by Rob Stewart
Our plane finally lifts off from the runway taking us home from our adventure. It’s been a long last day and I’m feeling happy, sad, elated and exhausted all at once. It’s 1130 at night and I’m thankful I can stretch out across 3 seats and hopefully sleep. Laying down, looking out the window, the sky is very black and the stars are very bright. As I relax to the gentle rocking and swaying of our plane I reflect back and replay our adventure from its beginning.
This is what happened:
Day 1 Sydney to Cebu:
All excitement as I wake up Monday morning early to get to the airport, don’t bother trying to eat after all, I’ll get some “Maccas” at the airport. Get to the check-in area I find sturdy, dependable Wozza first. I give him his reg to pack and then when I turn around there’s 4 more of our travelling companions; Fred, Kerrie, Pat and Tess; warm smiles and firm handshakes all round; I can see already we’re going to have a great time together. I’m rummaging around in my bag for something and hear a feminine voice query “Rob??” I turn around and see a pretty brunette, this is Michelle; that only leaves one more traveller, Helen, unaccounted for, there’s still plenty of time so I’m not concerned yet.
Still no Helen at the final boarding call and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve just found my first crisis as “dive tour leader” before we’ve even left Aus. I walk down the ramp to the plane and then stop, wondering if I should go back when a woman comes up to me and says “you must be Rob”. Wearing a “Let’s Go” cap was a good idea. I congratulate myself with “good thinking Rob.”
Long flight to Manila, I should’ve brought a book, nearly 8 hours and we’ve just been told we have to claim our luggage and then have it put it on the plane to Cebu.
Manila airport: waiting at the carousel to find our bags, it’s noisy mayhem, our flight is one of 4 just landed and there’s people everywhere, jostling for a place at the carousel. Everyone has found their bags except me and as the final calls come to board our plane a decision has to be made, ah stuff it, just get on the plane and hope for the best. (one of the best pieces of news we got this trip was that from late May “Cebu Air” will be flying direct from Syd ~ Cebu; that will make this trip much easier to do)
The flight from Manila to Cebu is short and uneventful; I’m feeling quite relaxed about my bag now, dreaming of the new gear I’m going to get with the insurance payout.
We arrive in Cebu and disappointingly my bag has turned up.
We step out of Cebu airport and into the (thankfully airconned, man it’s hot!) minibus to take us to our Hotel. The first thing I find out about the Phillipines is that they drive on the right hand side of the road. The roads are chaotic and it soon becomes apparent that over here it’s much more important that your horn works than your indicators.
We arrive at the Hotel for our first night. It’s very salubrious looking to me. After settling into our room Woz and I go downstairs to try & find our fellow travellers and get something to eat. We can’t find our companions and walk past a place offering “burgers & beer.” That sounds pretty good to us so we stop there & tuck in.
Day 2 Cebu to Malapascua
After a good nights sleep in a wonderful soft bed (one bed each that is) Woz & I head down to breakfast. This is one of those “buffet” type deals where you can eat all you want, I’m reminded of my honeymoon all those years ago when I ate about 30 croissants for breakfast one day, much to my wife’s embarrassment. I don’t quite repeat that performance but it’s a pretty thorough nosh up all the same. Our companions turn up and this becomes our first meal together, all excited congeniality in anticipation of what lays ahead for us.
We split the group into vans for the 2.5hr road transfer to the boat; Woz, Fred, Kerrie, Pat & Tess in one van and Myself, Helen & Michelle in the other. We’re only a few hundred metres down the road when Michelle pipes up with “did anyone see my reg bag?? I don’t remember putting it in the other van with my luggage” I reassure her that I had a good look around when we left so it must be on the other bus. Michelle insists we go back & check (I’m thinking: “just have to humour em I guess”) and you’ll never guess what?? I get ticked off with having a “husband look” and it seems my reputation as a competent “dive tour leader” has just had a pretty big dent put in it which might not be easy to get out. I obviously need to lift my game.
The roads are very busy (there’s some saint’s festival on we find out later). With lots of daring overtaking by our fearless driver, involving extravagant use of the steering wheel and lots of horn work we weave our way along to meet the others 2.5hrs later at a “rest stop” that turns out to be just over half way to our final destination.
We meet up with our fellow travellers, everyone’s waaay, way over the road trip. It’s scorchingly hot. Your supposed to pay these kids 1 peso (just under 3 cents Aussie) to use the toilet but I don’t have any change and I need to go so just walk past, avoiding their eyes, feeling like the king of all cheapskates, (I fixed this up on the return trip). Fred enthusiastically expresses an understandable concern about the return transfer as they’re getting an earlyish flight from Cebu to their next destination. With that to ponder we strap ourselves in for the last leg of the road transfer. Woz has a bit of a grumble and I’m starting to wonder if there’s a mutiny brewing.
2 hrs later and were finally getting on the “banka” boat to take us to Malapascua and at last we all start to feel like we might be on holidays. A short trip (25mins) and we arrive on Malapascua, we go straight to the dive centre, which has a lovely bar/restaurant (called “Oscars”) conveniently on top of it. The atmosphere is relaxed & friendly. We sit down and are met by the dive centre’s owner & manager. They both come across mildly like they may have been pirates or something in another life; a life lived not all that long ago. We do paperwork and get a bit of a “briefing” about various procedures over a well deserved beverage.
We go downstairs and meet our divemasters, Wilbert & Tata and sign ourselves on for our first dive which will be the “Shark Dive” first thing in the morning.
We head off to our resort (called Tepanee) which is about a 15min walk from the dive centre. I’m rather surprised by what we see on the way. It’s Monday, early afternoon and most of the locals, instead of working at some job or other seem to be all laying on the beaches drinking very hard looking liquor. No wonder the Phillipines is a poor country. (We find out this is all due to this festival thing they’ve got going on)
Dinner at Oscars: (the Nasi Goreng is wonderful & spicy, necessitating at least 2 beers to wash it down with) and then an early night as we’re up just after 4am for our first dive. A few problems to try & sort, the resort somehow haven’t got a mattress for the second bed in the girl’s room. We take some cushions off the seat in reception to use but after enquiring of Helen as to how she slept it seems we might as well have used our BCD’s or something. This and a couple of other things will have to be sorted ASAP.
The girls have apparently hardly slept at all due to the music coming from a nightclub or something across the bay, this is the festival thing again aparently. (tip: if you ever plan to stay at Tepanee resort insist your room is on the southern side of the hill)
Day 3 First 2 dives
Dive 1: Thresher shark dive: We’re up early (0415) as to see the Threshers we have to be in the water shortly after sunrise. It’s still dark when we get to the shop but already very warm. We get out to the dive boat (Amy) which is very spacious, comfortable and, best of all, has hot coffee on board, as much as you can swallow. We get to the divesite in about 20 mins, kitted up by the time we arrive. It’s a fairly big “giant stride” into the 28degree blue water. From the surface we can see all the way down to the bottom which is about 17M below. Most of the dive takes place between 25-30 metres We split into 2 groups but swim roughly together. Tess’s computer battery failed which is just what you wouldn’t want on a deeper dive especially not having dived for a while. DM Tata takes her in hand which Tess later said she thought was wonderful. We’ve got excellent DM’s it seems. Not too many sharks, it’s not like our shark dive at Nth. Rock; but they are special, with that long tail, when one does come by. I count myself lucky to get some close but brief footage. The eel garden is pretty cool as well; there are other things to see besides the sharks.
Hearty & very social post-dive breakfast at “Oscars”, everyone seems to be feeling good now, first dive has blown the cobwebs out and whet our appetite for more. Tess’s computer gets sorted pronto and we discuss what to do next. Woz & I decide to skip the 0930 dive as it’s a bit of a rush and we have to set up lights, cameras and all that sort of thing. The others can’t wait & sign themselves onto the 0930.
Dive 2: “Chocolate Island” Woz & I giant stride off the front of the boat and head down the mooring line. This dive is a marked contrast to our first, it’s all about the macro life and the “colours & shapes” and is very “biologically dense” like a super charged “Fly Point” or “Pipeline”. I find my first sea snake and it becomes apparent Lionfish are very common here. Lots of nudis, like back home, but they’re all (or some) a different species? There’s an “all green” one that seems prolific. I can’t possibly catalogue everything we found here, the photos I took should help a lot. We get a few good snaps and all too soon have to surface.
We discuss tomorrows dive plan with Wilbert. Looks like a double dive at “Gato Is” with a picnic lunch between dives. Sounds wonderful.
Woz & I have dinner together at Oscars (Nasi Goreng & beer again), we’ve somehow missed the rest of the gang and you can’t just phone or text each other like you would back home if this happened. Pat comes by which is good as now we’re back in communicado with everyone.
The issues at the resort have now been sorted so hopefully I’ve at least partially fixed the dent in my reputation as a competent “dive tour leader”
We try and post some photos on “Facebook” but it appears hopeless trying to do it on this notebook thing of mine. Woz & I try to figure out the controls for the air con & the hot water service. We can turn the aircon “on” & “off” but haven’t yet mastered the finer points like “temp” & “fan speed”. The water’s warm enough to shower in without the heater. We’ve exercised our brains enough for one day.
Day 4: Double dive at “Gato Is.”
We have breakfast more or less together at Tepanee (they now understand that breakfast was included in our package); at 8 am it’s already lovely & warm as we look over the beautiful blue water, anticipating the day ahead. We’ve thankfully been blessed with beautiful weather the whole time this trip. After a light breakfast we all get ourselves ready for the day and re-convene at the restaurant half way along to the dive shop for a second breakfast and more human fellowship.
We board “Amy” & head off up north to “Gato Is” about a 1 hour trip across smooth water. Wilbert has buddy-paired us up based on air consumption as a good DM does.
Dive 1: Gato (Guard house)
This dive features large boulders covered with beautiful, brightly coloured soft corals and a couple of swim-thrus. Hidden amongst the riot of colour we found seahorses, ghost pipe fishes and other various small critters. Helen & I are the last ones back on the boat after a 71 minute dive, Helen is very good with her air as most girls are, I’m thinking she’d really like night diving Fly Point and Pipeline and file this thought away for future consideration.
Enjoyable surface interval, nothing but smiling faces all round, I think this has been everyone’s favourite dive so far. We lunch on some of the best sandwiches I’ve ever tasted washed down with an ice cold Coca Cola. It’s a pleasant, relaxed & congenial scene on the boat with the divers enjoying their lunches & each other’s company, and the crew having a game of cards amongst themselves.
Dive 2: Gato (The Cave)
Dive briefing from Wilbert: this dive we swim through the island (a bit like “Looking Glass” but closed overhead and with a bend in it) where we hopefully will see some whitetip sharks and then we’ll swim to the right, around the island to where the boat will pick us up. We’re also going to try & find a pygmy sea horse or two
We all jump in, me without my weightbelt but I don’t think anyone noticed, swim to the opening, drop down and start to swim thru the swim thru. We find a Whitetip shark and then pass thru to the other side of the island.
Wilbert & Tata are closely examining some Fan Coral or Gorgonia or something similar whilst we mill around close by, enjoying being in sunlit water again.
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! ; Wilbert enthusiastically & very effectively gains our attention by whacking his tank with his pointing stick, (I must get one of these I decide there & then), it seems he’s found one of these pygmy sea horses. I had no idea these creatures are so small. I should’ve brought a microscope. Wilbert points but I don’t see anything. He points again. Straining my eyes, I still can’t see it but I give Wilbert an enthusiastic O.K sign and take a couple of shots anyway, seeing as he’s gone to so much trouble to find one, I don’t believe for half a second they’ll turn out. (Sidebar: I get a nice surprise when I get home).
The group swims on, Helen & I are at the back and come across a rather pretty, pinkish seahorse. We linger, look & photograph while the rest of the group disappears. I’m not concerned as I figure so long as we keep the island on our right hand side we shouldn’t get lost. We find some more cool stuff, & eventually come to the boat, surfacing after 73 minutes. Helen & I are gently chided for overstaying the 60’ limit but I don’t think Wilbert & the others are serious.
We all get together for a relaxing afternoon in the “cocktail lounge”; well deserved after a hard days diving. The cocktail lounge is situated at the bottom of the resort on the beach so those that want to do some snorkelling between drinks can easily do so. The snorkelling is pretty good if you swim around to the right hand side (thanks Helen for scouting this out). There are “Nemo’s” in their anemones, sea snakes, nudibranchs and lots of other stuff in the shallow, warm water just off the beach.
We have dinner at the “half way restaurant”; I forgot to write down the name of it. The warmth of human fellowship complements the warmth of the balmy evening air. I’m seated between Tess and Fred and have a delightful conversation with Tess. It turns out we both came to Australia when we were about the same age and we have fun recounting the challenges we had adjusting to the Australian school system. It seems I have a lot in common with Fred as well. Everyone agrees we’ve just had our best days diving so far.
Time for an early night as we’re getting up early for our second & last shark dive.
Day 5: 2nd Shark dive & “Northpoint”
Woz the genius has figured out the aircon and we get the best nights sleep so far after setting it on “27” which might sound pretty warm but that’s probably about 10 degrees cooler than outside. We’ve got the hot water service sorted too so we’re making great headway with the technical issues.
Just about to board “Amy”, our dive boat & Wilbert pulls me aside and it turns out he’s quite serious about the 60’ dive time. The thought runs through my head that we’ve paid a lot of dough and come a long way and that 10 mins or so extra underwater is no big deal but I just say & signal “O.K Wilbert” maybe we are being a bit out of order / inconsiderate.
Shark dive: Helen & I seem to be the last ones coming up the mooring line when, realising we don’t recognise any of the other divers, think we’ve come up the wrong line. Helen & I shrug shoulders at each other, nothing we can do now but keep ascending; we can’t go back down now! On the surface and much relieved laughter as we find out they’ve just played the trick of swapping boats on the mooring: “Amy” is tied up behind.
Lunch at “Oscars” Pat has brought his laptop as we’re going to have a crack at facebook posting. It looks promising as the internet connection is much better here than at the resort. Pat, going into “schoolteacher mode” very patiently shows me how to use the laptop and Michelle, Pat and I have some fun uploading & captioning some of our photos onto facebook. I can that see that Pat (and later Tess) must be excellent schoolteachers.
“Northpoint Dive”
After a short ride on “Amy” we arrive at the divesite “Northpoint” Pulling ourselves down the anchor line we notice a considerable amount of current but this doesn’t seem to be so strong when we get to the bottom and it became a pleasant dive with Anemone fish, Lionfish and another Frogfish and lots of other stuff.
Dinner at the “half way’ restaurant again as we figure we’ve found the best food at the best price here. I had the Pork Curry, (all the pork dishes here are very good) washed down with some of their delicious Pineapple smoothies. We discuss tomorrow’s dive which will be at “Callanggaman Island” This involves a 1.5 hr trip each way on “Amy” which we have to ourselves, for 2 dives with a BBQ lunch/surface interval in between. We had to pay some various extra fees for this one but it was well worth it.
Day 6: Callanggaman Island
Dive 1: Wall dive:
This, for me, was the best dive of our trip. After swimming over the shallow reef we drop over a sheer underwater cliff and drop down to a max depth of about 27 metres. Looking down through the warm, blue clear water I can’t see the bottom so have no idea how deep it gets here. Drop your camera here and not notice and it’s gone. Swimming along the wall we encounter lots of colourful shapes & critters, Ghost Pipefish, Lionfish, Nudibranchs, hard & soft corals. We work our way back along the wall, slowly ascending through the water column as we do. Helen & I have become separated from the group again and linger over the shallow part of the reef for our safety stop. We’re last on the boat again, checking my computer we’re bang-on 60 minutes. Highly recommend this one; consider using Nitrox in a 15 litre tank to max out your dive time (let ‘em have a whinge about being gone 80 minutes or so).
Lunch is plentiful & delicious. It’s very hot and whilst we have “Amy” to ourselves, we’re sharing this island with lots of other picnickers although we don’t come across any other divers whilst diving. After lunch and a swim we head of for our second dive.
Dive 2:
On this dive we stayed around the 22 metre mark or less, the wall here is not so sheer. The area features a sort of a soft wispy gorgonia or soft coral which is home to lot’s of small critters. Ghost pipefish again, nudis, the biggest frogfish I’ve ever seen, schools of I think, “Moorish Idols”. This was Fred, Kerrie’s, Pat’s & Tess’s last dive so it was great for them to finish on such a high note.
Cocktail Hour: I discover espresso martinis:
This turned out to be the start of one of the most enjoyable evenings of my whole life. (and I’ve been around a while now). I’m feeling fuzzy, warm & malleable after today’s diving as we sit down, pulling a couple of tables together so we can all sit together. Trying to decide on a drink, Michelle encourages me to try one of these “espresso martinis” that she’s having. They look a bit dangerous to me, but Shell is a persuasive temptress, and I am on a slippery slope and am easily pushed over. I have two of them and am soon feeling wonderful in this delightful company as we recount the day. The sun slowly sets; the afternoon turns golden and then matures into a soft, warm harmonious evening.
We’re having a meal together at the Italian restaurant above the resort. Highly recommend this too. While it’s only slightly more expensive the food is great & the servings large.
Ordered one of their pizzas as does Helen which turns out to be a great decision, it’s large, delicious and cooked perfectly. The first carafe of red wine arrives on the table but I’m thinking I’d better not have any as it’ll probably put me into a dull stupor and I’d like to follow the conversation. As is always the case not having a drink is deemed anti-social, and so, after some gentle pressing I have a glass, I’ll just have to try harder to stay focussed. Shell proposes a toast to me for being a pretty good “dive tour leader” which is kind of her, and I have another glass of red, not having noticed any ill-effects from the first. A little later, leaning back with my third glass, I’m wondering why we didn’t dine here before now, as the background chit-chat delights my whole being. The evening continues on its merry way and I bask in the warmth of human fellowship of my fellow travellers.
Three or four carafes later, and I’m doing my bit to dispose of them, and I can’t help but be amazed with myself, not only am I still awake, following the conversation, but I’m even adding to it from time to time (when I get a chance to that is). It’s like I’m flying through the evening on a magic carpet and never want to get off it. I try to figure this out and can only put it down to the company I’m keeping. I wish this could go on forever.
It’s getting quite late, were the only ones left in the restaurant and the proprietor, sensing the party atmosphere at our table comes out to join in offering us some “grappa” and “Limoncello”, “on the house” before kicking us out. This finishes off the evening nicely and after sampling a glass or two of each everyone reluctantly finds a way to say “goodnight” and I fly off to our hut nearly crashing the magic carpet a couple of times along the way.
Day 7: Farewell & “Rest Day”
All warm handshakes & hugs with promises to stay in touch (I’ll be doing my bit) as we sadly farewell Fred, Kerrie, Pat & Tess as they head off for the second part of their adventure. That leaves me, Woz, Helen & Shell. We try to book ourselves onto a dive but not being able to get our preferred site we decide to just have a rest day instead. We’re hoping to dive a site called “Bugtong” as recommended by Wilbert, the next day.
Just Woz, myself & the two girls left now. Lunch at “Oscars” and we discover at this late stage the best way to drink coffee in the tropics is iced. More snorkelling followed by a de-stressing massage as we approach cocktail hour again. We settle into a comfortable familiarity over dinner at the “half way” restaurant.
Day 8 Last diving day
Our last dive. Should’ve been at a pinnacle called “Bugtong” but it turns out there is too much current and the DM’s make the call. We’re to do a drift dive instead.
Descending the mooring line, I’m the last one down (forgot the weightbelt again, sorry team), we let go of the line and start flying across the bottom. All quite enjoyable and thank-you for the good viz so we can keep track of each other. It’s too hard to stop and look at stuff and I’m thinking “shouldn’t have bothered bringing the camera on this one” when we drop over a ridge about 10 foot high and we’re out of the current. There’s also a mooring line here which appears to have a lot of tension on it and somehow I’ve gotten the idea that there’s a boat on the end of it.
We explore the ridge & bommie and as people run their air down they ascend the mooring line. Wilbert signals that he is surfacing with Woz, leaving me & the girls with a bit more dive time. Then Shell ascends alone and I am left with Helen. I try to extend this our last dive but all too soon my SPG is telling me it’s “time to go” and signal this to Helen
Ascending up the mooring we realise as we get near the end of it there’s no boat, just some floats and the tension on the line is being provided by the howling current acting on these. Holding the line the current pulls us deeper so I put some air in my BC to get us to about 5 metres for our safety stop. I’m wondering how the others, in particular Shell, got on. I’m not a DM on this trip but realise now I should’ve thought more like one on this dive. I think I may have disappointed here. Safety stop done and we surface together, the boats a long way off, downstream, they’ve seen this scenario before. They see us straight away and motor up as we drift down. Everyone’s O.K. A bit of an exciting one to finish off on. I’m hoping everyone’s feeling “alls well that ends well” as I am. I’ve learnt a couple of lessons on this dive.
Last supper at the Italian:
Our last evening meal together. The food, wine and especially the company is most enjoyable but most unfortunately spoilt somewhat by the racket coming from the nightclub. At least we got a good hour and a half before it started and then a reprieve for a while when they had a power outage. This is a bit of a worry as a good nights sleep is needed for our long journey home. Thankfully the noise quits at about 1130.
Up early, packing, and we arrange for our bags to be picked up and taken to the dive shop for the transfer.
One last drink at “Oscars”. We invite Wilbert to join us and it’s their lovely cold iced coffees all round.
It’s time to leave and we shake hands with and say farewell to Wilbert and then walk down to the boat.
On the boat now and I turn and give Wilbert a salute and a last “O.K” sign and then we step off Malapascua Island for the last time.
I become aware of something and look round. It’s still quite dark in the plane. The hosties are bringing out food and I can’t believe they’re disturbing us with this at what must be some ungodly hour. I open the window shutter that I don’t remember closing, the sun is well up and bright sunlight bounces off the wing and into my eyeballs like shards of broken glass. Quickly closing the shutter again; I’m thinking that I really didn’t think I’d slept but I obviously must have. A barely edible breakfast as the captain informs us we’ll be landing within the hour and I feel another shard of glass, time to start preparing for final farewells. It’s been a really fantastic trip!, and the diving was pretty good too!
Firm handshakes and warm hugs all round with promises to stay in touch.
One last all-too-short embrace, a warm beating heart, mediterranean hips but no sugar sweet lips and I am cast adrift again, my course in life altered.
I’ve learned a lot this trip. The main thing is: there’s only one thing to do with this life we’ve been given, enjoy it! It’s crazy to do otherwise! (If it gets too tough have an espresso martini, that’s what I’m gunna do).