Getting caught up.............

So here we are on our 2nd “Live Aboard” dive boat. The first one that we experienced was in Thailand, back in Jan. Here we go ….

On a dive boat, one doesn’t know what to expect. How will we get along with the other divers, the crew etc? What will the dive area have in store? We were heading out to the Tubbataha reef in the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. It’s a circular reef system 25 miles out at sea, untouched since the 1990’s and the cessation of dynamiting. This area is also a world heritage site, meaning it is protected from here on out.

The boat itself had our basic needs in mind, a comfy bed and warm shower. The food was excellent, and the dive masters did their best to guide us on our adventure. The other passengers were mostly Americans from Michigan. We enjoyed our time getting to know each and every one of them. 6 days diving and living with people helps you get to know them real fast.

There was also a couple from France and believe it or not, a deaf man from Germany. Michelle had the opportunity to interpret for Oliver throughout the trip. Even though American Sign Language and German Sign Language are not the same, Oliver was able to understand ASL pretty well and so, he got the benefits of an interpreter on board and Michelle got to brush up on her engrained sign language skills. It was something they both got to enjoy.

On our first night there, we gathered at about 7:00, and enjoyed meeting each other, unpacking and having our first dinner on the boat. The cooks were fabulous. We then set out for our journey riding over 25 miles out to the reef. We headed for bed. The ride was supposed to be smooth sailing, but that couldn’t have been less than the truth. The ride out was horrendous.

The boat swayed and bucked as it hit massive waves getting us out to the desired site. I don’t think we slept for more than two hours that evening as thoughts of the the movie “The Perfect Storm” went though my head. At one point, I think it was around 2 AM, I got up and wanted to go up on to the day area. One glance out of the side port hole, seeing just huge white caps and massive waves, I decided to curl up with Michelle, and ride it out.

When we arrived at Tubbataha at 7AM it was all worth it! There we were, out in the middle of the Sulu Sea. Crystal clear turquoise waters surrounded us as did the reef. We would plunge into 84 degree waters with marine laden walls falling thousands of feet into the ocean, and nothing else in site. Each day allowed us up to 5 dives, at 45 – 50 minutes for each dive. So it was briefing, dive, eat, dive, rest-eat, dive, etc. Never a dull moment, and for 5 days straight.
While diving Tubbataha, we encountered a countless number of sharks, white tip, black tip, nurse sharks, reef sharks, some up to 20 feet long! We enjoyed the sighting of one small manta ray, a devil ray, large tunas, Napoleon Wrasses, and countless other fish species.

The people from Michigan were being led by Heather, a former dive store owner and current travel organizer. During dive master briefings, Heather would educate us with a “fish of the dive” We learned the names of a few of the fish we had been spotting, the Emperor, the pyramid Butterfly, and a few others but unfortunately, I don’t remember them. She also would have a coral of the dive…these too I don’t remember. I guess all those brain cells really have been affected.

During the course of the trip, several of the American passengers were sick with sinus problems, jet leg and stomach flu. At one time, it seemed like the boat was an infirmary. The dive masters were from Australia and England, and they did a great job. The Stellar Explorer runs for just 3 months a year and this was the 2nd trip of the year. I hope we didn’t leave any sick bugs behind for the rest of their trips. They got off pretty easy though since they had fewer people to line up for each dive. Michelle and I made it through unscathed.

While on the boat, we would dive a different section of the reef each day and explore what it had to offer. The walls were endless, we’d only go to 30 meters (90ft.) and work ourselves up. The one thing that you notice a lot on a wall dive, is the large cubby holes where thing like SHARKS would be sleeping, lobsters hiding out, rays taking a break and so on.

On one dive we were descending and on a shelve of one of the walls I saw 4 black tip sharks all taking a snooze, with another laying right across them. I’ve never seen anything like this before. And if you disturb them (which we did), they take off all different directions, and hopefully not towards you! On our final day, we got to boat out to the ranger station. Here 7 men live and guard the marine sanctuary. As I mentioned, Tubbataha is only reachable 3 months of the year. The remaining 9 months make reaching Tubbataha almost impossible due to Monsoon winds and gusty waves. Most of the men live here only 3 months, but some remain year long. Talk about isolation!!!

Before we knew it, the 6 days, and 21 dives were up and it was time to continue our journey. We loved our time on the dive boat and look forward to the next opportunity to live out on the sea.

Leaving the boat back in Puerto Pricnessa was sad, but life moves on. We disembarked with the French couple, Virginia and Eric, and the four of us travelled to the subterranean river, 4 hours from Puerto Princessa. This is where salt water and fresh water meet with a large and beautiful cave system. We enjoyed the site, but the 4 hour drive was exhausting. We did get to see more of the countryside on the island of Palawan and do look forward to coming back to this very special undeveloped and beautiful area of the Philippines.

Back at Puerto Princessa we were a bit home sick. We chowed down at Shakey’s Pizza. We laughed at ourselves for using our last night in the Philippines to eat American food. You just can’t account for tastes some time. The next morning we were up incredibly early to fly from Puerto Princessa to Manila with a 4 hour lay over before our plane was scheduled to take off to Tokyo Japan.

Well, we got to Manila but from here, boy did things take a different path than expected. While getting ready to board our flight, we had learned that a Federal Express plane had crash landed in Tokyo due to high winds. Come to find out, the whole airport in Tokyo was closed. Japan Airlines didn’t communicate this to us until it was time to board. Meanwhile, the delay caused us to have to re-enter the security check several times, to where Michelle managed to lose her purse with her IPod, sunglasses and digital camera card.

Thank goodness all but the sunglasses are backed up on the computer. In any event, Japan Airlines then ushered all 400 passengers to the 5 star Manila Hotel. This place was so beautiful. It housed former Hollywood glams as well as former national diplomats and US Presidents along with us. How amazing could this be!!!!! We sucked up to the front desk host and got an amazing suite with a city and ocean view. Dinner was also on Japan Airlines with sushi, fresh fish, you name it. We were quite happy about how things were turning out until 3AM when we got our wake up call. Wake up call we asked in disbelief?

Yes said the front desk. Your departure is scheduled in three hours. Hurry on down. There went our luxurious experience at the Manila Hotel. Onwards and upwards….to Tokyo Japan. “I’m turning Japanese you know I’m turning Japanese I really think so” … Do you remember that song? This was our song for the next few days as we travelled around Tokyo and learned a bit about this city.