Last Thursday we took off for the Philippines. The flight was less than two hours, but in that short span a bit of beauty graced us. We saw a rainbow out the airplane window. I noticed the woman in front of me suddenly take a picture and I wondered what could be so interesting out there in the clouds. I've seen rainbows before but never from above. I wish I got a picture but by the time I nudged Paul and got my camera out we were past it. At least we got to see it.
Once in Manila, someone from the resort (let's just call it a resort for now) met us at the airport and drove us just over two hours to a tiny beach where a boat was waiting for us for an additional one hour journey to Sabang Beach in Puerto Galera. We arrived around 5 p.m.
To be clear straight away, this place is all about diving. There are about 25 dive sites all within 5-10 minute boat rides from the beach. The beachfront is one continuous stretch of dive centers and accommodations with some restaurants and bars and shops along a narrow road just behind the beachfront buildings. It's a safe and functional place yet a bit ramshackle and/or seedy in parts. The vibe was sort of Gilligan's Island mixed with the setting of John Candy's Summer Rental.
There were several dogs roaming the beachfront, not strays, just dogs with a lot of freedom to roam. There was even a resident monkey at the dive center next to ours. I totally don't believe in keeping a primate as a pet (ask St. James Davis and Moe, for those who know) but I have to admit that I was intrigued by the monkey. On the last day I took its picture and gave it a little pat on the arm.
Less intriguing was the endless parade of hawkers selling everything including shell jewelry, DVDs, fruit, boat rides, massages, and oddly, guitars. They weren't too pushy, but there were just so many of them that you had to say no to a five or six of them in a row and if you passed the same spot 30 seconds later, you had to say no to all of them again. Really, who goes on a diving holiday and comes home with a guitar? It was impressive to see the guy carrying all of them around anyway. At least the woman selling fruit was practical.
Our room at a place called Angelyn's was basic, as in it had cable TV but the TV was 13". It had a hot shower but the shower was the bathroom (big room with a toilet, sink, and a shower head in the wall and a drain on the floor). The pillows were more like sheets of paper, but at least there was air conditioning. There was a terraced area downstairs where breakfast was served every morning. For no extra charge, there was a rooster that crowed every morning typically sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. We also wondered why there were local kids all over the place all day long. We found out after a few days that they were on a school break, and we learned every morning that the kids get up soon after the rooster and make as much noise.
So rest didn't come easily even though it was desired because this vacation was a lot of work. When we first arrived we spoke to the head instructor at Frontier Scuba, an English guy, about what we would be doing. Then we walked around awhile looking for a place to eat and when we settled on one right next to our dive center, we noticed this man standing nearby smoking a cigarette. I had looked at the web site and saw the instructors' photos so I whispered to Paul that I thought he was one of them. He whispered back, "He's not an instructor. He's a crazy old guy I saw wandering around earlier, staring at people." About 10 seconds later he walked up to our table and asked us if we were Lisa and Paul and introduced himself as our instructor. He was a weathered old German guy nicknamed XC. I quickly estimated that if Robin Williams lost 100 pounds, shaved his head completely bald, grew a shockingly full beard, and threw in a German accent, he could play the part of XC, the weathered old German diving instructor.
The PADI Open Water diving course has a standardized program and content, but instructors may choose to lay it out in different ways; some do all the classroom work first and the dives later. We did a mix of both every day. It includes the reading of a 250-page manual which we dutifully read every night. The mornings started with a video covering the section of the book that we previously read and then quizzes on the material. The first couple of days included time learning tasks in the pool with a dive in the open water following in the afternoon. I guess we progressed well enough because we combined five pool sessions into two days. We had one open water dive each day for four days.
I will say that the way the course was taught, with dives included on the first day, suited our learning. I was nervous about one thing or another the entire time, but I became more comfortable even after the first open water dive because it put things in perspective. We were also very lucky in that we happened to be the only two people starting the course on the day we arrived so the instruction was very personalized, and we didn't have to worry about anybody else either holding us up or about holding anybody else up. I think XC said that they were fully booked in the upcoming week. There were even two students there who were completing the Instructor's course so they were observing our lessons. We had one instructor and two helpers all to ourselves.
I'll admit that if I previewed the manual before we got there, I might have decided that I was not capable of diving. I love being in the ocean, but I also have a healthy fear of it, meaning I'm only marginally comfortable with the ability to save myself if I had to. So when I first put my head under in the pool, I popped right back up because my body refused to believe that I could continue breathing under water. I got used to that idea in the next attempt, and breathing is the easiest part really. As a matter of fact, the number one rule is to never hold your breath while diving. It's the 'airway control' that was a little tricky for me. You must breathe through your mouth but be able to do things like clear your mask through your nose. I did have to try a few times to complete certain tasks because I had never used this ability before, but eventually everything fell into place.
I guess diving is something anybody can do, yet it is not for everyone. Either you're comfortable with the idea of breathing under water or you're not. You don't really learn that part. What you learn in the course is essentially how to save yourself in a variety of emergency situations. If your air runs out, if your mask gets knocked off, if you lose your breathing regulator. Theoretically, these things should not occur, but you practice these scenarios repeatedly so that you don't panic in the case that they do. You learn how the equipment works and how to use it to help you dive safely.
As new divers, we spent a lot of time and attention on managing the equipment and, personally, focusing on the mechanics of staying alive. I wasn't paying close attention to the sights at first but occasionally, one of the leaders would point out something of interest (which is the whole point of diving, of course). We saw a huge tortoise, a shrimp, a crazy-looking orange 'frogfish,' and lots of other fish I can't name, along with coral. On the last dive we only had one or two tasks to complete so we spent most of the time just looking around and it was more relaxing.
Buoyancy control is one thing that takes some time to get the hang of. You wear weights to help you sink, but you also have a device that inflates or deflates your vest. On the last day, we were much better at 'hovering' at the same level as the instructor and following him around smoothly without hitting the bottom or floating too high, but that's a skill that comes with practice. The maximum depth for new divers should be 18 meters or 60 feet. On the last day we went to just over 19 m.
So, honestly, I have no idea what made me think I could manage diving, but I did. We did, and I am proud because it is a challenge. Now when we can go places we can add a new aspect to our destinations. When we get to the Great Barrier Reef, there won't be any tasks to complete, just swimming around and seeing the underwater sights.
I did tell Paul that he needed to write a blog about the experience and he said he would...
Anyway, we leave for Australia tomorrow for two weeks, so I won't be writing for awhile.
Happy Halloween.
Arriving at Sabang Beach
View of the beach and diving boats from the resort
Monkey
Angelyn's Resort
Breakfast
The boat back to the van to Manila
