Lucky us…

Being from the Philippines, we have one of the best reefs in the world.  The bio-diversity is second to none.  What we lack are pelagic fish, at least not in the usual diving spots.

This is where Palau comes in… hence “where the big boys play.”

The link below should lead you to the video of the dives…

Our dive schedule was:

- Day 1 –
Dive 1: Blue Holes – Blue Corner (spotted eagle ray)
Dive 2: Blue Corner (the sharks were still out to lunch)
Dive 3: German Channel (mantas feeding… there was one with at least a 15ft wingspan, which is the one I didn’t get on vid)

- Day 2 –
Dive 1: Siaes Tunnel (ho-hum, jacks were absent)
Dive 2: Siaes Corner (spotted eagle ray, sharks bumping/playing with each other)
Dive 3: Ulong Channel (turtle trying to munch my camera, sharks, nice drift through channel)

- Day 3 –
Dive 1: German Channel (manta didn’t wake up)
Dive 2: Blue Corner (the best ever… all present… spotted eagle ray, the usual sharks, cuda’s, spanish mackerel, wahoo, huge napoleon wrasse, etc.)
Dive 3: Iro (wreck – interesting but short dive because of depth and nitrogen loading)

I just wish it wasn’t so short a trip…

Enjoy… Mechikung (may-ee-KOONG – Palauan for "goodbye, come again”).

Of course, since I got back into taking stills underwater, I was excited to spot and photograph fish to capture.  Here’s what I photographed during this year’s first dive:

Until the next dive…

DS-125 strobe.  Next I needed to get a second strobe because having only one isn’t just going to cut it anymore.  I decided early on the DS-160 but it would still have to be ordered.  Luckily, there was a DS-161 on stock.  A newer model, with a 15-watt (equivalent) video light instead of the usual modeling/focus light.  Third, with the added weight of the second strobe, I needed float arms.  The setup weights a ton on terra firma, but with the float arms, it’ll be “light” underwater.  In fact it was so light, it’ll “float” above my head if I let go…

Friends were traveling abroad and I had the opportunity to order the necessary upgrades and it would arrive in a week… talk about luck… thank you John & Gina!

Here are the results from the first weekend with the new setup:

In the middle of the concrete jungle, there lies a patch of land.  Filled with trees and other flora… a spot of green vis-a-vis asphalt and cement.

Three generations that have made this oasis home.  The first, our parents, were the first and moved here in 1955… now our children have grown here too… there won’t be a fourth.

In my youth, there was hardly a reason to leave.  Everything came in… and in the event that there was somewhere to go… you pop the gates open and off we went.

Unimart was only 15 minutes away.  Makati – 30.

Through the years, it has become noisier… mainly due to the traffic that snakes around the area.  It is that same traffic, which haunts every resident of the metropolis – ruins everything.

On certain holiday’s, you appreciate the calm and quiet around and wonder why it can’t be like this all the time.

Every time you have to leave, its like leaving the “green zone” in Baghdad.  Immediately upon opening the gates, you have to make it

through a maze of jeepneys and other forms of transportation… not to mention the pedestrians intent on claiming the pavement beneath them.

Despite all that… its still the only green patch for kilometers.  There are still migrating birds that come twice a year… not many but some… truly “an oasis in the middle of the city.”

I’ve come to realize this recently and makes it very difficult for someone

like me to leave… but leave I must.  Practically speaking – there’s no good reason to stay.  The house is 55 years old and in need of major repair.  A tree, planted on a whim, has its roots slowly squirming its way under, around and sometimes through our home.  Its as if the tree has determined our faith… to leave.

No worries… we have devised a plan… and in its fruition, our escape… from a sprawling green patch to a box in the sky – we shall become dwellers in the sky – no land to call our own, simply a box in mid-air.

I shall miss the green right outside the window… the birds that chirp in our trees… the garden where I had played endlessly… the place where I grew up.

One of Mama’s favorite artists – John Gary…

This year has been particularly strange for me.  I am an avid weather buff and try to keep on top of things.  I have a hygrometer (measures humidity) in my room… coupled with a thermometer (measures temperature) and barometer (measures atmospheric pressure).

This year’s summer has been fairly dry compared to past years.  Humidity usually is within the mid-80’s during this time of the year… but I’ve noticed that we hardly went over 60-65% so far.

Hence, if you’re not to wasted from the heat… you’d notice that you don’t perspire as much… which makes it even worse.  In the past years, you can easily drench your shirt if you’re not in front of a fan… not this year.  It’ll be hot, but you won’t be perspiring as much.

So, I don’t know what’s worse… dripping from perspiration and eventually cooling off or dry heat where it seems like you’re in an oven.

This is truly El Niño…