This adventure dive trip is very special - to fulfil a promise to a friend who taught me how to dive deep and in EA Nitrox dives - my Master Diver, Sir Chot Lucas, the owner of "Dive with Chot" dive shop relocated from Sabang Bay, and transferred to Looc, Lubang Island. Sir Chot was an excellent dive instructor who can dance underwater easily and had fun with us every time.
The planned dives are deep and technical, in the still unexplored parts of Looc. It's very risky considering the unavailability of an immediate medical facility. So, I had to leave my wife at home on mother’s day even though she was already a certified open water scuba diver - just to minimize the risk.
Calatagan Port.
After driving for several hours, we reach Calatagan port with jam-packed local passengers wanting to board the same boat bound for Lubang Island. It was election season and people are sponsored by the local candidates to return to their families and vote for them. That's the one legal form of vote buying in the province. The boat that we are waiting to board is already several hours late to arrive. Despite the sheer heat of the sun, the people are eager to get slots in the ferry's manifest - and board the boat that's gonna be overloading.
The port of Tilik in Lubang Island is a 3-hour ferry ride. Passing the "monkey island" owned by Bong Bong Marcos means we’re only 40mins away from the port. The locals said that the monkey island is a reserved area full of monkeys owned by the Marcos family, and was already abandoned for several decades. The locals however feared in visiting the island due to the armed guards stationed there.
The ferry "God's Grace 2" is not huge enough but there is space to watch and enjoy the breeze of the air outside. Along the way, I was able to photograph the rainbow in the background. It was said that there is only one chance in a person's lifetime to ever see the foot of a rainbow - in that case, it was my time. The boat ride was generally calm except for some portion when the waves become violent.
Port of Tilik, Lubang, Occ. Mindoro.
We arrived at the port of Lubang in Tilik in the late afternoon. It was my 2nd time visiting Lubang Island. The first time was 8 years ago, in 1995. The port is much better now than before. There are security guards now, the port itself has improved a lot, the procedures are more organized, and everyone is friendly just as before. In the province, people knew each other - so locals greet and chat with each other.
We were politely greeted by Mark, an attendant for Dive with Chot way back in Sabang Bay. He waited for us for more than 3 hours in the port – and we really appreciate this man's effort for us. He was there to guide us to ride the correct jeepney to our destination. If we miss the correct ride, we will be completely lost and it's already getting dark.
Mark lead us towards a jam-packed jeepney bound for Brgy. Tagbak - the northernmost part of the island, leading us to the Resort. Same as in my province, jeepneys are full even on top - locally, we call it "taplud" (for top load - or, you ride on top of the jeepney) and it was fun to ride on top of the speeding jeepney as part of my childhood in Masbate. So instead of crumpling inside, some people choose to sit on top.
At this late afternoon, my attention was caught by the fishermen who are already resting and maybe contemplating on who to vote. The local politics in the province is serious and very costly. Family ties, previous histories, and how much a local politician would pay during the election day matters to the local people - as livelihood, there is very difficult. We are there for a 3-days dive vacation yet politics in the air is almost everywhere.
Don Juan Beach Resort.
We arrived at Don Juan Beach Resort after several hours of rough rides. Jeepney's there were terrible - driving each passenger to their doorsteps like taxis. It was nice for them but time-consuming for us. The fare was a bit more expensive than the usual regulated fare in the city. Unfortunately, the locals don't have a choice. The riding condition is even worst since the air is humid and hot.
We were greeted gratefully by the owner himself and his wife, and a warm welcome of cold beers and 2 kinds of freshly caught lobsters (Bamboo and the more expensive Tiger lobster) as part of the arrangement. With all the exhaustion in travelling down to the most remote part in Lubang Island, we requested cold beers and seafoods which we informed in advance, and so to impress my dive buddy who happens to be the President of our Company. Mori san (as we call him) influenced me to take my scuba diving lesson, and take the deep dive certification before we could dive together. Being an underwater photographer, he dives deep and is very relaxed with his set of underwater camera set with expensive strobe lights.
Outside my room, there's a sweet smelling Sampaguita flowers that's so relaxing to relieved the body pain from long travel of this day. Sampaguita (Jasminum Sambac) release a distinctive sweet scent during the night to ward off insects that might destroy its flower.
Despite the exhaustion, I had to unpack and check my dive gears and stuffs for tomorrow's early morning dives. 1st Dive - Wall of Fan Corals and Small Caves
The waters in Looc is unbelievably clear - and in good weather condition, you can see the bottom from the top of the water on the boat, for depths of less than 5 meters. According to Sir Chot, the locals before does not care of the sea. The sea floor is still on its recovery stage after ending the illegal methods of catching fish. Evident that the remains of dead corals are all over the bottom. Our 1st dive was a wall dive, filled with rare fan corals and small caves, at around +40 meters deep.
I had a chance to enter and exit at one small cave, to add to the excitement - but hesitated to enter another cave since I don't carry a UW flashlight - seen here is Mori san, and in the background is Sir Chot serving as our guide and diver master for this exploration dives.
Exploration dives are done in the areas not yet identified as dive sites for recreational diving. This means that we are the first few divers that got in this area in Looc. Extreme precaution is done here to ensure the safety and success of each dive for all of us.
Kuya More (a local free-diver/hunter with his spear gun) shown us some more caves used by Japanese to hide precious items. According to local tales, these caves were not known for many years after the war. Until one day, a yacht and a barge went into the area and stayed for several days. They later found out that those men were extracting sealed boxes from under the ocean. And when the local free-divers investigate, they saw these caves that were not there before. whether it's true or not, this place is excellent for deep sea and cliff diving.
Spearfishing is very difficult to do as we watch Kuya More. Spearfishing red lapu-lapu at a depth of more than 40 meters is never easy either. Lapu-lapu is red because it does not reach by the light of sun - by staying deep in the ocean that is often unreachable by local free-divers. The licensed scuba divers are not allowed to take, alter, catch or kill anything under the sea. We only have to observe local hunters doing the catch. In this discipline, you have to follow rules that is reserved for other divers to enjoy. And in that case, we need Kuya More to perform a few catches for our consumption. Spear-fishing is a sustainable way of catching fish - it allows hunters to select adults and avoids killing pregnant or small one's - this will ensure the balance of nature under the sea - and assure the steady supply of marine resources for the local fishermen and their family.
The Catch. Red Lapu-Lapu Sashimi.
After the 1st dive, these were Kuya More's catch - some large red lapu-lapu and etc.
We decided to make some “shashimi” and we have to consume fast to savour the freshness and avoid the build-up of bacteria.
This is a premium fish and very expensive if sold live in Chinese restaurants.
Mori san wasted no time and immediately work on pelleting the fish.
The fish meat when newly caught tickles like it's still alive. It was the first time I saw the fish meat move like that. Mori san said it was because of the muscles still alive.
Mori san brought a Wasabe paste tube with him to my delight - and without even washing it after the slicing, we rush to eat as many as we can.
The excess from red lapu-lapu, we requested to be cooked as "nilagang isda". We were also served by the resort with some mouth-watering dishes such as "kinilaw na pugita" and "tinolang native na manok", sweet mangoes, etc. for dinner. 2nd Dive - Korean Tugboat
Our 2nd dive was a wreck dive - a sunken Korean tugboat in the 70's - the wreck is only visible from mid-point of the line which is about 10 meters above the high-point of the wreck. This kind of diving with a line is safe - specially for those that are new to deep diving and have difficulty to control buoyancy in deep waters. Without the line, a diver might do sudden accent and may cause bends which leads to paralysis or permanent brain damage, depending on the severity - if not dead.
Reaching the bottom is about 38 meters deep (or 126.5 feet) and the pressure here is not for the new divers. At this depth, it is already unrecoverable - so whatever happens to you here may cost your life without proper practice and training.
Your dive buddy may only secure your body but not your life. So we were extremely focus on our regulators, the dive computer, our breathing, and calming ourselves all the time. Panic in this depth means instant death.
The huge propellers are surprisingly not extracted and is still there - it is expensive.
And the captain's bow is already decorated by nature with corals, after almost 50 years at the bottom of the sea on the same spot.
3rd Dive - Lobster's Hide-out
Our 3rd dive is a sweep-dive @ around 16 meters - the kind of dive suitable for recreational diving. Here, you can see how nature is trying to cope with the abuse from the past - "pasabog" (the use of dynamite), "moro-ami" (scouring the bottom violently), and sodium cyanide fishing (the use of cyanide to stun the fish) almost destroyed all under the sea - but nature is more powerful than the temporary madness of man in this world; and here in Looc, people are starting to be vigilant and become aware of the advantage of preserving nature to their advantage.
We were able to find the resting place of lobsters - a rock which Kuya More often found large lobsters for his personal harvest.
He said, he now understands how to preserve nature - and he only entertains lobster order when it’s very important: for VIP's and divers but in limited quantity; not more than 10 kilos per harvest and only twice a week.
In our case, he left there in the rock two more huge lobsters so that it will not be emptied, and more lobsters would populate the rock again.
Get only what you can consume, leave others to multiply for the next meal.
Again, mouth-watering huge fresh lobsters for dinner. These bamboo lobsters are so sweet and creamy. The "Aligue" in the head is so damn good! I never experience this kind of spoiled brat eating - and it's like we're eating cheap seafoods here wherein it cost thousand of pesos when purchase in the city. There in Looc, it is eaten like the usual simple dish.
Returning from this kind of exploration and adventure diving was really a very valuable experience as a diver. And the lesson learned from taking the risk will be unforgettable. This dive buddy of mine, Mori san, is indeed a great man.
He thought me a lot of things without even saying it. He taught me how to relax in deep waters, how to race a V6 in a paddle-shifter mode, how to keep materials for later reference, and how to appreciate small things in life on getaways.
We have to thank Master Diver Chot Lucas (Dive with Chot), Mark (very dependable person), Kuya More (excellent deep sea hunter/diver), Kuya Burt and his wife (for the accommodation in Don Juan Resort), Dicky (our cook), Coast Guard Officer II Ruby and his troops at Tilik, Mayor Ben Tria (for his free ferry back to Calatagan Port), and some people whom we meet along the way.
We really appreciate and thank you all for making this adventure and exploration dives very successful and safe.
Byahe lang.. cheers!
2013 May 11~13, Looc, Lubang Islands, Mindoro
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