diving in mindanao – Page 2 – Life in the Great Beyond

Deluge at Duka Bay!

January 23, 2018June 27, 2022cbartazo

In November, we head southeast down Misamis Oriental and revisited Duka Bay to relish once more its impressive depths. The bay has been a favorite back when I was just starting my dive pursuits. It is just few kilometers from Cagayan de Oro and I have good friends managing a diveshop in the location, this was my playground during my advance open water (AOW) course. The local government also exerted efforts for marine conservation and preservation – marine sanctuary maintenance, installation of artificial reefs, coral restoration and dive clean-ups. Their labor was intensive and the support for them was gratifying. The site is practically a good destination for weekend get- away.

The weather cooperated with us on that Saturday morning when previous days it was pouring hard, mysteriously the viz was good enough for our dives. There were no other divers so it was again an exclusive one for us. Edward, Jolem, Badette and Lemuel of Duka Dive & Aquasports were there for us.

Paying respect for Our Lady Star of the Sea

We were aiming for Mother Mary’s statue which is something new in Paradise, it was planted early in CY 2017 and has become an attraction in the bay. It was our first stop, she was there standing in the middle of white sandy slope away from the crowd. So alone, so serene. It reminds me of MUSA in Cancun, Mexico – but with only one statue it is a far cry. Marine critters started to inhabit the statue, actually promoting coral life. We proceed to that big crater full of tropical fishes, I positioned in the by-side, paused and watch in awe the busy stream of resident fishes swimming, darting, wiggling before me. We passed alibuags sending shivers as it was too cold to ignore. Duka is famous for these fresh water springs underwater, how uncanny nature is! There was a parade of giant snappers and a big turtle appeared. We entered a small cavern full of golden cardinals, swimming madly as we got near! The area is now more full with soft & hard corals, decorated with crinoids, whips and other invertebrates. Still a paradise, as it was!

Our last dive was at the Aquarium with an inner reef for the wide coral field and outer reef to the deeper part of the site. We descend on a sandy slope unto a large colony of garden eels, so many of them! And again, I linger for a moment to just watch them come up from their burrows inch by inch. Their shyness is endearing! There were lot of tropical fishes in variety, few nudis and a cluster of giant clams. We found too stonefish and a juvenile yellow frogfish. We roamed around the coral fields, biding our time and watchful for critters. There were alibuags again scattered, and true to its name as it was before, it is indeed an aquarium!

Just marvelous, the bay can never be outdone in its diverse marine life, and coming back after some time with a deluge of sightings was refreshing enough and brought back memories how replete this once my playground in the early days!

NB. All photos courtesy of my favorite dive buddy – http://www.lakwatsero.com! 🙂

Diving in Mantigue Island!

August 22, 2017August 30, 2017cbartazo

P1060478 — Away, deep down in this blue world…

After few weeks from our Mt. Hibok-Hibok climb I was back in Camiguin for a work trip, so the weekend was an opportune time for some break after that nerve-wracking week. We agreed to rediscover and dive once more the islet off Camiguin coast, so Angel caught up with me in Mahinog very early on a Saturday.

Our cruise to Mantigue was challenged, the insurmountable waves tossed our small boat vehemently and I was thinking if we could just let the storm pass, but we are far from the shore already. The sun was brightly shining though, but I started to worry when the engine had trouble and stopped when we were still half way, what if? 😦 It was agonizing, the waves were fierce enough to sink us! Obviously, we made it to the shores of the island.

Black Forest

P1060485 — Can you find the coral crabs?

We maneuvered a bit to the north side to take cover from the raging waves and so our DM decided to have our first descent at the Black Forest. Another challenge was kiting up since our boat was too small to do it, the last and most practical was to do it on waters. It’s been long since I last did it, I hesitated at first but I remembered Mario (my mentor) saying it is the easiest way. So I went down first alone, I missed Mario at that moment because he always make sure someone will hold the gears for me. My buddy was just watching me from the boat. 😦

We went down to a sandy slope decorated with soft corals, it was surprising that the viz was reasonably good considering the waves we encountered, the sea as always is incredibly unpredictable. So, we swam over variety of soft corals, hydroids, whips, crinoids with those fish juveniles wiggling over. The turtles graced us, this time not just one but there were six! Always, watching them gracefully swimming warms my heart. So with Angel, it is always his favorite specie but now he can calmly watch it swimming by without getting too excited, before he always ends up chasing the poor turtle! 🙂 We found also giant clams, coral crabs, sea cucumber, striped eel fish and a moray eel. We had a safety stop in the grassy sandy shallows and after 63 minutes ended in a shore ascent, swimming up to the white beach.

Marine Sanctuary

Our surface interval was spent for our late breakfast at Dive Special camp, and later to make most of our time, took a walk around the islet circumference discovering its other side. The sun was brightly shining without any trace of a storm! The waters was calm already, so we finally went in our second dive for the sanctuary which we originally aimed for those giant jacks! We took a short boat ride until the side of the site with those floaters and geared up again in the waters. We descend right in the sanctuary, watching closely taking our time as we swam slowly but this time the viz gone dim and cloudy. The variety of fishes have again surprised me, it was filled to the brim I must say. There was a herd of giant batfish, school of midnight snappers, and most of all – the school of jackfish! They have grown in number and obviously in size, now real giants after four years we last saw them! Again, we had a dose of turtles, five in all including a big one who swam from my back coyly as if wanting me to follow her, I watched it in awe. There were banners, angelfish, chromis, damsels, triggers, fusiliers and those electric blue anthias darting, so colorful. There was a scorpionfish too, banded pipefish and variety of giant clams. As we move around, we encountered again the school of jacks, hovering as if not moving at all. So peaceful and relaxing, how magnificent to just watch them! It was a grand display of nature’s splendor. We had a shore ascent again after having our safety stop in the grassy slope, the afternoon tide fiercely carrying us to the white sandy shore. We had a total dive time of 57 minutes with our deepest at 20.4 meters.

Ending our two dives, we silently cruise back to the dive shop jetty in Mahinog with the waters perfectly calm. Have you been to Camiguin? If you can squeeze few hours, cruise to Mantigue and wander around, you don’t need to dive to relish its unspoiled charm. Its richness is in its simplicity and serenity!

Balingoan: Underwater Paradise

May 26, 2017August 15, 2017cbartazo

By Angel C. Juarez
A Post written in Health & Home, August 2016 issue

In my continuous chase for offbeat dive sites in the country, I got a chance to explore the underwater treasures in Balingoan, Misamis Oriental. Heading to Barangay Mantangale with my perennial dive buddy Ate Claudia from Cagayan de Oro City one day I was enthralled with the unspoiled beauty under the waters of this laid back municipality. Indeed, the place is one of the most underrated dive spots in the country. While most tourists frequent Balingoan only as a jump-off point to Camiguin Island, for some like us, it is already a destination. It is a small piece of underwater paradise that will definitely keep us coming back again and again.

Finding Balingoan

port2 — Mantangale and Sipaka as seen from Balingoan Port

Balingoan is two hours north of Cagayan de Oro City, unknown to many, the waters around this small town that stretch toward Camiguin bustle with vivid underwater life. Without a doubt, Balingoan is one of my favorite place in the Philippines for scuba diving for two reasons: its rich marine life and the absence of tourist traffic that popular dive sites get. This means Balingoan is generally unspoiled and unexploited!

Sipaka Point

A cluster of humbug over soft corals

A feather star closed during night

Juvenile porcupine fish with those pleading eyes

One of Balingoan’s known diving spots is Sipaka Point. Its sloping white and sandy bed is an ideal site for students and divers of all levels. It is a perfect site for macro photography as well. Ten meters down Sipaka Point is beautiful reef adorned with colorful corals and crinoids, and home to small tropical fishes and marine creatures. Fishes like anthias, wrasses, angelfish, pufferfish, anemonefish, lionfish, groupers, and eels abound in the reef. So do lobsters, cuttlefish, glass and harlequin shrimps, and different species of nudibranches.

Talisayan Shoal

A crab during night dive

Ginger corals

A shrimp waiting for prey at night

Not far from Sipaka Point is Talisayan Shoal, a ten minute boat ride from the coast of Mantangale and a known spot for the colorful mandarin fish. It was already sunset when we descended down into the vast coral area of Talisayan Shoal. Armed with underwater torches, we maneuvered around the area on search for the rare mandarin fish. We saw the usual tropical reef fishes and other macro species such as shrimps and crabs, but not the rare mandarin fish. When my torch ran out of battery, we ascend for our safety stop. Darkness had already enveloped the surroundings as we sailed back to the shores. When I look into the water, I saw glowing bioluminous organisms as they were washed away by the boat. Indeed, the sea is a vast mystery and humans will never completely understand the life beneath.

Banaug Shoal

Two nudis!

Rich with soft and hard corals

Colorful bristle worms

Three years after our first dive affair with Balingoan. We returned to its depths to experience and explore more of its treasures. It was Banaug Shoal this time. It wasn’t my first time to dive here but I was excited as it were my first. We left for Banaug Shoal by speed boat. This shoal is the house reef of Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort (MADRI), which for me is one of the best house reefs I have ever dived into. The diversity of marine life in this dense space is unbelievable and the explosion of underwater colors never ceases to amaze me. Snappers, butterflyfish, moorish idols, boxfish, trumpet fish, leaf fish, trigger fish and a lot more species graced our dives as well as sea slugs and other macro species. They all made the small reef, carpeted with soft and hard corals, their home.

Lapinig Island

Budyong shell was one great find!

Wide table corals

Branching corals with wiggling juveniles

After our surface interval, we sailed from Mantangale to Lapinig Island, the islet in front of Balingoan Port. It looks dull and boring on the surface, but what’s underwater is a different story. It’s an action- packed world down there! Not minding the mild current, we gradually descend on a sandy slope hoping to see manta rays. There are reported sightings of manta rays in the site although not regular. It wasn’t our lucky day though, as no manta ray showed up. But the usual reef and macro species such as striped fish, trumpet fish, nudis, bristle worms, and others that I don’t know by name, made the dive an awesome one. Soft and hard corals, sea fans, feather stars and sponges also added color to the scenery. Sadly, some trashes scattered around the place due to its proximity to the port and residential area. We ended up fishing out trashes, turning our dive into a clean-up drive!

Looking forward to coming Back

My Balingoan dives are truly memorable and I look forward to more underwater explorations and discoveries in the town. The sea is a deep stash of treasures and surprises that I won’t get tired of exploring. I can’t wait for another rendezvous with underwater creatures of Balingoan in the years to come.

Disclosures:
Angel C. Juarez of http://www.lakwatsero.com has been my dive buddy since few years back. I met him nine years ago during a Coron trip, four months later he became a certified diver. We have a lot of common favorite dive destinations and Mantangale is just one of them. Our last dive in the area was just this February 2017.

Stunning Sarbay!

May 5, 2017May 30, 2017cbartazo

If you have dived in Sarangani Bay even just once, chances are you would plan to come back. And that exactly what happened last year, my first dives in 2016 was in Tinoto Reef and accordingly ended with the same spot at the close of the year. It was not planned but things just fell respectively, as I was having an official trip in Davao, we seized the opportunity to be in Maasim for our last dives of the year.

So, after my work meeting in Davao I went straight to General Santos for a day break to loosen a bit before our dives. This trip was just perfect to calm me down from the brain wracking sessions in the past days. My dive buddy caught me up early dawn next day, having few hours too to rest before we head for Maasim. We were expected at 830am in South Point Divers housed in Lemlunay Dive Resort.

P1060334 — The concrete artificial reef mounds become shelters to many critters

It took us an hour by van to the dive resort and DM Arthur was already waiting for us, and it turned out to be an exclusive dive for us, there were no other divers for the day! The resort was just a perfect haven to relax, so homey and not crowded. Our DM turned us over to Nolan who was our dive guide also in last February dives.

Tinoto West

We went down from the steel staircase and geared up down before the waters, it was high tide and it’s more manageable kiting just before swimming down. It was a shore dive and it felt good freshening up as we wade until we descend. And again, we joined our friends – anthias, angels wrasses, triggers, damsels – such active fish life. There was an abundance of bubble corals with glass shrimps and crab lurking in between. It was

P1060275 — Have you seen a yellow banana nudi branch?

interesting that critters live in commensal with each other. There were nudis too and the most striking was the yellow bananas, there were at least three we found – real big and fat! There was a stone fish silently waiting in the corner for a prey, the clownfish playing hide & seek over the anemones. There were more corals, wide seafans and thick bunch of whips. I found a brownish sea cucumber and observing she was defecating, I guess its wastes become sand dissolve in sea water! We went round until we finished off in a sandy area with kelp forest alike passing those brownish sea grasses, sponges and soft corals. We lingered for our safety stop and wade and had our ascent few meters from the stair case, back where we started off. I still had 70 bars after 46 minutes with my deepest at 31.5 meters.

Tinoto East

We had a long surface interval just lounging at the poolside. We didn’t take lunch as we were thinking to find a nice café in the city. The infinity was so relaxing, the blue waters both from the pool and sea below was calming enough. We had our second descent past 1:00pm, we went down again but this time we took a small speedboat that brought us a bit to the east side. We sank down unto mounds of concrete artificial reefs, it’s good to see them again. Such an awe watching them with marine life depending on them as shelter, some of which are almost covered with corals and have fossilized. The active fish life engrossed me again as I wade along, watching them wiggling around me was truly

P1060292 — Clown fishes live in commensal with anemones

calming. There were variety of corals, hard and soft decorated with crinoids and hydroids adding colors of the scenery. When we got to a sandy area, Angel pointed out something and it took me few moments to see the garden eels before us, I smiled watching them from afar. We found nudis too, blue ribbon eel and banded sea snake. It is seldom to find a ribbon eel and lingered to watch its wide mouth opening, perhaps for food? Then as we went shallower in the sandy area finishing off our safety stop, we found something brownish moving with the currents, it looks like a pair of dead leaves. I hastily took photos wondering what it was, when we surfaced later our dive guide Nolan informed us those were ghost pipe fish. So amazing, their appearance was a perfect camouflage! We ascend after 51 minutes with my air still at 90 bars my deepest at 20.9 meters. We cruised back to the stairs of resort feeling glad of all our sightings!

P1060310 — Brownish sea grasses with soft corals

My two dives on that day was a perfect de-stressor for me, feeling light hearted as we packed our gears preparing to leave the resort. Lemlunay is an ideal get-away, so homey and never crowded. Indeed, it is such a paradise and definitely worthy for another visit. 🙂

Glass Shrimp

March 29, 2017March 30, 2017cbartazo

P1060302 a — They are almost translucent, keen eyes are necessary to find them!

Also known as Crustaceans, Carid Shrimps, Commensal Shrimps,Bubble Anemone Shrimp, Philippine Shrimp and Anemone Shrimp.

This transparent critter can be found only on bubble coral, its glass-like body has purple antennae and purple line down body. They feed on parasites, algae and plankton.
Often if a divers hand is near to a cleaner shrimps, they will hop on board and perform a manicure!

Carid shrimps occur worldwide in almost every habitat, from sea water to fresh water and can be found all over the reef. They are generally respected by other creatures, often sharing burrows and holes and working as housekeepers. They will wave their antennae around to attract customers, they then proceed to clean outside and inside the creatures mouths, gills and more!

Indeed, one needs keen eyes to spot them! 🙂

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