Shooting the Breeze: Leisure Diving at Anilao

This time, I was able to test my back rolling / disembarking skills as well as the proper method of climbing on-board (before climbing the ladder, surrender to the boat men--yes, we're pretty spoiled in the Philippines--your weight belt, BCD and fins, in that order), as I joined a couple of tourist divers on a diving boat. The waves were a bit choppy, so I paid particular attention to NOT hitting my head on any part of the boat while it was bobbing up and down above me with the waves.

Thanks to Victor Warren (and my cousin, Tonyboy, who called Victor to look for me at Planet Dive), I was able to sneek one onshore entry dive at Twin Rocks (Thursday, June 21) to re-familiarize after a couple of months past my check-out dives. Too bad the visibility was poor. In any case, I was all set for the boat dive the following day (Friday, June 22).

I had the pleasure of diving with my cousin, Tonyboy "TB" Ongsiaco, Master Diver Extraordinaire, who brought us to Beatrice Rock and Sepok Wall--both beautiful spots with great visibility when we dove. TB lent me a dive computer, which I used mainly to check my depth. The regulator I rented only had a pressure gauge for the tank. We could not figure out how to retrieve the dive logs in my dive computer, so I used the dive specs of TB (my diving buddy for the day) for our Beatrice and Sepok dives. Like any conscientious diving instructor, Alfie Santos called to check if I was still alive. Maraming salamat Pinsan, Victor and Alfie!

My camera trigger-happy Selina is responsible for all the fun photos below: