Welcome the first full days diving at Anilao – the start to which was somewhat sub par as the routine camera prep failed at the first hurdle when the camera displayed the type of message that you never want to see – a bit like that one on your car when the engine stops and the display says ‘critical error – return card to dealer immediately’. As you can imagine, this caused much spitting of dummies and many toffee apples were thrown in the corner – breakfast was not the usual joyful experience, especially for those around me. Apologies to all.
There was no option to accept the fact, that was it for me and photography, much upset.
After breakfast Barry sneaks off to try and resurrect things but the situation does not improve. Some googling reveals that others have endured this calamity and found it to be related to dampness in the flash attachment area. I blow a prodigious quantity of dry air into the offending area – et voila – it works!
I elect to leave the whole setup in our room to suffer the abuse of the air conditioning and all the dryness that can conjure. Time to go diving.
We get ready and head off to the boat, a trip of some 20 metres or so, during which we learn that we are headed off to ‘Gasang’ – a wilderness of sand and nothingness 🙁
As we head off in that direction we approach one of our favourite sites ‘Red Rock’ and I note that Saldy (crew) was up the sharp end preparing the forward anchor.
Technical interlude: When anchoring in sand, the rear ‘fishermans’ anchor is used, when anchoring in a reef or rocks, the forward anchor (a cunning device assembled from re-bar, a rock and some string) is used.
Accordingly I deduce that we might just be anchoring at ‘Red Rock’ – and I was right – well, that’s mighty fine by me and we have an excellent dive at Red Rock (albeit me without a camera). Fear not – I spent my time seeking out targets for Jo’s lens!
Back on board we learn that the adjacent boat (which had previously offloaded a bunch of first time divers for our entertainment) was in fact carrying a mixture of Russian and Ukrainians – that sounds like a bunch of fun!
We head off to the next site for teas and coffees etc – it turns out to be ‘Gasang’ – joy – not!
We arrive, have our drinks and biscuits and after the required service interval, we drop in.
… and – not 5 minutes into the dive, I brush the back of my left hand (which was not holding a camera) across the back of the aptly named Fire Urchin. Imaging someone driving 1000 white hot needles into your hand – like that – but not as much fun.
It might be that no-one can hear you scream in space – rest assured – underwater, sound travels well! So I spend the next 5 minutes clutching my hand and generally complaining about the situation. Eventually it dies down, much to the delight of all those around.
After that, the dive actually turns up loads including nudis, ornate ghost pipe fish of varying colour, robust pipe fish, shrimp, octopus and an interesting clam like thing that is out feeding.
Whilst thinking about how good the dive had actually turned out and that absolutely nothing else could go wrong, my podger (steel bar) just snapped in two whilst anchoring me in the sand – surely – that cant happen can it? Well, it did and I was left with 5″ of stub!
Back at base, podger is replaced – spag bol for lunch, the mood is improving.
After lunch, a quick check and camera operation appears to have resumed so, armed with new podger and functional camera, we head out for the first dive of the afternoon over at Apolls Point. This is a lovely site with lots of absolutely everything to see and once again, it failed to disappoint. Lots to see including many nudies (including some new ones) and other interesting critters. This dive ends in an area of coral pinnacles, each festoon with the brightest coloured featherstars that you ever did see, awesome.
Back on board we head back to base for the surface interval and second dive of the afternoon, this ends up being at Heidy’s Point. A muck dive in a sandy area though there was stuff to be seen.
Back at base it’s time for dinner. From the menu tonight we have:
Tuna Sisig, Fried Rice, Fried Lumpia and Vegetables in coconut milk. All very nice indeed. From the bar we had Amaretto Sour, Red Horse and a Negroni.