La Island was a beach heaven.  White sands allover the place and no signs of urbanization anywhere.  And the waters were even better, a clear blue-green tint showing the white sands and abundant marine life underneath it.  At the surface, before plunging in, there was a big school of baitfishes, probably of the genus Rastrelliger or any of those small silvery fishes.  The swim to the dive site was about 300m and all that area was full of the baitfishes, the biggest school that I have ever encountered.

            Upon reaching the reef crest, my buddy and I descended to 40ft.  It was a semi-wall dive and the visibility was astonishing as the bottom probably was about 120-140 ft and yet it was still so clear.  Fishes abound everywhere and the corals were so full of life, a clear manifestation that where man is few, nature abounds.  Even though I was busy with collecting, I still can’t fathom the feeling that I have . . .  it’s as the great legend Jacques Cousteau had said “. . . the spirituality of man cannot be completely separated from the physical.”

            I thought for this expedition, nothing can best that dive already. I was again wrong as upon reaching the second site, the top view was even more promising than the first site.  Unfortunately, the current was so strong that seen from above it looked like a rushing river.  We had to abort the dive and proceed to a protected side of the island.  But even this calmer part of the island was amazing.  Again, nothing can match the visibility and the abundance of marine life.  The only problem that I saw in the second site is that because it was a protected side of the island, boats dock there and hence the influence of man, evidenced by floating mineral bottles, floating cellophanes and cigarette butts, are also in abundance.  Because of the visibility, it is disheartening to see that even at depths of 100ft+, a coral colony was covered in cellophane.

            The dive for this day was splendid but at the same time dismal.  Two nearby sites separated only by about 5-10km, with almost the same beauty but influenced (or uninfluenced) by man in 2 different ways; one showcasing the beauty of nature and the other showing the effects of man’s irresponsible ways.  I hope in my lifetime, I’d still live to see the day that man would realize his irresponsible ways so that what I have seen can still be seen by generations and generations to come.

       Wednesday - January 18th.  Exuberant from the dives yesterday, I was up early.  Dive site today was the aborted one yesterday.  And being an avid diver my experience tells me that what I have seen from the surface yesterday before we aborted was something to be excited about.  From the boat you could see that the landward side was about 10ft and then drops off to a blue.  Definitely a great wall dive.  And that thought was feeding my excitement.

            We were on schedule and everything went as planned.  The sun was up, the sky was blue and all positive things were going our way.  Upon reaching the site all of us were geared up already, apparently it wasn’t only me that was excited for this dive.

            We arrived at slack water, or the period of the sea at high or low tide when there is no visible or minimal flow of water.  Without wasting time, I was off almost leaving my dive buddy behind.  Descending at 10ft, I had to put my hovering skills to good use as there were no sandy or barren areas to touch down to, as everything was covered with living corals and organisms.  A big school of black triggerfish and triangular bannerfish were welcoming us.  The visibility was noteworthy as you could easily go to a hundred feet without noticing it as it was very clear.  There were also little caves and crannies that were so abundant with life, from giant tritons to little nudibranchs.  Colors were everywhere that I had to keep reminding myself that I was there to work and not to shoot pictures or have fun.

            Slack waters are only a short period of the sea so while we were still busy underwater the current started to run its normal course.  And yes it was really strong.  Good thing a simple device called a reef hook was created.  I still was enjoying the dive despite the strong current that I simply hooked myself on a rock and watched in delight the fishes of different sizes and species pass me by.

            The dive was so great and the area so diverse that we had to have our second dive here as there were still a lot of specimens that weren’t able to collect.  Truly, one of the best dive spots I’ve ever been.

            At 9am, we were still loading stuffs in the boat.  The sun still has not shone brightly and the excited mood that I had was slipping away.  ETA for the first dive was at 9 and my body clock had already set itself on that schedule.  But a lot of things had to be considered, hence the delay was justifiable and nothing I can do but reset my body clock.  17 minutes after and we were off to our first dive site which was just about more or less two or three kilometers from the port.  It would have been surprising diving near a port if you live in a big city but hey, this is an island.  Sans the trash that you see floating on the waters of the port, the water has a distinct clarity that is only possible in pristine coastal areas.

            Another 23mins after and field project leader Mel, with GPS in hand, has gestured the boatmaster to stop.  Our first dive site was just fronting the municipality of Bongao.  After checking the water conditions (currents in tawitawi can be extremely strong and hazardous), assigned safety diver Benny gave the green light.  And with that signal, I jumped right into the water without having donned my gears.  It was not excitement that drove me to do it though.  The heat from wearing a wetsuit had become almost unbearable already that I needed to cool myself.

            A few minutes later and Mel and I were off.  We will be the first to descend from a group of 10 to locate a suitable place to lay the transect line (for non-research divers, a transect line is a tape measure reeled out on the seafloor/reef area to be considered as the base or reference point for the survey being conducted).  This transect line is crucial also for the collectors so that they wouldn’t stray far from the group during the dive.  Reeling out a transect line was no sweat as it has always been my assignment during reef assessments.  “First one in, more dive time for me” has been my saying over the years.

            The dive was disappointing though.  After swimming through a maze of garbage (organic and nonbiodegradable ones), we were descending on turbid water.  The only consolation was that at least it was sand, not silt, so it was the wave action that had caused the poor visibility.  At 30 feet, things were at least getting clearer.  The site does not have a rocky-coralline substrate but it was a sandy one hence the turbidity.  Then it occurred to me that this was not a fun dive expedition.  Sponges and seasquirts are filter feeders and in fact may be abundant in this kind of habitat where there are a lot of suspended particles.  I keep thinking “oh s@%t”, I had to endure a 13hour bus ride and another 16 hour boat ride for 5days of diving like this?  I consoled myself by saying that this is the dirty work that could someday find the cure for cancer.  Didn’t work!

            After more than an hour, a bit disappointed but with the collected specimens in my net bag slightly cheering me up, I ascended.  Drat!  I was better off diving in industrialized Northern Mindanao I thought.

            The afternoon dive was bit farther from the port and in a less populated part of Bongao.  My excitement had been thrown overboard already after a dismal first dive.  I wasn’t that excited anymore but I had to work.  “Find the cure for cancer dude!” was what I keep playing in my head over and over.  After Mel got in the water and signaled for me to follow suit, I did, not excitedly this time though.  The only difference with this dive is I got to bring an underwater camera.  I did not bring the underwater camera that was issued to me by our office (bad idea) but good thing the expedition needed one diver to take some pictures using their while at the same time collect and so I was assigned to it.  This was not the same camera that I use, although they are of the same brand, so my attention was diverted on how to play with this new toy.

              While descending, I did not mind my surroundings as looking at it from the surface it had the same features as the previous site albeit much clearer.  Probably another boring dive so I just busied myself tinkering with the camera and learning the controls.  After touching down at the bottom and looking at the surroundings for the first time, I was dumbfounded.  True, it had the same features as that of the previous site but this one was full of colors and very much alive.  Hand corals were dancing rhythmically to the beat of the slight surge side-by-side with a steadfast and rigid branching corals that didn’t seem to mind being situated beside a prima ballerina.  A big ribbon sweetlips came out of nowhere to welcome me and beckoned me to his world.  While I was laying the transect, life abound everywhere I look.  Even under small nooks and crannies, there were nudibranch and colorful shrimps and crabs.  I was so engrossed with the abundance of life that I forgot that I was primarily there to work and not play.  I was still able to collect targeted specimens though and with more than an hour of dive time (last man out again) and with my air almost falling below the 500psi mark I reluctantly went up bringing with me the beauty that my eyes and the camera lens captured.

             After the dive, my previously conceived notion of this week (owing to a gloomy sunrise and dreary first dive) had been erased.  On the way home, I was dreamily sitting at the bow of the boat contented on how the day ended.  Indeed it started poorly but the thing about life is that no matter how it starts it isn’t always how it will end.

           “UNSA?! NABUANG KA NA?! (WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?)” were my mom’s exact expression when I told her more than a week ago that I was joining a dive expedition in tawi-tawi.  She told me, people are trying to avoid the place because of the domestic wars and kidnappings going on there and I on the other hand was heading there to embark on a 5 day diving trip.  I must have been out of my mind for that.

            Six days passed, yet the bond that I was able to forge with those I had been and the experience and lessons learned from that 6days would last me my lifetime.  I cannot say for certain what the peace and order situation in the whole tawi-tawi islands is but in Bongao and the islands we dove, people I’ve met there speak the language of peace in their hearts.

so for now, you might not be seeing new underwater photos posted. . . i'll still post though, probably cameraphone pics, or old underwater photos that i haven't noticed. . .and i'll still be browsing through your posts. . .

keep shooting people. . .

seriusclownfish temporarily signing off. . .