to a rock with my bare hands and couldn’t not believe the strength of the current. I held on with all my strength but I couldn’t hold on and got swept back to 100ft. I was quite lucky to get a good grip on a outcropping of rock at the very edge of what looked like an underwater cliff. I planted both of my fins ssecurely on some rocks. When I was confident with my position I peered at the edge of the cliff and could not see the bottom. I knew if I lost my grip I knew it would be futile to fight the current as it would have sucked me to say 200, 300 or even 400ft who knows??? Looked like a scene from aliens wherein Sigourney weaver opened the ship’s cargo bay in space and got the living hell sucked out of it!! Stayed at this position for 5 minutes before I saw the dm at about 80 ft signaling me to crawl up. Mustered my strength to crawl up to 85 ft. was breathing heavily and knew we had to do something quick. I inflated my bc but I wouldn’t budge and even noticed my mask coming loose from the constant battering of the current. Me and the dm decided to find the intersection of the up and down current and. After crawling 45 degrees to about 70ft we felt a change in the current. Like synchronized skydivers we released our grips, as we did this we instantly got sucked by the vortex of downcurrents and fought to swim for the upcurrent. At 80 ft we found it and got sucked upwards like tumbleweeds. From 80 to 30 in say 5 secs. as we were getting dragged up i had to use my hands to get my body far away from the rocks and corals. it was like navigating in an asteroid belt. i would have got injured for sure had my body slammed into those jagged rocks at that velocity. My computer was beeping the entire time for violating the ascent rates. Couldn’t do anything about that and decided o finish the rest of my air by doing 10 min safety stops at 30, 20, 15 feet respectively. Saw chip at 20 feet near the shoreline and apparently he had the same experience. Whatever they say about the ocean, this dive made me realize that we are ants,, im definitely humbled. I would never bring an open water diver here. One hell of a n experience id go back in a heartbeat.
http://news.inq7.net/regions/index.php?index=1&story_id=28915
* local dive guide said he never felt the currents that strong in his years of diving in coconut point.
Dive 4:
Chapel point was a very mediocre dive. It was quite boring, highlight for me was when I entered a small cave like formation at the side of an underwater cliff. Got to play with my light and decided to annoy some groupers and snappers who were taking their siesta. Saw lots of nudis but nothing like the ones we have back in anilao. Overall another bag under the belt
Went back to bais and had a feast that evening with moniques friends. Chilled out drank a couple of beers and passed out early. BTW chip try to add some info on the dives and post some topside pics.
