After a wonderful sojourn and matching discoveries in Sibaltan, another diving trip was put to order in June. Yes, in summer like it used to be! For some time, I was aiming and wanted to be back in Cabilao Island but conditions were not favorable, a weekend was too short for the trip. Our instinct just urged us and we randomly decide for our fave destination in southern Cebu. It was almost five years since our last visit and it was like a homecoming!
Just like my quirky escapes – late flight, no proper meals, early dawn bus ride – yet arrived safely in town still dark. My buddy and I realized now that Moalboal is not too far from the city, we barely had three hours on the road. After five years though, there has been lot of noticeable changes, the roads are wider paved all the way, and that old acacia tree at the junction going to Panagsama Beach is now obscured with new structures. More buses are routing to south and realistically dawn rides barely had stops along the road! If not for the bus crew alerting us for the stop, we could have slept all along and ended somewhere else! 😊 So, we wind up at Jolibee’s-24H as our refuge while still dark, and had our early coffee there.
Just when day breaks, we hailed a trike that brought us to Ananas Guesthouse and accordingly had our much-needed nap! Just enough to freshen me up until 9am, to have my essentials for the day – my dailies and repacking of needed gears, we were expected for the 10:30am dive schedule at Savedra Dive Center.
Mystical Depths
An eye catching but very significant to divers is this slogan at the diveshop, “Some of us must live underwater.” It brought me thinking that I can only come for a visit in an hour or so, if only that’s possible – if only… The wall chart had our names with DM Vernel indicated Pescador Island as our first dive! We organized our gears and had my regulator for necessary check for leaks, in no time we piled up on the dive boat. We had two other divers with our DM, there are two other larger groups in our boat also heading for Pescador. It was looming before us as we cruised towards the island, there were boats already mooring in a short distance. After the briefing, we assembled with our DM and did our giant stride entry.
We navigated south to west (yes, this route made us a full circle of the island!) with our right shoulder to the wall, wonderful critters abound – a juvenile yellow frogfish, twice we encountered stonefish – alone and a couple in another spot, a scorpionfish camouflaged between the corals, lionfish, reef fishes and few bivalves that snapped as we passed by. Even with the devastation of typhoon Odette in December 2021, which is visible in its terrain yet still the critters thrived and have decorated the wall. Our DM peeked on corals and crevices for micros – few nudis, coral shrimps and coral crabs were lurking on them almost invisible if not for our DMs keen eyes. It was just so interesting searching for these tricky invertebrates, you don’t know what you find and I would always wonder that such animals exist! I wouldn’t know if don’t descend in the depths. We went around floating weightless in silence, now and then I’d look for my buddy as it should be, to be mindful in every beat. Slowly we went up from the wall over a patch of corals, until we have our safety stop. In no time our DM deployed his SMB, I signaled Angel for our ascent. We all assembled and boarded the boat as it got near to fetch us. I had 55 minutes with 23.8m as deepest, still with 100 bars.
Our pizza lunch was perfect as our surface interval, light but full. We chose Veranda Kitchen & Bar overlooking the shores for some sea breeze relaxing for the next dive.
We promptly went back at the dive shop to prepare for the next descent checking our gears, and alas Angel’s dive computer was nowhere in sight! Our last descent as scheduled was at Ludo which was something new to us, our DM informed that the highlight of this site is the sitting Mermaid statue which sound interesting! The plan was a shore dive but, in the end, they got us unto the boat as they were going northwest and just drop us off near our site. We were separated from the large group, so it’s like an exclusive dive for me and Angel because our DM said we had low air consumption compared to others! 😊We gave up looking for the dive computer and went on.
We did the entry again in giant stride, feeling the warm afternoon waters. In no time, we descend anticipating for some surprise. And there she was surrounded with some rocks, sitting quietly looking up as if waiting for someone to come and join her fantasies! We circled and lingered briefly watching her, then proceed to float silently on the sandy slope. I was glad there was no sighting of trashes, I guess the community have managed well on waste disposal and I remembered clearly in our last dive here, there were no visible trashes. Sadly though, typhoon Odette have left damage in the coral reefs and still haven’t recovered. Visibly, it isn’t as colorful before but still we had amazing finds among the thriving corals – orange frogfish couple, nudis, anemone shrimp, banded pipefish, moray eel. The rare ghost pipefish was a real surprise too! We floated we got into a large school of scads, then finally the sardines appeared above us! I turned around, all I saw was large throng of the silvery fishes.
And I always find joy in the depths just floating in silence with only the sound of my breathing audible, with the sardines swimming in unison. How marvelous, nature indeed knew how to stage an amazing show! We continued floating in the midst of this trance, absorbing the beauty and wonder until slowly we ascend in the shallows. Swimming toward the channel, we remained underwater for faster navigation. It was a long swim, thankfully the current was just manageable. I kept near especially that Angel don’t have his dive computer. Finally, we emerged up very near the shores right in the dive shop channel. I needed help walking back to the shop, and luckily, I still had the strength to carry my gears on my own! I went 66 minutes at 19 meters as deepest, still with 70 bars of air.
Well, the tiring part again was the after dive care of the gears, in our final packing Angel’s dive computer suddenly was found in the corner which put smiles on our faces! 😊 We finally left after things settled walking back leisurely to our lodgings about kilometer away. I watched sunsets here and even laze around at White Beach but it’s different now as we’re stationed distant from the shores. Still, Moalboal will always be a favorite go to for my diving escape.
Unwritten Rule
Somehow, our after-dive tradition is to have decent dinner, to compensate for spent energy but mainly to celebrate the good dives, wonderful sightings, good weather and meeting randomly new faces who were kind to us. To be thankful for this wonderful gift of exploring the depths, not everyone had the opportunity to do so. In my life tapestry, diving is a thread that adds vibrancy and warmth of my being.
Panagsama is now filled-up with lot of establishments not to mention restos and bars lined up along the road, in the night it became a rowdy tourist setting. We settled that evening at Blue Mango Bar after an assessment with others. The next morning, after meeting and thanking our French host we left for the city. We continued to splurge for a sumptuous lunch at Everyday Coffee and Tea in downtown Cebu.😊
We can only celebrate the good things bestowed, life is too short not to be grateful for His abundant graces!
NB. Photos courtesy of http://www.lakwatsero.com
Life in the Great Beyond 
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