Off Mactan again at unspecified location where there had been recent thresher shark encounters. No luck for us though, 27 mins with apretty cool wall though just staring into the blue.
Depth 38m, divetime 27min
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
#83 Kontiki Wall, Mactan
The "official" nitrox test dive after completing the "theory", not exactly rocket science but still somehwhay relevant. Did a EANx32 dive at a wall that probably used to be great, but now was full of junk including some plastic bottle markers left by divers and all kind of crap thrown from the boats. So discovered the wall at around 30m for a good half an hour an that was pretty much it.
Afterweard discussed for quite a while about the DM course to be probably done with Greg, let's see now where to go from here though. Rescue with Nitrox is already a nice combo.
Max depth 31,0m, divetime 42min, weights 5kg with 1mm suit
Afterweard discussed for quite a while about the DM course to be probably done with Greg, let's see now where to go from here though. Rescue with Nitrox is already a nice combo.
Max depth 31,0m, divetime 42min, weights 5kg with 1mm suit
Monday, May 17, 2010
Whale sharks at Limasawa, Leyte, Philippines
Limasawa Island : 9°53′37″N 125°31′18″E / 9.89361°N 125.52167°E / 9.89361
This is not really a dive, but how could I possibly not log this?
Friday morning, 14th May 2010 about 7 AM I jump to the water, not exactly knowing what to expect. I mean yeah, we came here to see whalesharks but still, seeing one coming right at me right away was quite a thrill. Even this was a baby, only about 4 meters long (the grow up to 12 meters) I was stunned. I mean this guy has a tremendous mouth and it was coming right at me!
Nah, whale shark is a plankton eater. It wouldn't eat you even if you tried to get into its mouth. But still, come one, get that thing off me!
Seconds later when the shark was gone I felt stupid having frozed like that. Now I could catch it anymore, I was just feeling silly in the water. Darn it! But yeah, that was my first ever whale shark appointment!
But it was not the last. Only about 10 minutes later, our captain is able to spot one with help of the local fishermen. Everybody from the boat jumps in, but again the shark is drifted away.
Third time to come. People start to get tired after the some hard swimming. Adrenaline pumps in. I can swim I keep thinking. Mike, just relax. Shark is spotted and we jump in and this time I can keep up with it, swimming right on top of it. First hesitating, is it going to worry about me swimming so close to him? All it needs to do is one vigorous slash of the backfin and I will get the message to remember, but really it couldn't care less of my tiny presence. My confidence grows and I concentrate on keeping my swimming and breathing steady. I feel jellyfish burns in my hands, neck and face but go on, no question about it. Only one fellow is swimming with me anymore and together we spend a good ten minutes observing this enormous creature. At around 6 meters it's still a youngster, just feeding plankton and getting bigger. The name "whale shark" comes from the fish's physiology. As large as a whale, it too is a filter feeder. This really is one of the most beautiful I have EVER witnessed in my entire life!
Img from Aims Research
The next morning we come back the same site, but the whale shakrs appear to be gone along with the sun. Some wind breaks the surface of the sea, and the sky being grey, spotting the shakrs become nearly impossible. We spend a good half an hour looking for them, again early in the hours of dawn, tired, but thrilled. A local fisherman directs us closer to the shore, apparently having maube spotted one. We continue, but it seems to be a false alarm. There are no sharks. It's the end of the season and in late May they leave these shores and continue their unknown paths.
We stand on the deck and skim the horizon, when the least expected (maybe most dreamed) happend and an enormoush shadow crosses right under the boat! WTF?? Doesn't it even care about our boat??!? Crossing us from less than 3 meters distance he catches ALL of us by surprise, and we fail to jump into water even we are all geared up. People screaming, we lose the moment, but now we have seen which way it is going and turn the boat. We spot it easily this time against a crystal clear spot of water, and everyone jumps in. Negletting some more jellyfish damage, we get all close and personal with this 7 meter fellow just to realize that a second figure about same size appears from the blue. I mean goddamnit, all those walldives, you stare into the blue hoping (before: fearing) for something like this and now suddenly you are swimming with two fish, weighing about two tons each. We continue swimming vigorously trying to keep up, but the first one gets nervous and fastens it's pace being only barely visible. People are tired after swimming, so again it's just me and a Englsih-Chinese-becum-Filipino fellow diver who can keep up with the pace. It's so enormous, that even when swimming at ease and slowly, it keeps a decent pace in human standards. Wetsuit and fins=mask=snorkel are necessary to keeping up this pace, but there is nothing that could stop us now. I am literally less than 2 meters away, and just follow its every move. A good 10 minutes goes by with both sharks in close visibility now and I could as well swallow those damn jellyfish who tries to put my whale shark encounter in jeopardy.
Img by Ken Knezick, not our shark
I know that after this moment, in diving, nothing will remain the same. Two approximately seven ton fish (biggest ones weigh more than 20 tons) swimming gently and smoothly just inches from you is just awesome. Not all big is scary, as these two gentle giants have reminded me!
This is not really a dive, but how could I possibly not log this?
Friday morning, 14th May 2010 about 7 AM I jump to the water, not exactly knowing what to expect. I mean yeah, we came here to see whalesharks but still, seeing one coming right at me right away was quite a thrill. Even this was a baby, only about 4 meters long (the grow up to 12 meters) I was stunned. I mean this guy has a tremendous mouth and it was coming right at me!
Nah, whale shark is a plankton eater. It wouldn't eat you even if you tried to get into its mouth. But still, come one, get that thing off me!
Seconds later when the shark was gone I felt stupid having frozed like that. Now I could catch it anymore, I was just feeling silly in the water. Darn it! But yeah, that was my first ever whale shark appointment!
But it was not the last. Only about 10 minutes later, our captain is able to spot one with help of the local fishermen. Everybody from the boat jumps in, but again the shark is drifted away.
Third time to come. People start to get tired after the some hard swimming. Adrenaline pumps in. I can swim I keep thinking. Mike, just relax. Shark is spotted and we jump in and this time I can keep up with it, swimming right on top of it. First hesitating, is it going to worry about me swimming so close to him? All it needs to do is one vigorous slash of the backfin and I will get the message to remember, but really it couldn't care less of my tiny presence. My confidence grows and I concentrate on keeping my swimming and breathing steady. I feel jellyfish burns in my hands, neck and face but go on, no question about it. Only one fellow is swimming with me anymore and together we spend a good ten minutes observing this enormous creature. At around 6 meters it's still a youngster, just feeding plankton and getting bigger. The name "whale shark" comes from the fish's physiology. As large as a whale, it too is a filter feeder. This really is one of the most beautiful I have EVER witnessed in my entire life!
Img from Aims Research
The next morning we come back the same site, but the whale shakrs appear to be gone along with the sun. Some wind breaks the surface of the sea, and the sky being grey, spotting the shakrs become nearly impossible. We spend a good half an hour looking for them, again early in the hours of dawn, tired, but thrilled. A local fisherman directs us closer to the shore, apparently having maube spotted one. We continue, but it seems to be a false alarm. There are no sharks. It's the end of the season and in late May they leave these shores and continue their unknown paths.
We stand on the deck and skim the horizon, when the least expected (maybe most dreamed) happend and an enormoush shadow crosses right under the boat! WTF?? Doesn't it even care about our boat??!? Crossing us from less than 3 meters distance he catches ALL of us by surprise, and we fail to jump into water even we are all geared up. People screaming, we lose the moment, but now we have seen which way it is going and turn the boat. We spot it easily this time against a crystal clear spot of water, and everyone jumps in. Negletting some more jellyfish damage, we get all close and personal with this 7 meter fellow just to realize that a second figure about same size appears from the blue. I mean goddamnit, all those walldives, you stare into the blue hoping (before: fearing) for something like this and now suddenly you are swimming with two fish, weighing about two tons each. We continue swimming vigorously trying to keep up, but the first one gets nervous and fastens it's pace being only barely visible. People are tired after swimming, so again it's just me and a Englsih-Chinese-becum-Filipino fellow diver who can keep up with the pace. It's so enormous, that even when swimming at ease and slowly, it keeps a decent pace in human standards. Wetsuit and fins=mask=snorkel are necessary to keeping up this pace, but there is nothing that could stop us now. I am literally less than 2 meters away, and just follow its every move. A good 10 minutes goes by with both sharks in close visibility now and I could as well swallow those damn jellyfish who tries to put my whale shark encounter in jeopardy.
Img by Ken Knezick, not our shark
I know that after this moment, in diving, nothing will remain the same. Two approximately seven ton fish (biggest ones weigh more than 20 tons) swimming gently and smoothly just inches from you is just awesome. Not all big is scary, as these two gentle giants have reminded me!
Dive #82 : Unspecified site, off Limasawa
Allright, after the tremendous thrill after seeing the whale shakrs again this morning, we jump into the blue all geared this time, hoping to spot some giants from their own, deeper point of view. This wasn't a real divesite and we didn't expect much, least some tiny nudeybranch or some hairy crab to provide any excitement.
After getting used to the big, murky shadows actually BEING the whale shark(s) you've been waiting for, you get used to it - I was swating out of my wetsuit for the thrill of seing a TEN METER figure going slowly close to the surface. Quite soon after I realised it was our boat. It seems one can embarass himself also underwater:)
But no whalesharks anymore. However, spotting a ghost pipefish here was a rare occasion. I've seen it only once before, in Moalboal in 2006. It's a master of carmofalge, belonging to the seahorse family.
Two ghost pipefishes in their usual heads down position.
entry time 14:31, max depth 24,4m, divetime 40min, Nirox EANx34
Also normal black/yellow striped pipefishes were here.
After getting used to the big, murky shadows actually BEING the whale shark(s) you've been waiting for, you get used to it - I was swating out of my wetsuit for the thrill of seing a TEN METER figure going slowly close to the surface. Quite soon after I realised it was our boat. It seems one can embarass himself also underwater:)
But no whalesharks anymore. However, spotting a ghost pipefish here was a rare occasion. I've seen it only once before, in Moalboal in 2006. It's a master of carmofalge, belonging to the seahorse family.
Two ghost pipefishes in their usual heads down position.
entry time 14:31, max depth 24,4m, divetime 40min, Nirox EANx34
Also normal black/yellow striped pipefishes were here.
Dive #81 : Paluarte, Southern Leyte, Philippines
This site was by far the lousiest of the day, but it still offered some nice stuff that you only rarly see, such as the always fascinating manta shrimp. Also scorpionfish was a nice spot here, and I am becoming better and better with "muckking", spotting shrimps from their holes, nudie branches, moray eels and other small/hiding/carmoflaged stuff.
This was a drift dive, the current moving us about a quarter of a mile.
Lots of fishtraps set on the bottom, boring. Luckily they were mostly empty.
entry time 14:31, max depth 24,4m, divetime 40min, water 28 deg celcius, Nitrox EANx34
Nitrox seems to work fine, no difference in taste, a bit more relaxing dives since no worries about deco stops in 18-30depth. The real benefit is marginal, since the tank runs empty far before deco limits anyway. The biggest benefit at this point seems to be that I don't get that tired, even after 3 dives a day, waking 5:30AM three days in a row. Thta IS a real benefit.
This was a drift dive, the current moving us about a quarter of a mile.
Lots of fishtraps set on the bottom, boring. Luckily they were mostly empty.
entry time 14:31, max depth 24,4m, divetime 40min, water 28 deg celcius, Nitrox EANx34
Nitrox seems to work fine, no difference in taste, a bit more relaxing dives since no worries about deco stops in 18-30depth. The real benefit is marginal, since the tank runs empty far before deco limits anyway. The biggest benefit at this point seems to be that I don't get that tired, even after 3 dives a day, waking 5:30AM three days in a row. Thta IS a real benefit.
Dive #80, Zach's Cove, Southern Leyte, Philippines
OK THIS IS WHAT DIVING IS ALL ABOUT! So fellow diver, u have spent 2000,- for flights, another 2000,- for equipment, spent trmemendous amounts of time planning and organising, and you are wondering if it's REALLY worth of all the hussle?
HELL YEAH!
Zach’s Cove offers something different, and challenging. Its sheer drop-off sometimes exceeds 180 ft and as we made our descent, we noticed an abundance of corals in their most pristine state, from huge sea fans to soft corals to a wide variety of sponges, coral foliose and hard corals, including countless plate and table corals. For the trained eye, one can make out that clams and other marine life, like nudibranches and other invertebrates seem to feel at home in this marine hideaway. The reef residents stand out as well, from adult snappers, sergeant-majors, parrot fishes, angelfishes, groupers, large trigger fishes, sea snakes, and an almost limitless flow of pelagics and schooling fishes, adding more life to this blue undisturbed world. And the barracuda always provide a sense of thrill and awe as it makes its occasional visit to the reef.
One of the goddamnd greatest wall dive's ever. WHY AM I NOT GETTING TIRED OF THIS??????????? (I usually get bored with pretty much anything after a ... day or so)
entry time 11:50, max depth 22,9m, divetime 47min, Nitrox EANx32, water temp 28
HELL YEAH!
Zach’s Cove offers something different, and challenging. Its sheer drop-off sometimes exceeds 180 ft and as we made our descent, we noticed an abundance of corals in their most pristine state, from huge sea fans to soft corals to a wide variety of sponges, coral foliose and hard corals, including countless plate and table corals. For the trained eye, one can make out that clams and other marine life, like nudibranches and other invertebrates seem to feel at home in this marine hideaway. The reef residents stand out as well, from adult snappers, sergeant-majors, parrot fishes, angelfishes, groupers, large trigger fishes, sea snakes, and an almost limitless flow of pelagics and schooling fishes, adding more life to this blue undisturbed world. And the barracuda always provide a sense of thrill and awe as it makes its occasional visit to the reef.
One of the goddamnd greatest wall dive's ever. WHY AM I NOT GETTING TIRED OF THIS??????????? (I usually get bored with pretty much anything after a ... day or so)
entry time 11:50, max depth 22,9m, divetime 47min, Nitrox EANx32, water temp 28
Dive #79 : Adrian's Cove, Southern Leyte, Philippines
OK, this dive was planned to go to 45-50 meter range, which was quite a bit more that I was used to. However given the conditions and the recent training, I was confident I could manage it.
Instructor makes a safety check at 40m, I roger and we move to 50,2. My instructor Paul, a South-Korean navy seal with 10.000= dives asks if I want to continue deeper. I am tempted, but decide not to. We start a slow ascend.
No signs of narcosis, but changing diveplan spontaniously ain't my cup of cake. Looking back now I am happy I stayed cool headed.
The sites beauty was a bit left behind, since most of the concentration was dealing with the depth and possible consequences. Afterwrds I was told by the people who stayed at the 30 meter limit, that this was one of the best dives here with a wall, a lot of coves and overhangs, nicely covered bushes of black coral, staghorn corals and many sea squirts. I did enjoy the corals during ascend and saftey stop, but was worried about air (no nitrox at this depth baby). I am surprised actually why this dive was planned to be the deep dive, but given the extremist instructor I guess it was just his game.
Photos by Yvette Lee
The corals again (during ascent) were truly fantastic, zillions of small fish like in an aquarium, ut nothing really spectacular. (I mean, we saw 3 whale sharks [ to be posted ] earlier when snorkeling so bloody hell what could have been spectacular here anymore!??
Entry time 10:07, divetime 32min, max depth 50,2m, water temp 28 celcius (all Leyte dives with Mactan Dive Center)
Instructor makes a safety check at 40m, I roger and we move to 50,2. My instructor Paul, a South-Korean navy seal with 10.000= dives asks if I want to continue deeper. I am tempted, but decide not to. We start a slow ascend.
No signs of narcosis, but changing diveplan spontaniously ain't my cup of cake. Looking back now I am happy I stayed cool headed.
The sites beauty was a bit left behind, since most of the concentration was dealing with the depth and possible consequences. Afterwrds I was told by the people who stayed at the 30 meter limit, that this was one of the best dives here with a wall, a lot of coves and overhangs, nicely covered bushes of black coral, staghorn corals and many sea squirts. I did enjoy the corals during ascend and saftey stop, but was worried about air (no nitrox at this depth baby). I am surprised actually why this dive was planned to be the deep dive, but given the extremist instructor I guess it was just his game.
Photos by Yvette Lee
The corals again (during ascent) were truly fantastic, zillions of small fish like in an aquarium, ut nothing really spectacular. (I mean, we saw 3 whale sharks [ to be posted ] earlier when snorkeling so bloody hell what could have been spectacular here anymore!??
Entry time 10:07, divetime 32min, max depth 50,2m, water temp 28 celcius (all Leyte dives with Mactan Dive Center)
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