Sunday 25th January 2015
We only did one
dive yesterday. I was quite happy with
this concept. It was nearly 5pm when we
stopped for our second one and I had already disappointed everyone and made
them think I was a big soft wussy because I had said I wasn’t up for a second
dive. I should have held my tongue;
nobody would have known I am a big soft wussy because it became quite
apparently that it was much too late to get back into the water, if we wanted
to be back at our mooring before dark.
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| Alcatraz Island, Busuanga |
We moored next to
this beautiful little island unkindly named Alcatraz - then dived in and went to the bottom of the
mooring line. This all sounds very
simple; I wasn’t. Some of us have more
trouble than others actually getting down down down… But eventually it happened
and we circumnavigated the island, if that is the word for swimming around
quite a long way underwater? It was very
beautiful, with all manner of coral Pete and I had never seen before. Big blue pine-cones, glorious rippled urns in
violet and blue and ochre, green spiky creations which looked as if they
belonged in the desert. Also many
delicate white and yellow lacey fan corals.
Just wonderful. Toby had his
GoPro at the ready but…it was full and he couldn’t take a single photo, not
even of the delightful little bright blue nudibranch perched on a lump of
coral. (I didn’t even try to take my
camera; I was quite overwhelmed with the whole process of gearing up and
getting into the water as it was.)
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| I found this photo on the internet - a man called Robert Rath has a great website with many photos of these gorgeous creatures. Ours was about one inch long... |
The other three
wore full length wetsuits; I debated and discussed the issue and decided not
to. Getting into and out of wetsuits is
close to my least favourite occupation; I will do anything to avoid the
squeezing and claustrophobia of it all.
Rosie and Toby were very doubtful.
“The water is very cold!” said Rose.
“It is only 32 degrees!!” Well…I
didn’t actually find it cold at all. (I
am, of course, a TrueTasmanian, from 42 degrees south…)
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| We threw this beautiful big cowrie shell back in after a bit of a photoshoot |
For our last
dinner with Toby and Rosie we went to La Serenita, the beautiful mermaid
restaurant on the water, next to Seadive.
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| Rosie and some giant concrete mermaids |
Lovely food, and
just a few cocktails…
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| Marguerite and giant concrete mermaid friend |
Toby and Rosie
don’t drink alcohol, usually. I think we
have been a very bad influence on them… Both Toby and Pete had Long Island Tea
cocktails, two each. These are very
strong indeed. Toby, who is not usually shy
or reticent, became even less so and entertained us mightily with his stories.
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| Toby and beloved iPhone |
Our favourite one
was his tragic loss of iPhones. His
first iPhone, very new and very dear to him, was on his lap in the movie
theatre in the Mall of Asia (Manila.) he
stood up and it fell off as he was leaving he aisle. It was no more than fifteen seconds before he
realised and he rushed back to find…no iPhone.
He went to the staff and said, “I have lost my phone, please help me find it.”
Oh yes of course they would help him find his iPhone…maybe it was over there, on the very edges of the
cinema? Much fruitless bustling
about. Toby realised it was lost and
gone as soon as they said iPhone – he hadn’t mentioned what sort of phone it was
at all. Too late. He went to the nearest Apple store and asked
them to disable the phone and to lock it off completely, so it would have been
of no use to the heartless thieves.
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| Toby and Pete with giant concrete mermaid bottom |
And…he bought
another one, for another $700. Sigh
sigh…A few days later he was in Porto Galera, where he was working as a dive
maser, when he was out and about in a bit of rain. Which became a torrential downpour – Cyclone
Yolanda! He didn’t have any waterproof protection
so he tucked his phone under his arm.
And promptly forgot as the storm raged around him. As he waved and gesticulated the horrid truth
dawned on him – his phone was gone. He
rampaged up and down the street, which was turning into a raging torrent,
flinging rocks aside, digging in the churning rubble. Such is our love for our iPhones…One of his friends
came out to help and very soon she found it, floating haplessly down the
stream. Glugluglug…It was sodden and very
very dead. They tried all manner of
first aid – shaking it, putting it in a big bag of rice, generally murmuring to
it in loving voices, but it remained resolutely dead.
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| This sea eagle visits every evening around dusk |
The happy ending –
yes there is one – came when Toby made his sad way back to an Apple store and told
his very sorry tale. They looked at his
record and…gave him a new one! Not only
that, but all of his contacts, apps etc were still in existence, in cyberspace,
on iCloud, so everything was all miraculously back no normal. And Toby’s new iPhone now has a sturdy waterproof,
shockproof jacket and is never far from his grasp.
So proud of you doing dives at all!
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