for the divers of the world, here is an excellent account of a perfect dive trip.
for the non-divers of the world, get wet na!

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Getting Fortunate in Fortune Island

aided with our divetorches, our foursome wandered
around the dark cave under the blue hole, inspecting
crevices and crannies as a coral sea snake would,
looking for signs of interesting marine life. our eyes
and our necks were beginning to hurt from all that
squinting and craning as we searched the deep and the
surface for that manta. we contented ourselves instead
with macro specimen, such as the two-eyed (or
oscillating) lionfish and the electric scallop that
yvette found. bolts of electricity graced its mouth,
it made me wonder if they do that as a sinister
invitation to its prey, or to attract a mate.

that was around 3:30 in the afternoon, november 16,
2002 when we made our second dive in the
what-used-to-be shark-infested waters surrounding
fortune island. we were actually there on a
manta-sighting expedition, but we were suddenly
starting to feel disappointed. our first dive taught
us not to keep our hopes up in sighting a manta. after
all, we agreed the night before that considering the
conditions of the reef due to dynamite fishing, it was
either a manta or bust. or as our host aptly put it-
manta or "bokya."

so there we were, doing our safety stop at fifteen
feet after our second "bokya" dive. our bubbles gave
away our location as i felt the chaseboat looming over
us. and then, it happened. at the same time as i
looked up, that was when my buddy, ana, looked up and
screamed. outlined in the clear water's surface, what
i thought was the chaseboat, turned out to be an
8-footer with a huge shark's tail. my heart froze and
my eyes popped out. my thoughts raced: "it's an
aggressive shark, an oceanic white tip or a tiger
shark most probably, and this is going to be my last
dive." but before flashes of my life came to me, the
spots and its huge mouth gave it
away...WHALESHAAARK!!!!!

the baby planktivore was right on top of us and
playing with our bubbles. yvette and her buddy, who
still haven't given up the manta-hunt and were looking
elsewhere, eventually heard our screams. for fifteen
minutes the graceful creature stayed with us, feeding
passively on the nutrient rich waters and enjoying the
attention as yvette snapped pictures of it in her
trusty camera. about eight remoras clung to it,
enjoying the free chow and the free ride. we were in
awe as the young filter feeder flared out its 5 gill
slits, its remarkable gill rakers being able to filter
prey that are only one mm in diameter. after
satisfying its curiousity the baby whaleshark finally
descended, leaving us mesmerized and catching our
breath.

high fives on the boat? worse. we were never prepared
for a whaleshark. the experience brought us a range of
emotions. some were crying. some were screaming. some
were still shaking. all that adrenaline kept us all up
till late in the evening. we couldn't stop ranting
about it, the non-divers in our company could only
give us blank stares. later we would be sleeping with
that silly grin in our faces.

but it doesn't end there. our dive the following day
almost gave us a heart attack. our reason for going to
fortune island finally materialized. just when we
still haven't gotten over that whale shark, a squadron
of five juvenile mantas introduced themselves by
flying past us, made a u-turn, and gave us a grand
view of themselves. the adrenaline rush was dizzying
as we scanned the surface and saw more solitary mantas
feeding on krill and plankton. that was when we
decided to ascend to shallower depths. that was when
we saw the biggest manta, probably fifteen feet
across, doing back flips while two remoras held on for
their dear lives. we must have been really nice
people, for it was just too much of a good thing.

that concludes our dive weekend. we all parted ways
with our cheeks sore from grinning all weekend. we all
agreed that it was one of the best dives we ever had,
judging from the way we keep calling each other today
just to talk about it again and again.

meanwhile, i have to recover from all the shaking i'm
going through right now. this account brought back all
that adrenaline. thanks for your indulgence. i know
it's quite lengthy. and of course, yvette will be
dazzling you with her photos as soon as they come out.
you should see how she works. truly inspiring and
worthy of respect.


here's to spectacular dives!
bambino