Sunday, September 17, 2006
Um-Anilao!
Okay, so the whole diving experience was a bit overrated. I saw less than what I expected to see, probably because we only went 20 feet deep.
But there are a lot of reasons why my trip to Anilao for the International Coastal Clean-up was one of the best experiences I've ever had.
One, the sea is completely different from the 12-foot pool in Dive Rep. I drank a gallon of saltwater since our water entry was from the shore. The saltwater made my mouth dry and I found it quite hard to breathe through my regulator. My regulator--the link from your dear mouth to the oxygen tank--almost fell from my mouth since I was distracted when I attempted to check my depth gauge. Good thing I was able to bite it harder in time and finally purge the seawater that got in.
In the Scuba pool, negative buoyancy is forgivable. But not in open water. You have to be careful not to hit corals with your fins or you destroy them. So everytime I'd hit a coral and watch part of it break, I'd feel really guilty!
Two, Joy and I got lost! Although Joy and I did our best to keep close to each other during the entire dive, we lost our guide diver while taking pictures of the seabed! We ended up in that part of the part of the shore where the bancas were anchored so we had to battle the fierce waves to swim back to where we made our water entry.
Three, we had the funniest experiences during the Clean-up. Wading rocky shores for trash for almost the entire morning under the sun wasn't exactly my idea of a beach adventure but since we were actually there for the ICC, we had to do our part. Everyone had his or her share of peculiar objects found and we spent half of the time figuring out why those people dumped them into the sea. So much for "Siguro may nag-drugs" or "Ay, may inuman dito nu'n" hypotheses. And how could we forget about the quintessential diapers, urine bags, and the like? (Oh, and good guess, there was quite a number of condom comments!) Sorting trash has never been that fun.
Four, I actually received a special award--Ms. Body Beautiful! For some peculiar reason, I got awarded Ms. Body Beautiful. Clauds said it was because I was the only one parading in a bikini top (but hey, I dived wearing a shirt)! Walangya talaga o. The last time I received that award was when I joined Ms. Intrams back in first year high school and my body shape was utterly confusing.
Five, underwater pictures! Sir Dick and a couple of other divers took our pictures during the discovery dive. I just can't wait to see our pictures!
I got to bond with my Scuba classmates. There were only eight of us, with only me, Joy, and Clauds to represent the female portion of the class. And so we were left to the company of Jerome, Migs, Arnold, Emir (Mr. Pipo!), and Gary. We were all so noisy during the bus ride and, well, the whole trip itself! It's really amazing how easy the bonding becomes during field trips among classmates who never really talked to each other in class. At least we get to end the sem with new friends and fun, fun memories shared. Emir is so lovable since he's so bibo. Jerome and Migs were really funny with their hirits. Gary saved our impromptu class participation, while Arnold was also so daldal. Our team even won in the charades game! Too bad Mia and Mico weren't able to come! :(
I was part of the best threesome ever... with Joy and Clauds. The three of us were together the whole time (and sometimes with Mr. Pipo too) and we totally bonded over kampihan while teasing one of us, talking about other people who weren't there (ehem, ehem!), talking about our Khwekhie family, etc. We even have our Friendship Shells to prove how much the three of us have shared! ;)
I wasn't able to get the perfect tan, my hair's never been this dry, and I wasn't able to find Nemo--but yesterday was definitely one of my best beach memories ever. Cheers to this natural high!
