I had been told by Chris the night before to meet in the restaurant at 9AM. I was up early for breakfast. The restaurant at Sea Dive has a self-serve coffee/tea area. Just help yourself. While I was there I would go down and have a leisurely breakfast and take advantage of the free wireless internet in the restaurant. (not yet available in the rooms). Not the fastest connection, but this is normal away from the larger cities in the Philippines. It was nice just to be able to check email
Promptly at 9AM the boat was ready. It was high tide so the boat came right up to the restaurant and we just walked aboard. There were 3 other divers on the boat. A young couple from Spain, Juan and Sonia, and another diver from Germany who despite diving with him all day... I can't remember his name now (sorry I'm horrible at names
).
After a boat ride of just over an hour and a half we were at the first dive site of the day, the Akitsushima. A Japanese seaplane tender, it's lying on it's port side in approximately 118 feet of water. We were divided up into buddy teams, each with a guide. My German friend and I would penetrate the wreck with our guide. We both had experience diving wrecks and were certified for it. The Akitsushima is quite tore up inside and is not a wreck for someone who is inexperienced.
We first checked out the crane that was used to raise and lower seaplanes into the water. We then did a penetration into the wreck starting at the stern where we able to see the machinery for operating the crane. As I said earlier, it was quite tore up inside. Some areas were a bit of a squeeze. I remember thinking that going with a lower profile bp/w setup had been a good idea. Definitely not a wreck for someone who is a new diver or who is claustrophobic!
My maximum depth on this dive was 112 feet. Visibility was not the best, 30-35 feet. Water temperature was 86F. Dive time was 42 minutes. Because of the visibility I had opted to use my 60mm Micro-Nikkor. I felt I was more likely to see stuff I could do macro on. I took very few photos. There were a fair number of fish as there usually are around wrecks, batfish, yellowfin tuna, even some small barracuda. After exiting I saw a nice scorpionfish on the outside of the hull and a small school of razorfish swimming vertically through the water.
Lunch was served on the boat after the first dive. Fresh fish, chicken, a vegetable I'm having a hard time remembering now
... I remember that is was good
We then moved the boat to our second dive site, the Taiei Maru. The Taiei Maru is freighter lying in just over 80 feet of water on it's starboard side. It's a very open wreck. The port side is only 35-40 feet deep and is covered in hard corals. Lots of batfish, three different species of nudibranchs, flatworm, anemonefish, grouper on the upper portside. Lobster inside. We could see the boilers when we penetrated. A nice dive.
My maximum depth on this dive was 84 feet. We had a 45 minute dive. Water temperature was cooler, 82F. Visibility was 30-35 feet.
The last dive of the day was the Lusong Gunboat near Lusong Island. My camera died at this point (battery), so no photos here
I neglected to bring my spare battery (a mistake I didn't make the next day
)
The wreck lies in just over 30 feet of water and is covered in hard corals. There was a pearl farm nearby. Visibility was only about 25-30 feet. Some nice fish life. Towards the end of the dive we saw two scorpionfish. One was biting the other just above the dorsal fin. We couldn't tell if they were fighting or mating. After a little struggling back and forth, they separated and the one who was being bitten got away. I had never seen a scorpionfish do anything but just lay on the bottom. They move very fast! I was sorry I was unable to take any photos
To be continued.....
