Aiming for International Women Dive Day was my original plan after having missed it in the past years but it was unfortunate the weather didn’t cooperate. The dive shop explained that visibility was not good and dives can be done the following day keeping crossed fingers and hoping it would be clearer enough for the dives. It was a sunny Sunday and the resort was bustling with functions, yet Sir Dong Uy was there to welcome us and after some brief chat catching up offered us a welcome coffee – on the house! 😊 There were visible changes in the resort – new structures, repairs, more rooms – yet the homey familiar ambience I so missed comforted me once more.
We went down to the dive shop for the preliminaries, so glad to see Danny and requested him to check my reg while Boboy was attending to our gear needs, obviously our guide for the day. Again, it was an exclusive dive for us, just perfect! 😊
Our first descent was at the house reef, our favorite site. We splashed for the giant stride and swam for the bouy line and slowly went down inch by inch. The viz was bit hazy but it worked well, and that same magic appeared as we got to the shoal. The swarm of scads swimming coyly lingered around, damsels and chromis. A red snapper darted and quickly swam away, giant trevally appeared from nowhere. Again, the rhythm of colors as they swarmed and wiggled on this shelter was a sight to behold. I didn’t see much of the small and obscured critters and I miss the resident moray eel lurking in its lair. Slowly I went around taking my time, feeling the cold waters, listening to my breath. Unfortunately, I failed to set correctly my computer to EAN so it went Greek! I spent my last available minute until my NDL went 2 and signaled for ascent to my dive buddy and guide. I went 30.6 meters with my 56 mins bottom time, my air still at 110 bars.
The boat speed off to Sipaka Point and had our surface interval there, our guide suggested to take refuge as surf might swell any time.
We waited for an hour and geared up for our last descent at Red Sands, the plan was to explore in the shallows to get a much better visibility. Our giant strides splashed the waters, and in a while descend to sandy grounds. Our first critter as we hit down was a devilfish pointed out by our dive guide, which something I wouldn’t notice on my own. We explored around, encountered large patch of flourishing colorful corals, peeked a crevice, inspected a small cavern and waded around feeling my weightlessness and enjoying the view. Maybe the viz wasn’t as good as it used to be during sunny days but still it felt good being there surrounded with nothing less of spectacle. The blue stars again, culcitas, lionfish, the perennial anemone fish, chromis, wiggling anthias, to name a few. Oh, the COTS didn’t escape my probing eyes, I found at least three of them and I guess there could be more. I was thinking they will surely devour the colorful corals in no time. ☹ We were biding our time as we circled the enormous Bugtong Bato, from the surface this massive granite rock looks desolate, barren and devoid of life. Yet underwater, it depicts a different picture, so colorful, very diverse and teeming with life. In no time, we signaled for ascent and clocked 69 minutes dive time with my air still at 90 bars. Both dives for the day were at 30% EAN.
We sped back to the resort feeling good at the same time famished as it was past 1:00pm already. As we savored our late lunch in the quiet ambience of the resort’s resto, we intermittently talk about the encounters and grateful we made it for the dives even with unreliable weather condition. After some pleasantries, we bid bye to sir Dong who was full at work and have guests yet still manage to send us off, promising him we will surely be back!
The two dives for the day revived my spirit, it was short but sweet so to say. As we drove back to the city, I was reflecting again how privileged I am to explore the underwater world which is so filled of wonders always. My favorite dive buddy said after diving for almost two decades and having seen all, the sensation being down there floating weightless is something we need to feel now and then. That same eagerness still caught me every time I have a dive trip coming. So grateful for my dive buddy who opted to come over to revisit MADRI after five long years, I had wonderful weekend dives in my favorite homey dive shop. Actually, it was my birthday trip and being in the depths was a tradition as it used to be, as a “one with nature” treat for ourselves! 😊
Life in the Great Beyond 
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