An island hop to Mindoro

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I had but a few days left in the Philippines (and much I will update you on) when I decided to head to what I read was the best diving in the immediate area, by which I mean a day and half traveling radius. Puerto Galera, and the 'foreigner friendly' Sabang seemed to top every list, so off I went.

It took me a while walking around Sabang, supposed tourist and backpacker hot-spot, for it to dawn on me that there was a strange demographic here. As I looked around and recounted who I had seen, I realized that of the last 40 foreigners I saw, maybe 4 were under 40. And the number of women: zero. Yep, looking around the resturant it was the old timers and their far too petite (and young) Filipinas as far as the eye can see. I would later learn that Sabang is a great place to listen two 75 year old American men recount the finer points of prostitution over breakfast. De-licious. (I assumed they were American as they were drinking the 'light' version of the sam mig beer. lame.)

So, as it turns out, in Sabang there are two just things to do: go scuba diving and solicit boring, boring local girls. Whoa boring. Anyway, as excited as they were to see someone who didn't belong in the geriatrics ward I was not as keen on the "getting into the culture" as I have been other places.

Cue the SCUBA diving!

Lucky enough, there are only so many young divers around and so I managed to procure a diving instructor, at the regular price, on an entirely one-to-one basis. Sweetness. I blew threw his little course where he tried to tell a chemical engineer about the finer points of static pressure, but sadly I would be so cocky on the open sea.

For one I had no buoyancy control whatsoever. You have an inflatable vest on your back that you can fill air to control vertical movement, but even if you get this right you sink as you finish exhaling and rise as you finish inhaling. Let me put this simply - I suck. I don't think there would be much left of the coral or my backside if he let me out on my own. In the end my trusty guide hung on the my BCD (the inflatable vest) and just did the controlling for me. This was awesome because he would put my face 2 inches away from things and I didn't feel like I was going to lose my nose.

In the end, I saw a TON of fish and coral, an amazing, gulping eel who's dragon tongue made it look like the bane of evil, and a bunch of incredible little creatures poking in and out of small holes in one of the rocks. When we got close to the rock the instructor swept his hand by it and suddenly the whole place was out of business - the little things darted in and the holes somehow slammed shut. Very cool.

Anyway, I had a great dive, but unfortunately it confirmed for me that SCUBA is just not my calling. While things are pretty and all I cannot, for some reason, seem to equalize my ears when I descend despite every effort in two dives (one a long time ago). I was able to have a successful dive only because I had a personal guide who was able to help me go down VERY slowly and get a few minutes of pain-free depth. Even so, my ears still hurt 10 hours later and I honestly feel I will injure myself if I continue. Oh well - I need a little more speed in my sports anyway.

Until next time,

John

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Comments

[Kari Gibb]

Phils rule
John...! haha, I liked the comment about 75 yy olds and the morning discussion. I believe were were also the youngest when I was there. But if you found the girls in the bars boring (or even had to bother soliciting them), I think you must've not gone into any bars. We had to fight them off with a stick almost...and they were quite energetic. but, to each their own. If you want some excellent diving, come to Boracay also here in the PI.