When I told my parents I was planning on getting my scuba certification in the Philippines they were surprised because they said they’ve never heard me say it before, while that may be the case, for me, it was always something I planned to do at some point. Originally my vacation plan was to go to South Africa for a month and see my friends who used to live in Korea, but I have a week and a half of school starting February 3rd called “graduation week.” It’s pointless and illogical, the school year ends in December and starts in March, why does it exist then instead of at the end of December? My Principal wouldn’t let me go, the head of education of my province spoke to her and said something along the lines of it’s not a problem, he is allowed to miss that week, but ultimately the decision came down to her. Since I was not allowed to go to South Africa, I planned to go to the Philippines and it wasn’t until doing some research that I came across Coron and how it’s considered one of the best places in the world for wreck diving. It was then, that I decided I was going to get my scuba certification there.
Coron is located in the Palawan province on the island of Busuanga. During WWII it served as a safe haven for Japanese ships; on September 24th 1944 a group of 96 Hellcat fighters sunk many ships leaving around 11-13 as possible dive sites today. There are a ton of dive shops in Coron and choosing one seemed like a daunting task, thankfully TripAdvisor exists. I decided on a place called Reggae Dive Shop, I wasn’t a huge fan of the name, but it has 5 stars and 671 reviews, the most out of any other dive shop there.
I decided to do the e-book learning beforehand because I had a lot of free time at school. There were five chapters to go through and it took me about two weeks to complete it; I’m sure I could have done it in less time, but there was no rush. The course went through everything you need to know for scuba diving like, learning about the equipment, underwater skills, problem management and other useful stuff. It was fun learning something new, but it also made me pretty nervous because there was a lot of information and it made scuba diving seem really complicated. It wasn’t, a lot of it makes sense once you’re actually practicing it in the water with the instructor. Also, I was nervous because I got a cold before leaving and you shouldn’t scuba dive while sick.
Joining me on my open water scuba adventure was a Canadian named Adam; he had done some scuba diving before, but had never gotten certified and our Filipina instructor Jessie.
The first Day
I went to the docks where I was told to meet at 8am, I later spotted Adam (the first time I met him) standing by the Reggae Dive Center tricycle and since we had some time to kill, we took a scootered over to the market. When we got back they loaded us on to our boat and we were introduced to Jessie. On the hour boat ride to the first dive spot Jessie was reviewing the equipment with us and showing us how to assemble it. It wasn’t until I was fully suited and ready to jump in that I started to get a little nervous, this was it, I got to the edge of the boat with my fins and face mask on, the regulator in my mouth and took a long stride into the water; like a full water bottle you toss into a pool, I went fully under and then popped back up, Jessie reminded me to inflate my buoyancy device and there I was floating in full scuba gear breathing through my regulator and following her to the shallows.
As we arrived I remember being amazed at the clearness of the water and at seeing beautiful black and white stripped fish swimming around us, I can visualize that moment as I write this. Adam didn’t join us because he had done this in Canada beforehand so it was just me. I don’t remember everything we practiced, but it was basic skills like breathing underwater with your regulator, deflating and inflating the buoyancy device, clearing a partial filled mask, swimming without your mask and other things that are supposed to prepare you to be a certified open water scuba diver.
After successfully practicing them, we joined Adam and the others on the boat for lunch. When that was done we suited up and went back in to do our first dive, but we we weren’t allowed to go past 9m (27 ft) even though our certification is for 18m. (60 ft). For that first dive I couldn’t tell you what I saw, I was hyper-focused on my breathing and not stopping it that I barely noticed anything around me. It was hard to relax and my breathes were coming in as if I was trying to suck air through a straw; huge fast intakes that left me floating toward the surface away from Jessie and then long deep exhales to slowly descend back down.
The next dive was at a different location and it was the first wreck I’ve ever seen. This time I was able to relax and enjoy the dive. I made a mental note to actually observe what was around me and it was amazing, it was like being an observer in an underwater museum; a safari of aquatic animals. You get to observe fish and creatures in their natural habitat living their life how they live it. One thing I didn’t anticipate was the cold, I get cold quickly when I’m in the water, but scuba diving we wore a wetsuit and the water was warm, at least on the surface, the deeper you go the colder it gets and I was cold after 15 minutes. Next time I’m using a thicker suit regardless of how warm the water at the top is. The day ended with us going back to the dive shop and learning how to clean and our equipment.
The second and last day
I woke up sooooo sore. My lower back from where the oxygen canister rested was delicate to touch; I also felt a little sick, but it went away as I awakened and walked to the meeting area, or so I thought. We went back to the first dive area the day before to finish practicing the skills, this time Adam joined us. On the way to the second dive spot, which was also the same as the day before I started to feel sick. The dive went well, we dove to our limit of 18m (60 ft) and I was able to fully enjoy the dive. When we got back on the boat for lunch, I couldn’t eat and I felt a lot worse than before. We still had one more dive and when we arrived there I really didn’t want to go back in, but it was a new wreck, a longer one of around 100m (300 ft), I couldn’t miss it and I felt better in the water than on the boat. The dive was incredible, we swam along the length of the ship, passing through, but not going in an area of it (wreck diving requires an advanced certification). Giant cauliflower coral covered the ship and schools of fish swam throughout it, little Nemo’s and multicolored neon parrotfish were abundant, the occasional pufferfish made an appearance and other fish whose names I don’t know flirted about. We stayed down there for 32 minutes and every second was like seeing something new for the first time. Unfortunately when we got back on the boat, reality and with it, my sickness returned.
I don’t know if it was sea sickness or a combination of that along with the pressure from scuba diving and how you breathe when scuba diving, but I am a bit nervous to go again. Each time after I got on a boat I took pills to combat it and I didn’t get sick again. Regardless, scuba diving was an incredible experience and something I hope to do more of in the future. Jessie the instructor was fantastic and put up with all the bad jokes Adam and I said, she was everything you could hope for in an instructor, patient, knowledgeable, calm and smiled and laughed.
