Tag Archives: Scuba Diving

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Our Favourite Wildlife Experiences So Far… Part 2

Last week we began looking at our favourite wildlife experiences around the world, if you missed part one you can catch up by clicking here.

This week we round out our list with five more of our best experiences around the world.

6: Snorkelling with Whale Sharks, Tofo Mozambique

While we have been lucky to see them several times now, our first experience of the world’s largest fish really stands out. Their amazing markings and huge gapping mouths are stunning as they glide by almost in slow motion. Almost oblivious to your presence the grace with which they swim by looks out of place when compared to their size. When we were in Tofo the Beach Club had weekly seminars about whale sharks and manta rays, well worth sitting on if they still run.

The beautiful markings of the world's largest fish

The beautiful markings of the world’s largest fish

7: Chasing the Big 5 in South Africa

You can’t compile a great wildlife list without mentioning Africa and the Big 5. There are some great National Parks and reserves in South Africa to see Africa’s incredible wildlife. We loved Ado National Park for Elephants, we were almost trampled by a family when we couldn’t get our car started! Hluhluwe for Rhino spotting and you can’t miss out on Kruger. The best bit of advice we can give you is to sty in the parks overnight. We didn’t on a couple of occasions and really missed out, but when we did we had breakfast with elephants one morning and were woken by the roars of lions another!

One of the many elephants in the Kruger National Park

One of the many elephants in the Kruger National Park

8: Australia’s Unique Wildlife along The Great Ocean Road Victoria

It is easy for me to pass judgement and say how amazing Australia’s wildlife is but I still get excited when I see kangaroos or koalas in the wild. From our ‘home base’ in Australia (thank you Mum and Dad) we can see kangaroos from the balcony at happy hour or a short drive sees them grazing on the local golf course! Koalas in abundance live along the great ocean road and there are some fantastic reserves and shelters for native wildlife.

Kangaroos on the local golf course along the Great Ocean Road

Kangaroos on the local golf course along the Great Ocean Road

9: Orang-utans in Borneo
This is one of Natalie’s suggestions and unfortunately Borneo is still a place on my ‘to-go’ list.  Natalie said, “The famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Borneo is known across the World for their efforts with Orang-Utan rehabilitation.  This fantastic centre provides a base to rehabilitate injured or orphaned animals, before a staged approach to reintegrating them into the 43 sq KM reserve begins.  As you walk through the reserve you see the Orang-Utans staring back at you – equally as interested in you as you are them!!  It’s impossible to forget their bright orange coat and distinctive stare.  Such beautiful creatures who so deserve to be protected”.

Minding his business - a snoozing Orang-Utan at Sepilok (taken on a film camera)

Minding his own business – a snoozing Orang-Utan at Sepilok (taken on a film camera)

10: THE WISHLIST: Manta Rays

While we have been incredibly lucky with our travels to see so many amazing animals in their natural habitat there is one that has eluded us, the Manta Ray. Whether it has purely been wrong place at the wrong time or adverse weather conditions they remain at the top of our animal bucket list. Guess that’s the beautiful thing about travel, the more you see the more you want to see, and that list never seems to get any shorter!

– Dean

South Africa 610

Just remember to watch where you go!

Just remember to watch where you go!

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Overcoming Your Fears: Learning to Dive

When Natalie and I first met, she was already an accomplished diver, while I had had neither the opportunity to learn or had the inclination. This was quite a surprise for Natalie because on the surface this should have been something that appealed to me. It wasn’t until we had been together for about 18 months that I seriously thought about learning to dive.

I was in Central America on my annual enforced hiatus from Europe to stay within visa regulations when I had the idea. “When I get to Mexico I am going to learn to dive,” I told Natalie over Skype one day. “Seriously?” was the response on the other end, “that’s awesome”. After promising I would take the plunge so to speak there, was no getting out of it. So upon arriving in Playa Del Carmen I searched around until I decided Phocea Mexico was the dive company to help open up this whole new World to me.

When most people think of learning to dive some of the common fears and concerns are things such as breathing underwater, or encountering rather large and somewhat hungry marine life. My fears were a little more personal. Having worn glasses or contact lenses since I was 18 my biggest fear was what would happen if I lost my mask, and the possibility of my contacts washing away. This had always played on my mind and reared its ugly head again when I first learnt to dive.

I found Nemo!

I found Nemo!

The PADI course was a great mixture of theory and practice, slowly building up your confidence and skill sets in between experiencing the wonders of life underwater. Initially we went through the basics in a large swimming pool, something that I hated. Every time we went under the surface I was engulfed in a sense of claustrophobia, doubts spinning around my mind that this was not natural or ‘normal’. Amazingly on our first dive in the open water I was totally at ease. There was no feeling of claustrophobia, no uncertainty just a feeling of peace and being at ease. The tests and procedures continued and I never did feel comfortable removing my mask and that fear of being nearly blind underwater was ever persistent in the back of my mind.
Completing my Open Water certification was an amazing feeling, I had overcome my doubts but more importantly a new world of travel experiences had opened up for me, and ones both Natalie and I could now share together. As with any new skill you master there is one very important factor in ensuring those new skills ‘stick’, and that is practice. Sadly after learning, Natalie and I had little to no opportunity to go diving. With wedding planning and numerous visas eating into our time, diving slid off into the background of priorities. Just over two years after learning we were able to spend a few days at the end of our honeymoon diving together for the first time. As we kitted up, the procedures and training I had received in Mexico quickly came flooding back and my excitement levels rose.

Most importantly for me during that two-year gap I had received laser eye surgery and no longer needed contact lenses or glasses, a huge boost to my diving ‘career’ and my confidence! The one thing that had made me nervous before every dive was now non-existent so there really was nothing to hold me back.

As we planned our recent adventure we had decided it would be a great way to finish with a relaxed, almost mini holiday / honeymoon in the Philippines, and the basis of this trip was to do some quality diving together. The nerves and apprehension that had once been there was now replaced with excitement. To refresh my skills and improve my diving I completed my Advanced Open Water Certificate. My confidence and ability underwater soared over the two weeks in the Philippines and I was slowly catching Natalie in air consumption (or lack of!) and buoyancy control.

Practice makes perfect

Practice makes perfect

As the saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect’, and it was so true with my diving. Control, manoeuvrability, buoyancy and breathing all became second nature down there and rather than constantly worrying about what I was doing I was now able to enjoy my surroundings.

Learning to dive really does open up a whole new world. From stunningly colourful coral to the intricately decorated tropical fish to schools of sardines that swim around in enormous schools as if controlled by some sort of collective consciousness, you certainly get a greater appreciation for just how amazing nature really is. The silence of life underwater is probably the most notable difference from life above the surface. For the most part all you hear is your breathing and the bubbles escaping your regulator. Over the last two weeks of our trip I was lucky enough to dive with turtles, hundreds of variety of fish and even see my first sharks!

Looking like a pro!

Looking like a pro!

The beautiful thing about travelling is you are constantly challenged and given the opportunity to overcome your fears. Whether it is bungee jumping, skydiving, mountain climbing, or in my case learning to dive, the opportunities are almost always there when you travel. However, if you do challenge yourself and do something you would never have dreamt of back home, you may just discover a new hobby or new passion that will enhance future travels. That is what happened to me, I love diving and cannot wait until our next underwater adventures.

 

– Dean

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Chapter 13: It’s More Fun in the Philippines….

… Say the marketing slogans.  They are not wrong!

You can see why they say 'it is more fun in the Philippines'!

You can see why they say ‘it is more fun in the Philippines’!

Rewind to November last year, and we watched in horror as the atrocities of Typhoon Yolanda swept through, taking with it the livelihoods of thousands of Filipinos and the lives of well over 6000 people.  Several people asked us if we were still going ahead with our plans to visit, but there was no stopping us.  The devastation of such natural disasters continues long after the event itself and without tourists how could they afford to rebuild?  There was never any question; wild horses would not stop us going.

Now firstly I should say that the Philippines were originally my baby.  Having been on a few cruises (very different to backpacking I know!) with my parents I had over the years come across many many Filipino ship staff, and for a long time I have wanted to visit the country.  Not only because I had heard how beautiful it was, but just so I could look them in the eyes and say I had been to their beautiful country.  From the early stages of our planning, the Philippines was to be the ideal destination to end our travels and to be our second honeymoon (two weddings, two honeymoons sound fair don’t you think?!).

Lazy days

Lazy days

So we set off, and landed in Cebu, with little planned out and in need of some R&R.  We initially spent a couple of nights at Kon Tiki divers (!) on Mactan Island, which enabled us to dust off the regulators and get ourselves wet with our first diving.  These early dives were to be the first of about 16 dives that followed over the next two weeks and we loved every second of them!

 

The Smart Way Round under water!

The Smart Way Round under water!

We had heard about the huge shoals of sardines that swam off the coast of Cebu in Moalboal, so after our initial dives we headed over to the other side of Cebu Island.  We found a lovely dive resort called Quo Vadis and felt very at home.  Whilst there was little beach area the sunsets were incredible and we found ourselves easily settling into the diving, snoozing, rum at sunset drinking routine!  We liked it so much that Dean decided it was time to up his skills and attempt to catch me up!  He signed on to do his ‘Advanced Open Water’ PADI course.  Even though I am a ‘Rescue Diver’ level, it really meant there was not too much between us in terms of the depths we could go to.  He also decided to qualify in diving with Nitrox (Oxygen enriched air) so we could use that together.  I won’t go into the benefits of using it, but its good stuff!  So for me these few days were very relaxing, but for Dean they involved a lot more study!

Selfie with the Sardines

Selfie with the Sardines

The diving here was instantly great.  Even the house reef out of the front of the resort was like jumping into my Father’s fish tank and every dive was a joy.  The sardines well and truly came out to play and at one point I could barely see up, down, left or right as I found myself in the middle of them.  Quite spectacular.  We saw plenty of special things.  Turtles galore, but my favourite was a tiny blue ringed octopus that I managed to spot on a night dive.  Quite a sight and pure fluke on my part!

Just like a fish tank!

Just like a fish tank!

 

A beautiful spot

A beautiful spot

All too soon it was time to move on and we headed over to Donsol a sleepy fishing village on another Island.  It was a bit hair raising getting there.  With the knock-on effect of a typhoon approaching (fortunately not one as bad as Yolanda) the rain was out to play and it took us three attempts for the pilot to land the plane.  I’ll not lie – I was getting a bit scared by the end when we kept doing the emergency ascent!

Things in Donsol didn’t quite go to plan.  The weather meant it was too rough to get out to the dive site we had hoped to dive.  However we managed to have a fun few days as we went out to spot Whale sharks.  This was a fun experience as we were with a couple of really cool people from our hotel.  We sat around on the boat convinced that we wouldn’t see anything when all of a sudden we got the call to ‘prepare’.  This involved sitting on the side of Bangka (‘catamaran’) and throwing ourselves into the water when the Whale Shark was near.  The ones were saw were up to 8m in size, and were truly spectacular.  We had seen them once before in Mozambique but these gentle giants are always special and it’s a true privilege to snorkel with them.  There is also more of a theme park style experienced with these gentle giants somewhere else in the Philippines where they bait them.  We do not agree with this at all and we were so pleased we had waited to see them in Donsol in their natural habit.  Very special.

 

One of the majestic Whale Sharks

One of the majestic Whale Sharks

We also managed to get out to a local waterfall.  The journey there was very eventful, as we had to abandon our tricycle, and walk some of the way through local villages.  It was really interesting to see the simple way of life that exists within the village communities.  By the time we got to the waterfall we really had earned our swim!  To avoid some of the walk back we took a local Bangka (boat) back to our abandoned tricycle.  The only problem was the tricycle was so caked in mud it took some convincing to get going!  In the Philippines ‘road rehabilitation’ (road works) don’t mean don’t drive on the road.  It simply means the going is a bit tough!  Today was a fine example of that as the road was being built and with all the flooding was one big mud bath.  I gave up with my shoes in the end and simply walked through the ‘road’ bare foot.  I felt so sorry for the driver. My muddy feet were nothing compared to the amount of mud he was wearing!  With lots of coaxing, eventually the trike made it and we were on our way!   With the added adventure thrown in this had been a great day.

Bogged!

Bogged!

The lack of diving ending up being good as it forced us to do something different.  We then took a bus back into Legazpi and went out on ATV (quad) bikes to see the Mt Mayon active volcano.  We rode our bikes up and you could see the lava flows from the last major eruption less than ten years ago.  Whilst we saw some of the volcano unfortunately we were not so lucky to see the top of it on the day we were there.  Like a lot of days it was hidden rather mystically in cloud, but we still had an amazing time.  We returned in time to do a rather unusual activity – fire fly watching!  We boarded a boat and headed out to see these fascinating flies.  As part of their mating rituals their bums light up into what can only be described as a spectacular display.  They were gathered in trees along the banks of the river and they just looked like a fibre-optic Christmas trees.  We were surprised at how much we loved them!  When one landed up my arm I was enthralled with it.  They were amazing!

Making our way up to the volcano

Making our way up to the volcano

Now for the last part of our trip we had planned to slowly make our way back up to Manila, but that was before we heard about the majestic Thresher Sharks.  This species of sharks tend to be deep dwellers, in waters up to 500m.  We had heard that divers could see them in the waters off the Island of Malapascua.  This was the only place in the World where they come shallow enough to dive with them.  A simple google search revealed an image that we wanted to see.  That was it.  We changed our plans and set off on a mammoth travel day full of cancelled flights, missed flights, delayed planes, stressful encounters…. But it was all worth it.  14 hours later we arrived on our small part of paradise.  Malapascua Island, one of nature’s hidden secrets.

 

Dawn on a dive boat - does life get any better?

Dawn on a dive boat – does life get any better?

Now it’s worth saying that whilst the waters were not the clearest, we saw some of the most interesting creatures of my whole diving career.  Evolution dive centre had been recommended to us, and their dive guides Alex and Gino were simply outstanding.  These local dive guides not only had a responsible head on their shoulders but they had incredible eyes.  They spotted things from the tiniest Orang Utan crab (which in reality looked a bit like algae!) to bamboo sharks, wacky frog fish and exotic Nudi Branches.

With Alex and Gino

With Gino and Alex

The variety of fish and were simply amazing, but the highlight definitely were the Thresher Sharks.  We dived to ‘their’ dive site twice, and were not disappointed both days.  For me the most special moment was when I was watching an Eagle Ray get a bit flustered, all of a sudden I looked up and saw a big Thresher lazily swimming past!  They grow up to about 3m in size and have this most incredible tail fin.  Their big eyes are a real feature of the species and they look almost surprised to see you!  I have said it before, but I will say it again.  This was a sight that we felt very honoured to experience and was just a fantastic end.

Thresher Sharks

Thresher Sharks

 

On our dive boat

On our dive boat

All too soon our diving adventure was over and we were preparing to pack all of our belongings.  Whilst we didn’t want to come home, it was getting a little tiring carrying too much stuff (we still had all our cold weather -25 degree gear as well as a newly acquired wooden shark names ‘Clark’!).

 

What a trip, what an end!

What a trip, what an end!

As we boarded our 14 hour flight from Manila reality hit.  We were heading back to where it all began and it was very sad.  The journey had been an immense one, where we felt like we had achieved so much.  Not only that but we have had a lot of fun, have lots of memories and lots of stories to tell.  One thing was for sure though.  This was not a goodbye for the Philippines, simply a ‘see you later – we’ll be back’.  Next time diving the wrecks in Palawan awaits…..

–           Natalie