Monday, August 08, 2005
Diving in the middle of the storm
It was raining continuously last Friday night and were worried about the scheduled day-trip dive the next day….we were thinking is it really ok to dive in this weather? is it safe? How's the water visibility? Are we going to see anything interesting? We consulted our teacher, Allan and he said…its fine, its only drizzling in Batangas and he assured us that diving is a year round activity. We'll he's the expert, so we trusted his judgment, and headed off to Batangas in the middle of a raging storm.
We arrived at the resort at around 9am, it was raining, it was dark, the sea is far from calm…..but allan's firs words were…."don’t worry we wont dive here…well go to the other side of the island, where the water is calm"…we said ok…whatever. We immediately changed into dive gear after putting our bags down, then boyet, janet and I hopped into allan's starex to go to the other side of the island. Being the "pasaway" me …I kept on asking him.. "where's the rest of our gear, bcd,tanks, weights? why do we have to travel by land? Where's our boat?" ..he answered me back…"mam remember you’re sea sick, I don’t think you can handle the boat ride in this weather"…."ahhh…ok"…I mumbled…closed my mouth for awhile then continued pestering him with endless questions like…"is it ok to dive in this weather? Wont people think its crazy if we dive while its raining so hard? Are you going to make me perform water skills this time?"..and i went on and on…and he just patiently answered me....while were waiting for the boat to meet us on the other side of the island. Its really strange but the water there is so calm… I guess you could say "the sea moves in mysterious ways".
From there, we traveled by boat for 30mins to the first dive site, called Gamao, in Bonito island. This is my first fun dive after graduation and I really enjoyed it. First I don’t have to do any water skills (yehey no mask removal!) I just have to concentrate on having fun, so that's what I did. We entered the water by doing back rolls, by this time I did it without effort. I had a hard time sinking because my wet suit is dry, so I had to add additional weights just to sink. Our max depth is 80feet, which is my deepest dive so far. The water is so clear you can see way way below, up to the bottomless pit of the sea, its like being suspended on a cliff…..just like flying…I cant explain the feeling, all I know is it felt great. I saw different fishes, huge blue starfishes, a green eel, … but I love the seascape more than the fishes…there were flowers everywhere in different colors, corals swaying with the water, plants…its simply breathtaking. I fell in love with bonito island right then and there, its my best dive ever.
In between dives, we visited an island near bubbles which is famous for their hot springs. We saw other divers on the island, most of them are foreigners, I think koreans and japanese. Some were friendly enough to say hi, others are just plain shy. I saw a hot spring around 1.5m in diameter and half a meter in depth. The water is boiling and the place smells like sulfur. They said we can actually boil an egg in it. Janet, one of the divers im with, said not to sit down near the spring because if we do, they'll charge us 50 bucks. So we just looked around for a few minutes and left.
Our second dive is in a place called "mainit"…its not hot, in fact it’s the fist time I felt really cold underwater…..we entered the water the same way, and we descended thru a line….underwater we encountered a drift current and just went with the flow for awhile..…I saw a scarry looking fish called barracuda … i managed to shierk underwater when allan pointed it out to me, it has its mouth open as if waiting for a prey. The other people were with saw a shark... I didn’t…maybe because the shark know's im scarred of him. Boyet there's nothing to fear because its not big enough to swallow me. I was the first to go low on air so I shared allan's air when my gauge showed 500psi. I don’t know how they do it but when my air is 1500 allan's air is still full. He was telling me to practice deep breathing. At the end of the dive we encountered another current, but this time its against us so I had a hard time swimming. we ascended thru a line. I was gasping for air when I reached the surface. Allan had to tow me near the boat, I think someone removed my bcd because I just don’t have the energy to do it. Maybe because its almost 3pm and my stomach is looking for lunch. It was raining so hard during the boat ride back, I cant even open my eyes because the water is getting into my contacts.
We were back at the resort at around 330pm, we were wet, tired and oh so hungry. I don’t even had the energy to change and went directly to the dining table…and ate away all the calories I lost during the dive.
One of the best part about this dive is we had our pictures taken underwater care of janet's camera. I don’t know how the pictures will turn out but it was really funny posing underwater. Will post it as soon as I have it.
We arrived at the resort at around 9am, it was raining, it was dark, the sea is far from calm…..but allan's firs words were…."don’t worry we wont dive here…well go to the other side of the island, where the water is calm"…we said ok…whatever. We immediately changed into dive gear after putting our bags down, then boyet, janet and I hopped into allan's starex to go to the other side of the island. Being the "pasaway" me …I kept on asking him.. "where's the rest of our gear, bcd,tanks, weights? why do we have to travel by land? Where's our boat?" ..he answered me back…"mam remember you’re sea sick, I don’t think you can handle the boat ride in this weather"…."ahhh…ok"…I mumbled…closed my mouth for awhile then continued pestering him with endless questions like…"is it ok to dive in this weather? Wont people think its crazy if we dive while its raining so hard? Are you going to make me perform water skills this time?"..and i went on and on…and he just patiently answered me....while were waiting for the boat to meet us on the other side of the island. Its really strange but the water there is so calm… I guess you could say "the sea moves in mysterious ways".
From there, we traveled by boat for 30mins to the first dive site, called Gamao, in Bonito island. This is my first fun dive after graduation and I really enjoyed it. First I don’t have to do any water skills (yehey no mask removal!) I just have to concentrate on having fun, so that's what I did. We entered the water by doing back rolls, by this time I did it without effort. I had a hard time sinking because my wet suit is dry, so I had to add additional weights just to sink. Our max depth is 80feet, which is my deepest dive so far. The water is so clear you can see way way below, up to the bottomless pit of the sea, its like being suspended on a cliff…..just like flying…I cant explain the feeling, all I know is it felt great. I saw different fishes, huge blue starfishes, a green eel, … but I love the seascape more than the fishes…there were flowers everywhere in different colors, corals swaying with the water, plants…its simply breathtaking. I fell in love with bonito island right then and there, its my best dive ever.
In between dives, we visited an island near bubbles which is famous for their hot springs. We saw other divers on the island, most of them are foreigners, I think koreans and japanese. Some were friendly enough to say hi, others are just plain shy. I saw a hot spring around 1.5m in diameter and half a meter in depth. The water is boiling and the place smells like sulfur. They said we can actually boil an egg in it. Janet, one of the divers im with, said not to sit down near the spring because if we do, they'll charge us 50 bucks. So we just looked around for a few minutes and left.
Our second dive is in a place called "mainit"…its not hot, in fact it’s the fist time I felt really cold underwater…..we entered the water the same way, and we descended thru a line….underwater we encountered a drift current and just went with the flow for awhile..…I saw a scarry looking fish called barracuda … i managed to shierk underwater when allan pointed it out to me, it has its mouth open as if waiting for a prey. The other people were with saw a shark... I didn’t…maybe because the shark know's im scarred of him. Boyet there's nothing to fear because its not big enough to swallow me. I was the first to go low on air so I shared allan's air when my gauge showed 500psi. I don’t know how they do it but when my air is 1500 allan's air is still full. He was telling me to practice deep breathing. At the end of the dive we encountered another current, but this time its against us so I had a hard time swimming. we ascended thru a line. I was gasping for air when I reached the surface. Allan had to tow me near the boat, I think someone removed my bcd because I just don’t have the energy to do it. Maybe because its almost 3pm and my stomach is looking for lunch. It was raining so hard during the boat ride back, I cant even open my eyes because the water is getting into my contacts.
We were back at the resort at around 330pm, we were wet, tired and oh so hungry. I don’t even had the energy to change and went directly to the dining table…and ate away all the calories I lost during the dive.
One of the best part about this dive is we had our pictures taken underwater care of janet's camera. I don’t know how the pictures will turn out but it was really funny posing underwater. Will post it as soon as I have it.
# posted by ahirunopekkles @ 7:42 AM 
