Through the eyes of an amphibious photo freak

            Indeed, the islands have been in the international limelight lately because of a series of high profile kidnappings staged by bandits and terrorists who have transformed this part of the Philippines into an international kidnap-for-ransom district.  With the military bent on putting an end to these bandits, gunfights erupt here and there and sensationalized reports of the media of these had led to the island being named as one of the places definitely to be avoided.  Looking at a map in the internet, it was even marked with 3 red flags I think, indicative of the current peace and order situation of the area.

            Disregarding the red flags found in the map, one can see that tawi-tawi is located in the Sulu and Celebes Seas.  One of the, if not, the most diverse seas in the whole planet.  Probably one of the best dive sites in the country and they have to put red flags on it.  Red flag or not, I absolutely went.  I am not going to miss this opportunity to sink my weight and explore the depths of one of the global hotspot for biodiversity for a red flag.

            So lugging a very big gear bag and a pack bag for my things, my fellow marine biologist and dive buddy, i-i, boarded the 10pm bus for a 13hour trip to Zamboanga city where we would meet the first batch of UP team (YES, thats 13hour in one sitting position in the bus, comfy huh?).  But we never thought of the inconvenience of sitting 13hours in the bus trip nor the dangers that have been said or written about the place where we were headed.  If the latter were indeed true and not exaggerated, I was very sure that the dive was worth the risk anyway.

            In Zamboanga City, we were met by the projects main field coordinator, Mel (a.ka. Melvin accdg to mon).  I have only talked to this guy on the phone once but his mild disposition makes one feel that you’ve known him for a long time.  In one of the hotels in Zamboanga City, I met the first batch of UP people who are part of this expedition (the enjoyable kalog Irene (a.ka. host of the night), serious looking ate henya (ms luha), and meljun (a.k.a. walang babae-babae sa basketball guy).  After a coffee spree and walking the streets of Zamboanga, we were then on a ship bound for Bongao, Tawi-tawi.

            It was in Bongao where I met all members of this expedition.  The second batch of UP people (the charming microbiologist jasmine, the friendly and lighthearted biochemist diane, serious gina and cool and composed safety diver benny) arrived the next day by plane.  The local team were composed of the booming-voiced but friendly natured Rasul of WWF-tawitawi, twin eggs, mon and mil (ladies' enemies numbers 1 & 2,hehe no offense intended), the rowdy-looking but in reality responsible and hard-working MSU dudes (ahmed, paul ryan “in the house yo” and tolits), the demure (daw?) MSU dudettes (che, let, mary, karen and swem), and the motherly and great cook for the expedition ate connie.

            So it was a week of diving (I’ll write a separate blog for my dive experience), collecting and sorting specimens and overnight lab work for the microbiologists.  In between shut-eyes and work stuffs are small talks lasting in the wee hours of the morning and memorable events that have made this trip a serious yet fun expedition.  The whole activity was capped with a one evening party and videoke trip at mountain view resort voluntarily emceed by the bubbly Irene (who did one hell of a job), with singing performances of i-i as ella mae, love-“songers” paul and meljune, sing and dance guru diane, natalie-like jas, lost aegis member ate henya, balladeer benny, veteran “my humps” move of mon (favorite dance move ni Irene) air supplier rasul and the stunning performance of the rockstar (laklak singer) mel.

            We were having so much fun as a group that there had to be an encore for this expedition.  Hence, at 5am in the morning, despite the lack of sleep and slight beer in the system, I was up (thanks to the phone alarm of paul who woke me up but didn’t even budge him) preparing for a short trek to Bongao peak which according to ahmed was just a 30minute walk from the base of the hill.  On the way to the top, 30 mins had elapsed and we were still halfway thanks to the muddy and slippery trail which gave most of us crash course lessons in baseball slides and home runs for diane.  The view at the top was definitely worth all the slips, laborious trek and mosquito bites that were endured during the 1 hour climb.