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President was gonna board the boat that
afternoon and dive the next day. Our survey dives, after doing the necessary depth, current and underwater hazards check, become the fun dives. Marisa was shooting video and I was busy posing for her. Along with PSG personnel, we dove the wrecks of the Olymphia Maru, Okikawa Maru and the Lusong gun boat.
The next morning, the President left theboat early by chopper to go to Culion. We got ready on the dive bancas, setting up her and her husband's gear and assigning DM's for her other guests. She
arrived back on the presidential yacht and got into her wetsuit. As soon as she boarded the dive banca, I gave them both a short briefing and told them that we would be doing a few skills practice they hadn't dove since the Tubbataha trip.
As soon as we entered the water, the President very excitely started swimming towards the Lusong wreck which she could see vaguely in the distance. The
conditions were not very good. The
visibility had dropped to about 20 feet
because the tide was ebbing, there was zero current though which was good, and
since the President and I were the first
ones in the water, no one had kicked the
silt up yet! I signaled for her to stop and
we proceeded to practice the mask and regulator exercises. After that, we went around the wreck. I noticed that the president was looking for her husband throughout the dive so I'd always point him out to her.
instructor Vic Azurin. After the dives, Marisa and I were invited to have dinner with the President and friends. What an honor! It was fun cos everyone especially the President and her husband were very
relaxed After dinner, we viewed the videos that Marisa took and the President was super excited to watch herself underwater! As we were strolling around the deck just outside the lounge after dinner, we saw schools of fish attracted to the lights of the boat. We thought we also saw a manta - it looked really big, whatever it was...
Well, this was a historic dive trip at the wrecks of Coron with the President of the Philippines. I'm sure the wrecks hadn't had such a prestigious visitor since they were laid to rest 58 years ago. What I thought to be a once in a lifetime opportuniyt turned into a twice in a lifetime thing! I wonder if there will be more.
" As soon as we entered the water, the President very excitely started swimming towards the Lusong wreck...."
The divers fanned out along Bethlehem and Maricaban cove and it wasn't long before the bags were full of the plastic debris, cans and other materials that he littered the bottom. These were deposited back on the beach in the resort, where the contents were identified and listed as part of the on-going research and
then rebagged for collection.
In the meantime, the divers washed up and headed for a hearty lunch of inihaw na liempo, fish with tofu and vegetables in coconut sauce (ginataang gulay to you!)
After re-fueling some divers opted for a quick snooze while the ones with excess energy headed out for the third dive of the day!
The merry making continued well into the night but this did not hamper the resolve of the divers who were beant on doing early morning dive at Bahura. By 6:30 2 bancas were underway in the dawn's early light. We knew they had spotted something special as the smiles on their faces were brighter than the sun's that morning- and it was a VERY sunny morning. Flapping their arms like ducks, we knew that they had spotted one of the sea's most graceful and magnificent animals.
Sure enough, a Manta Ray was encountered by the Group of Louie Barrios, and though it moved away rather quickly, it returned, as if it forgotten something, circled in front of the divers as if to say "Thank You for cleaning my home" and with a final flap of its wings, disappeared in the blue.