Diving the wrecks of Coron

My 3rd time in Coron this year and, hell yeah, this time, it wasn’t because of work (but I missed the 2nd day dive because of a deck I had to prepare – oh well). This trip was a special one because it was my first ever wreck dive session.

After a few hours of paranoia and anxiety attacks, it was down to our first wreck, the famous seaplane carrier Akitsushima, one of the few ships that was still intact, given that the damages didn’t cut the vessel in half, and that the body’s sheet did not disintegrate even if it bore huge holes, marked by the bombs that penetrated it. As it was my first wreck, I didn’t know what was in store for me. At first I thought it would be dark as Dave, my buddy and instructor, asked me if I brought a flashlight (which I didn’t have), but as descended, I followed and held on to the marker’s rope (beautifully and naturally decorated with colorful creatures and sea plants) as instructed, and saw, right in front of my eyes, a spectacular structure that has settled underwater for the past few decades.

We went around and saw its crane, the bomb cylinder, it’s deck and surprise appearances by a lion fish and a huge cuttlefish.

Next was the Taiei Maru. It was a small freighter which landed on it’s starboard side making it easy for us to see the boiler without having to penetrate. I wasn’t really that happy with the dive because I couldn’t control my buoyancy.

My dive buddy was our instructor, Dave, and woohoo, he led me inside a sunken ship on our last dive for the day, the East Tangat Gunboat. Thinking that I’d get creeped out, we went to the covered part of the deck and the hull, where huge Yellow Fish live, and surfaced, with me still having 1,000 psi. Seeing that I still had time, I asked if we could go back, even if it was already dark. After a few seconds of being in a state of shock, Dave agreed and we went back in, penetrating all areas we can fit in. He even let me hold on to his extra flashlight for me to see how creepy it could be. Let me remind you that my imagination do run wildly, but for that particular moment, I only admired what was right in front of me.

And as an added bonus, another huge cuttlefish made it’s special appearance, even bigger than what we saw the first time.

Photo by Paz Santos of Diveshoppe

In total, I went to 3 wrecks. The first 2 were a bit of surreal for me, but the last one, the one Dave and I went back to, was something real and will remain in my memory bank for the rest of my dive life. Not only because the ships were full of history (Japanese crafts), but it helped me realize that I’m not afraid of ‘em, not even one bit.

SORD is a brave girl, after all.

Oh, and for the fish lovers out there, yes, we saw a lot of these:

 

Photo by Paz Santos of Diveshoppe

The Cleanup @ Anilao (Sept. 19, 2009)

Making a difference, in our own little way…

This weekend, I helped preserve beauty…

 

 

I’ve never been so proud of myself.

What you post will forever haunt you

Especially if it’s a video you stole from somebody else.

And one thing I learned just now, deleting it will not save your ass…

… because it will still appear on the results page for specific words (example: “mainit” and “manta”).

 

 

Tsk tsk tsk. It’ll haunt you for the rest of your life, my friend.

Anyway, for those who are curious, here’s the manta ray vid posted by the REAL VIDEO OWNER — which someone stole, reedited, re-tagged and reposted saying that he was the one who captured it (dude, it wasn’t even filmed in Anilao last weekend, HELLO):

Manta Ray in Palau

Why I will not dive in Brazil…

Never give anyone in Brazil the "OK" hand signal (using your thumb and pointer finger to make an O)… it’s an obscene gesture that’s likely to get you labeled both ignorant and extremely offensive!

Taken from Terrible Etiquette Mistakes From Around the World (Yahoo Food)

I should really go back to diving

…because I just might see this pretty creature underwater.

Zac Efron taking scuba lessons in Canada.

So you have discovered my secret realm…

Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay. You will find a lot of interesting things here, especially about music. For comments and questions, please do not hesitate to use the COMMENTS box found under each post.

If you are one of those who know me personally and has been telling people how upset you are with a particular post of mine… kindly read this first.

Here it is

Finally, a photo of the whale shark that we saw. I got this from a diver (not from our group), who also saw the creature. Lucky girl!

CREDIT

It was just supposed to be an ordinary diving trip

And it turned out to be an adventure-filled weekend! The currents were strong so my Dive Buddy (who was a Dive Master) and I had to hold onto the sand bed and stay down so as not to drift away. We only found the rest of the group on the shore, because we got separated from them due to the current and the low visibility — so imagine how worried each of us were!

The sightings… since I didn’t have a camera, will just post some file photos from all over the net that represent how I saw them:

Blow Fish – Who knew that these cute little things are very poisonous?

Lion Fish – Beautiful, yet very dangerous. The awesome thing… we (DM Elmer and Jingle) saw it spread its nice skirt-like fins and swim away.

Titan Trigger Fish – They can knock you down like a seasoned boxer. It was right beside me and my Buddy (Elmer) while we feasted on the awesome sight in front of us.

Barracuda – They hunt their preys alone. But if you see a school, you’re safe. Good thing I didn’t know this fact when I saw it.

School of Jacks – Like the last time I saw them, they were putting on a magnificent show! They even swirled right in front of me. And the DM had to end it by swimming rapidly through it.

Moray Eel – Scary SOB!

Sea Slug – Cute purple thing was placed by my Buddy on my arm. CUTE CUTE!

And last, but definitely not the least… A 10-foot BABY WHALE SHARK! Now, these creatures are rarely seen in Anilao, where I dive, so much so that it has become an urban legend. They can grow up to 40 feet long and are found in this place called Donsol, way down south of the Philippines, so people had to visit that place in order to see one. Somehow, the planktons were abundant at this time in Anilao that they attracted a “visitor”. I was shocked! My divemates (only 3 of us saw it, Albert, Elmer and myself… and we all didn’t have cameras with us!) were laughing at me as they saw my eyes almost pop out! For a few seconds, I forgot to breathe.

To people who don’t believe that there are whale sharks that swim to Batangas… now I can tell you… YES IT’S TRUE.

What a weekend. Elmer signaled that I should write down my whale shark sighting on my log book… Guess what I did as soon as we got back to the resort?

Calling All Scuba Divers Around the World

Saturday, September 20, is the International Clean-up Day (PADI).

Let’s take care of our precious marine life by going to various dive sites in any part of the world to remove marine debris, garbage in order to conserve the natural wonders that we are lucky to have.

www.projectaware.org.