Bohol: Balicasag Dives Finally

For more than four years of being a scuba diver, I believe I have already visited the major dive sites of the Philippines except Subic and Bohol. I am not keen on visiting Subic anytime soon but Bohol had been on my bucket list ever since I started diving. But I find Bohol quite elusive after a couple of failed attempts to revisit the place and so my penchant to dive in its water... Read More

Diving in Camiguin

With a different agenda, I returned to the Island Born of Fire, my third time overall and twice in just a span of one year. No I didn’t do the usual island tour, I am through with it twice. I went there to dive! Technically speaking, I have already dive in Camiguin before, specifically in the waters of Mantigue Island. Not the usual Camiguin but it still is. But I have heard... Read More

Diving With a Purpose: Coral Transplanation Project in Linamon, Lanao del Norte

It feels great to be a part of something that you love, something that you believe in and something that will have a long term positive effect to our environment and to the community. I am glad that an opportunity to be part of that something knocked on my door. On the last weekend of May, I had the honor and rare chance to dive in Iligan Bay and help in the coral transplantation... Read More

Puerto Galera Underwater Revisited

The boat to Verde Island left Sabang at eight in the morning and we missed it by half-an-hour. Lovie, the receptionist of Big Apple Dive Resort explained that despite their pleadings to delay the trip for a bit, the foreign divers were all eager to leave early, so away they went. A sea turtle swimming on the surface as seen underwater at Sabang Wrecks A cheerful and helpful Lovie... Read More

Weekend Bliss: Return to Apo Reef

It was a last minute decision and it seemed like a coincidence that Gael’s feature on Apo Reef was just published in Yahoo!Travel. Reading her piece along with some of my photos made me missed Apo Reef even more. Perhaps it was the sign. After all, if there are places worth coming back over and over again, Apo Reef is surely one of them. So for third year in a row I went to... Read More

My Year End Dive at Agutayan Island Marine Sanctuary

I went to Cagayan de Oro the day after Tropical Storm Sendong lashed the city. From the airport, the situation seemed normal and calm but as I came close to the city proper, the disaster brought by the storm became perceptible. As the jeepney passed the bridge crossing the brown and murky Cagayan River in Carmen District, I saw communities along the river totally washed out. People... Read More

Diving the Monsters of Coron

Coron, an enchanting place dotted with limestone cliffs, amazing inland lakes, caves, lagoons and beautiful white sandy island beaches, is also blessed with superb scene underneath with its vibrant and diverse marine life and of course the important pieces of history that remind us of our past. Navigating the creepy and narrow pathways of Coron Wrecks is a surreal experience The... Read More

New Milestone: Now an Enriched Air Diver

Oxygen is toxic under pressure. A lesson that stayed on my head since I took up a new diving certification last September. It is a fact highlighted during the course. It is also a fact that the air we breath on land is composed of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen. In diving, the same proportion applies on compressed air. But studies and developments in scuba diving paved the way for... Read More

Medina, Misamis Oriental Dive Against Debris

A scene underneath the water of Medina Port It is always a slow day at the port of Medina, a small town north of Misamis Oriental fronting Gingoog Bay. Save for a big fishing vessel quietly docked in the town’s concrete port, traffic and activities are almost always very light. The big fishing boat was captured by local authorities in the neighboring town of Magsaysay... Read More