At the start of the year, many agendas were set in place and some of these were plans that were put off for awhile due to other priorities. But just like every year beginnings, so many recurring interruptions occurred just the way it used to be. Nevertheless, terminating my services in my workplace was final and the necessary arrangements have continued carefully and smoothly to cushion the impact of expected bumps of my departure. Keeping my cool was the least I could do to manage a smooth transition.
Obviously, diving trips is included in the plans for the year. Perhaps to compensate during the pandemic era when I had none for three years and last year with only one dive trip was almost nothing. Exactly, I need to start off with somewhere new, a place to discover and gain more learnings as I wanted to. And I waited long enough to once again immerse myself in the stillness and silence in the depths!
Sibaltan has been in my list for some time, coming here though has been shelved momentarily for some valid reasons, visiting this barangay required much longer time than the usual quirky weekend trips. I managed a brief visit last year during a detour from an official trip and eagerly promised to return in no time for the depths. Marine enthusiasts had been arriving in this remote coastal community for the wonderful rare manta ray sighting. There are only three (3) sites in the country for mantas and Sibaltan is one! Although I wasn’t sure when but I was resolute to set foot again in this laid-back barangay.
Thankfully, my volunteer works in the town of San Vicente (in March and April) gave me good access to other towns in Palawan, so after my two-month works I went straight to El Nido setting aside four days for the detour. Right, solely for the awaited dives in Sibaltan! I was like a fish out of water after almost ten months of no dives, my gills were just pretty dried up.
I was aiming for Dive Sibaltan diveshop after a brief encounter with Ms. Rose in my last visit, the good thing was the shop have environment friendly cottages now ready for guests. And being on the eastern side, it gave an ample view of the beautiful sunrise. I needed to slow down and decided to have a relaxing night before the scheduled three dives the next day. Yes, in my comfortable pace.
Apart from El Nido
This northeast barangay forty-one (41) kilometers away is a stark contrast from the main town, far from being congested, rowdy and busy. It was so peaceful and the locals were very helpful and friendly. I was just in time when one cottage was vacated few hours after I arrived, so I went for a relaxed long lunch at Floresita’s Beach Resort until 2pm for the check-in. I love the cottage facing the waterfront, the wide expanse of the horizon was so calming.
The next morning was slow and unhurried with the lovely sunrise appeared cheerily. I took it as a promise of a wonderful day! There were two group of divers for that day, I was joined with three Deutsch who were also aiming for the manta, under DM Timur. I have to use the shop’s stuff for my gears except my dive computer, rarely will I do without my own wetsuit but I had no choice. We all boarded the dive boat with the crew and cruise for “Saan Ka” for about twenty five minutes, where the mantas have four cleaning stations. We all entered the waters in giant stride, one of the Deutsch (Christian) was assigned as my buddy, DM Tim signaled to follow him. We descend to sandy bottom and carefully followed our DM as we hopped from one station to the next, in between were some rocks that sheltered few critters and reef fishes. The visibility was a little shady, but it was good enough to find blue spotted ray and a turtle. DM Tim inspected a whip and found a skeleton shrimp! We waited after every station stop but the was no sign of mantas. I spent a good 73 minutes with my deepest at 18.1 meters, my air down to 70 bars.
After an hour of interval, our boat maneuvered and anchored for the Wild East site, which revealed a colorful reef filled with variety of corals – soft, branching, rubber, cabbage as well as barrel sponges. Taking a closer look was good enough to find critters, bivalves that quickly snap as I passed, nudis and a stonefish! Lots of reef fishes swimming coyly over the reef – chromis, sand perch, batfish, angels, butterfly, banners, wrasses, lizardfish and the ever-wiggling anthias. 😊 Androids, whips and some worms were also tucked between and under crevices. The second dive had 60 minutes bottom time at 17 meters deepest, still with 100 bars.
Our late lunch served as our surface interval for more than an hour, the boat anchored just of of Binulbulan island. I had a brief chat also with my buddy Christian and the LAMAVE volunteer for manta ray conservation who joined us in the dives for data works of the day.
DM Tim randomly suggested to try again Saan Ka for our last dive, in case a manta would give us a chance. Out of curiosity I asked the volunteer the usual time that mantas visit the cleaning station, casually Gucci said it’s normally in mid-morning. So, it would be pure luck if we got one but there’s no harm in trying. I quickly turned to Christian before we jumped off and asked to hold unto him, just in case I have trouble with my buoyancy during my safety stop of which he said not a problem. 😊
We descend to the sandy bottom carefully observing any signal from DM Tim, we followed him slowly as he carefully peeked on whips, corals and grasses looking for critters. A blue spotted ray camouflaging on the sand suddenly flipped away as we approached. We leisurely went around on the sandy bottom, a turtle showed up unperturbed of our presence. DM Tim gave it a handful of sea algae which gobbled it hungrily! Then, slowly DM Tim poked something on the sand, it revealed a pair of flounder which quickly wiggled away. I rarely had encounters with flounder, it was interesting. Then, unexpectedly not far from us, a shadowy figure hovered above the last station over few rocks and corals with fishes swimming coyly. Our DM pointed it out and carefully we came closer watching in awe of the lone manta, it stayed in our midst flapping slowly. We came too close that our DM tugged our fins signaling to move away a little, my buddy and I stayed anchored on the sandy bottom just looking up making most of the remaining time until my NDL was down to 3 minutes. I signaled to our DM for the safety stop as I slowly ascend with a little wave for the manta. It was a success, a wonderful surprise from the wild! My dive computer went Greek when I was doing my safety stop, which our DM signaled okey until my thumbs up for the ascend. I did 59 minutes with 17.8 meters as deepest, my air still at 70 bars.
We had a cheery mode as we got into the boat, so glad with the sightings until we sailed for the shores. In awe, the encounters affirmed how diverse and mysterious the depths as always. It was a good decision to be back for the last dive at Saan Ka after all. Ms. Rose was so glad when she learned we found a manta in our last dive, it’s been more than three weeks since their last sighting. 😊It was another memorable descent, new learnings and successful trip in search of the elusive manta!
For me, Sibaltan is a place to be, a hidden gem tucked in its remoteness. A spot to recharge, relax and appreciate the serenity of rural setting. And, obviously to be one with nature, to be in the bosom of its depths!
NB. Sorry, no underwater photos during my dives.
Life in the Great Beyond 
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