dive

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17-18may2008

This was a trip originally intended for Badjao. I had not seen this friend since he left for Davao. Although he has visited several on occasions, we just couldn’t get our schedules synced. After so much planning, it apparently still wasn’t meant to be. We were supposed to dive the weekend before the above date but the resorts were full for the 10-11may weekend. We couldn’t understand why… it just was. So we decided on a raincheck.

The dive went through the weekend of 17-18th despite the tropical depression turned typhoon that was licking our feet.

As always, we left Friday night … we, meaning I wasn’t alone for the trip. Jomi and Anton was with me. They were roommates and I was to meet my roommate tomorrow (Saturday).

This was going to be a big group. Dave had an OW checkout with 4 students. Doc Mark, Minnie and Tata… let’s not forget Paz… a Japanese friend of Anton (Suzuki) with his interpreter Kiko arrived Friday night as well. Philip (from Arizona) and Mark (from Tampa) arrived after our first dive together with Mike and Kay.

Minnie joined the OW students for their first dive to get her reoriented since she had not dove since checkout. Philip and Mark joined the other boat too although I couldn’t understand why…

Our boat had Elmer as DM… Paz, Jomi, Anton, Suzuki, Kiko, Doc Mark, Tata. Minnie joined us from the second dive onwards.

Another first for this trip… since the winds were quite heavy because of the typhoon, the outriggers couldn’t dock in front of the resort. We had to be shuttled to Mainit by truck where the boats could safely come ashore. And because of the wind, no boat could safely cross the channel into Maricaban. This simply means that all dives had to be within the area.

DAY ONE:
Mainit Bubbles
Mainit School

DAY TWO:
Mainit Point
Aphol’s Rock

Aphol’s Rock was the only site where we crossed into Maricaban since the winds were a lot calmer on Sunday and the seas weren’t choppy. This was a welcome surprise for me since the last time we dove this site was probably 3 or 4 years ago.

Aphol’s didn’t disappoint me. I wished I had brought my camera for this site. I’d forgotten how nice it was. Despite the poor visibility, due to the typhoon for sure, it was still nice. The highlight for this dive was seeing a blue ribbon eel outside its hole.

Blue Ribbon Eel from the safety of its hole.

As you can see above, only several inches (to about a foot) is typically seen … this time is was out. I couldn’t believe that this guy is about 5-6 feet if stretched out. It swam like a wave … pretty cool and a total first for me.

Something new again … that’s what makes diving such a pleasure.

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26-27apr2008

After experiencing a wonderful dive trip to Palau, it’s time to go home … back to Anilao. This trip was really great. I purposely left my camera so I can have a super relaxing dive. I simply wanted to sight-see and be one with my thoughts.

I had a new room mate this trip. One that prefers to get to the resort Friday night … ahh, my kind of guy. Someone that shared and understood why I do it myself. This trip would also be another first as they opened STAR Tollway all the way to Bauan as opposed to exiting in Lipa.

I left Manila early (7pm) so I could have an easy drive. I also didn’t want to be out late since I was going to go through a new route - just in case I got lost, I’d still have someone to ask directions from.

The STAR Toll “extension” is superb. The concrete was excellent … much better than the previous part. It was very smooth. The length doubled and you exit the tollway facing a roundabout which leads to the Bauan By-pass road (a quite familiar piece of road). Although it didn’t seem obvious at first, as soon as I saw some landmarks … I knew exactly where I was. The new extension cuts the trip by approximately 30 minutes. More if you travel faster along the tollway.

I got to Crystal Blue around 09:30pm and was surprised that my roommate was already there. Getting to our room, I finally meet him … nice fellow. He was bringing down a new camera setup and was eager to try it. I gave him a few tips and discussed camera’s and diving all nights. We chatted ’til after midnight before we finally hit the sack.

There were 12 of us all together … quite a fun bunch … perfect that I didn’t bring my camera … made me enjoy the weekend much more.

We did 4 dives … 2 per day … 1 dive out then back to the resort which made the pace quite relaxing.

Sepok 1 to 2 & Twin Rocks made the first day … (Twin Rocks) perfect for the photographers. Mainit and Beatriz for the 2nd day. Unfortunately, it was raining by the time we did Beatriz which made it darker than usual underwater … but Beatriz never fails to show its beauty even in the most undesirable conditions.

It was such a nice weekend that I’m looking forward to diving again the 2nd week of May. I suppose we all have to take advantage of the summer months and dive as much as possible.

For pictures of this dive, please go to Paz’ article on Diveshoppe’s Page.

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04-09apr2008

Please click on the link for details about: Trip to Palau…

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08-09mar2008

At last … another dive. This time, I was with my good friend Dennis. Since he was going hunting, we stayed at Ligpo Island Resort. It was my first time to stay at this resort. Very basic hence, very cheap. I’ve never paid this low for a weekend’s dive yet.

All 4 dives were at Bahura Ligpo. The top of the reef is at around 80 fsw(feet salt water). So as not to damage the reef, the anchor line is usually fitted with a burlap bag filled with sand androcks. There is no anchor used. It is quite difficult to findthat reef despite the triangulation that most boatmen use. It is considered a talent to find this reef … something sought after by divers.

A blue water descent along the line is how you get to the reef. Since visibility is hardly clear, you really have no reference but the line. At around 60 fsw (depending on the visibility), you should see the reef.

The first dive we did was a winner … as soon as we got down, we saw 6 spotted eagle rays!!! They were just there feeding and not minding us. They were “flying” all around us. Just before the dive, Dennis mentioned that he always spots spotted eagle rays here … and presto, they were there - in force!

Three of the 6 Spotted Eagle Rays at Bahura Ligpo… you can see the wing tips of the third ray just behind the soft coral on the right.

Unfortunately, it was overcast that day. That means that at 90+ fsw, its quite dark. My camera was having a hard time focusing and therefore refused to snap. It a good thing that I managed this 1 shot to prove that they were there.

This sighting already made my weekend … everything would just be gravy. spotting rays is not that common… spotting 6 all together is something else.

Dennis on the other hand didn’t have much luck. He only bagged 1 dog-tooth tuna the whole weekend. The absence of moderate to heavy current kept the fishes he hunts away.

Another time then…

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12-13jan2008

This was my first dive of the year! Because it is January, I expected the water to be quite cold … and it was. The minimum temperature recorded during three of our four dives was 77°F and one was 78°F. It was so cold that from the second dive onwards, I had to use shorties and my vest. I usually feel cold 30 minutes into the dive … though tolerable, it wasn’t that comfortable.

With this weekend’s dive, there was again another bonus. I met a new dive buddy - Mike Boni, an old friend of Dave. Quite an interesting fellow wherein he got into technical diving which of course solicited questions from me.

Diving is not only for going underwater, but also meeting new people. There was something else… Dave dove with us… what a treat. In his busy schedule, the opportunities that allow him to dive with us is becoming rare.

This weekend was practically no different. Although we did 4 dives; 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday, he did about 8 dives total. Why? He checked-out a student so he was doing dives with her in between our dives. Geez … it was like he was on a liveaboard …

Bahura (Kanto 2), Mainit, Layag-Layag, and SepokWall were the dives this weekend. Interestingly enough, we encountered “Barnacle Joe”again at Mainit. Looks like he’s becoming a regular sighting there. From what the others are telling me, he is a resident there already.

Barnacle Joeis the name I gave the “fairly large sea turtle” I mentioned in the previous post when we did Mainit. Check out his picture below (previous dive post) where the barnacle is quite obvious.

What made this weekend surprising was the depth in which we going. Normally, these sites don’t require you to go down that deep, but we were there over 100 fsw on the all but the last dive. It wasn’t that deep but like I said, normally this wouldn’t happen … I guess we were just desperate for some sightings as although the water was cold … nothing showed up.

Maybe next time.

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8-9dec2007

I really anticipated for this dive weekend. Aside from the dive, there was an outreach program at San Teodoro Elementary School and the Christmas party of Diveshoppe.

This was a large dive group … approximately 25 divers split into three boats. Our boat “De Villa” did Bahura (Kanto 2) as a first dive. Although Bahurais always interesting, the visibility wasn’t that great. The group did manage to spot a couple of black-tip sharks (I didn’t see them since I was behind the rest). If only the visibility was better … oh well.

We decided to do a second dive before lunch and the outreach. We decided on Mainit. Mainit is another site that offers surprises on every dive. This time we weren’t disappointed. Again the visibility was below average, we still managed another black-tip. What surprised us in the middle of the dive was a fairly large sea turtle. This guys shell was at least 2 1/2 feet wide and about 4 feet long. This would be accurate since I was really beside it swimming along. It didn’t even care that we were all there amazed by its beauty … it just kept on munching at the corals.

Although you can’t tell from this picture, this guy was huge…

Notice the barnacle stuck on his back…

After the second dive, we went back to the resort to have lunch while the others proceed to the school to start the outreach program. We soon followed.

After the outreach, we proceeded back to the resort to get cleaned up. That evening, the Christmas party commenced … party in the usual fashion. This meant that most slept late …

The following day, they decided not to wake me for the “before-breakfast” dive at Mainit … I wouldn’t have made it anyway … too much partying the night before. I just joined the group for the dive at New Reef aka Larry’s Garden.

I looked forward to New Reef because I was completely awed from the previous time we did the site. I wanted to take a wide-angle shot from above to show the beauty of the terrain. Unfortunately, it was heavily overcast that morning … this meant that it was going to be extremely dark down at 80 ft. I decided not to even bring down my camera as it would have been useless to take what I planned for. Although the visibility was still below average, I still enjoyed investigating the walls of the mounds. Next time I hope the water would be clearer …

This marks the last dive for the year … I don’t think there will be another opportunity to dive until next year. Hmm, I wonder when and where the “1st dive of the year” will be …

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3-4nov2007

After 3 weeks, I got the opportunity to dive once again. At long last! The last dive was only a day trip so it was quite frustrating. But then again, any opportunity to dive is something I won’t pass over.

I knew it was going to be an interesting weekend since we had some kids come along. Anton brought his family over, Dave and Paz brought the little one, while Jomitook Mickey’s kids along for the weekend.

Our dive group consisted of: Elmer (Divemaster), Paz, Jomi, Anton, Ferdie, Mike, Dennis and I.

The dives were very good. Bahura, Bahura Kanto 1 and Mainit was day one. New Reef/Larry’s Garden and Bahura Kanto 2 was day two. Jomi who took pictures while the kids were doing their intro dives (after dive no. 1) didn’t join us at Bahura Kanto 1 because he was already tired. So he stayed with the kids at Cemetery Beach. Anton and Dennis didn’t join us for Mainit.

Bahura is always interesting dive. Although there was no current to speak of, we still managed a white tip reef shark and a black tip reef shark … a bonus for the newer divers in the group. Actually, it was a bonus for all … haven’t seen a shark in Anilao for some time now.

Kanto 1 is another beautiful site with nice corals. There were a lot of fish … as we scanned the ocean, we were constantly bombarded with sightings of several interesting species. There was just too many to remember.

Mainit never dissapoints a diver. There was a school of 4 sweetlips that I saw twice (were they following us?) that must be at least 2 feet long and maybe a foot high … these four stuck out from the rest of the critters. They were huge. Of course the barracudas were there again … juvenilles, yellow tail and chevrons. Of course there were others … but these were the only ones that I remembered … input overload … woohoo!!!

That night while having a few drinks, I requested from Elmer that we try for New Reef. I recounted the first time we attempted that reef … we missed it completely andended up at 150 ft with sandall around us. You might ask, if you already saw nothing at 80 ft, why continue? Well, our DM Tommy had to get some bearings to check if we were close enough. We were kinda close but if we attempted, we would have gone against some pretty strong current … we wouldn’t have made it with enough air to enjoy the site anyway … so we just aborted.

So Sunday came and I was excited … diving a site for the first time is always exciting. As Elmer triangulated … we dropped anchor and voila … bullseye!!! The water was so clear that you could see the top of the reef from the surface. That’s 80 ft down for those not familiar with New Reef. That was already good news.

As I descended, I could already see the formations and the general topography of the reef. I decided to hover high above the reef to enjoy a wide angle view of the location. I must have stayed on top a good 7-8 minutes just admiring the beauty of the reef. After that I joined them at depth to get a closer view of the critters. Dennis even saw a dog-tooth tuna! The large fan corals were beautiful. A lot of them were definitely more than 10 feet in height.

We weren’t able to explore all 4 mounds as some were already running low on air. Well, maybe next time … we definitely will be back there … maybe on nitrox!!!

The last dive of the weekend was at Bahura Kanto 2. Again, excellent visibility. We saw a juvenile sea turtle that swam amidst us. That must have been a treat for the newer divers of the group … really close encounter.
Sea Turtle

All our dives were great … New Reef alone made the weekend … excellent. Thanks to Elmer for leading us … the rest of the guys for the great company. As we were rinsing the gear, we were already talking of which sites to do next time. There was mention of New Reef on nitrox and possibly Mapating Cave. Who knows, that Marble Ray could still be there waiting for us …
Marble Ray at Mapating Cave

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12oct2007

After almost 7 weeks, I finally got salt into my skin. Although it was just a day trip, it was better than nothing at all. Seven weeks is a bit too long between dives … I would have accepted any offer my way to go diving.

The first suprisewas my friend Dennis. I had invited him as I always do … he usually declines. Having mentioned that ‘there has to be a purpose’ for the dive … I had a feeling that he would decline again this time. Well, he didn’t.

Whoa … cool. There were 4 of us … Jomi, Anton, Dennis and I. Dave couldn’t make it because of personal matters. Elmer was to be our DM.

We arrived at Crystal Blue Resort before 9am. After attending to personal matters … we got ready and boarded the boat straight off.

We only did 2 dives but they were good dives. You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. It wasn’t too hot but the sun was out. The waters were calm … there was good viz and there was moderate current on the dive sites chosen … Beatriz for the 1st and Saddle-Bahura for the 2nd.

Beatriz is always beautiful. Good viz and fishes all around. The highlight for me was a black frog fish that had ‘gold glitter’ on its ’spine.’ I’ve never seen a blacker frog fish to date. This guy was great.

After a 55min S.I. at Layag-Layag, we did Saddle to Bahura. Current was moderately strong but we didn’t really fight it. Ducking in and out of it’s wrath, getting us to a vantage point to watch the show. White tip shark … black tip shark … and others were out to play.

I’m so happy for Anton as he showed that he is now confident underwater. Kudos.

Got to test my new Scubapro reel when Dennis andI decided to extend our dive as the others were about to start their safety stop. The reel performed without a hitch … I’m impressed and truly love my new tool.

The sad part was going home. It was sad and weird. I’ve never done a day trip before and now that I have … I don’t like it. If ever I have to do it again, I hope I don’t get to drive … that’s the bummer there. I spent more time behind the wheel than underwater … that isn’t right.

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26aug2007

Just came back from a dive weekend. It was great. Did 4 dives, 2 on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday. Those in attendance were Dave, Paz, Mark, Minnie, Mike, Kaye and myself.

First, allow me to mention about Crystal Blue Resort, where we stayed. I have not seen a resort run this way. It was almost like being in a hotel. Very nice and clean facilities. The rooms were well appointed. The bathroom was big enough and supplied with toothbrushes, toothpaste, wrapped soap. There were plenty of towels … 3 sizes in fact. There was hot and cold water both in the shower/bath tub and wash basin.

The staff was very attentive and nice. The food wasn’t excellent but it wasn’t bad either. I don’t know if they’re insecure about their cooking, but they kept asking for comments about their cooking. Their rates are quite fair and reasonable. I would definitely visit this resort again.

We dove primarily to clean-up COT (crown of thorns) infestation while Minnie was doing her OW (open water) checkout exercises. Our first dive was at Arthur’s … this was in front of the resort. There were hardly enough COT’s to fill one crate. According to Paz, someone must have “cleaned-up” before us.

Mark & I gathering COT’s

Gathering more COT’s at Koala

The second dive was at neighboring Koala. Now, this place was flowing with COT’s. We filled 3 crates but there was a lot more to be harvested. I suppose you could schedule another cleanup here and there should be more crates to bring up. Just make sure that you conduct briefings before your cleanup to avoid mishaps as getting stung by COT’s is serious business.

Installing string for balloon

Group after bounty

To see more pictures, please proceed to Diveshoppe’s site.

The following day we did Cathedral. All visitors of Anilaomust do Cathedral at least once. This also allowed Minnie to experience fish feeding while the rest of us just went around to take pictures. Unfortunately, there were 2 other boats that did Cathedral making the site quite crowded. We had to wait for our turn at the cross.

After an hour of surface interval, our last dive was to Daryl Laut. I never get exicted about this site even if I have a camera. But upon reaching the wreck, I always am glad we did this dive. It’s always a chance to hone your composition skills because of the limited subjects. You can always practice your deep diving skills or even your deco techniques since both are very doable. Nevertheless, there are few people that dive here and that’s always a bonus. I’ve never experienced diving with another boat at this site.

I miss diving so much. Definitely, I’d like to go again in September. Unfortunately, I can’t go with the Diveshoppefamily during their clean-up on 8-9 September. I’ll defintely join them during their Coron trip and hopefully a dive before that.

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21aug2007

My last dive was on 23 May 2007. This was for our National Geographic Diver check-out. Jomi, Jonet, Doc Orly, Coh and Remy were fellow classmates for this specialty course.

After 3 months, I’m finally diving again. This time we’re staying at a new resort, Crystal Blue. I’m so anxious for the dive … how I missed it so. We’re also doing COT (crown of thorns) clean-up.

According to Wikipedia: The crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is a red-colored starfish with thorn-like spines sprouting all over its body for protection. These echinoderms grow to a diameter of up to 40 cm across and have 12 to 19 arms extending from their center.

Further, the starfish is a coral reef predator (a corallivore) and preys on the coral polypsby climbing onto them, extruding its stomach over them, and releasing digestive enzymes to then absorb the liquified tissue.It’s important that their numbers are kept in check to maintain the coral reef population.

In the past few years, there has been an outbreak of this starfish in Anilao …

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