2009 April 11 El Pinoy, Anilao, Batangas
Finally went diving again after a long dry spell. I had no planned activities for the Holy Week so I invited Vinz for a dive and off we– Vinz, his girlfriend, Michelle and I– went. We went to this resort owned by Mike, a friend of Vinz’s girlfriend. It was a small, non-commercialized dive resort. We were joined by Mike’s wife and his in-laws so we had to take two boats to some sites near Dive and Trek where we dived while the ladies stayed on the boats. The dives were nothing spectacular but it was just good to be underwater again. Maybe I’m not ready to swap my dive gear for a surfboard just yet.
2007 December 28 Aquaventure Reef Club, Anilao, Batangas
Went to Anilao with Billie for her annual dive. We got there quite early and had to wait for the divemaster to finish breakfast. When he arrived, it turned out to be Jake, the same divemaster from my previous dive. He asked us where we want to dive and we chose to dive Sombrero and Twin Rocks because he said he saw turtles there on his last dive.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see any turtles. But we did see some dolphins from afar on the way to Sombrero, an octopus (under a rock), a ray (my first sighting of one out in the open), a school of jacks, a school of juvenile barracudas, and of course the clouds of tiny colorful fishes. The last is always a very pretty sight. Who needs an aquarium when the sea is your aquarium, right?
Oh and I didn’t get majorly lost during the drive to and from Aquaventure. And no relying on my GPS unit at that. Just a good old map that I printed from the web. Or maybe it’s just that my co-driver/navigator has improved :))
2007 October 28 Aquaventure Reef Club, Anilao, Batangas
dived with win and din
wanted to wine and dine
but there was no time
so maybe next time
still with win and din.
Forgive my attempt at a limerick :P
Erwin wanted to do a refresher dive at Anilao as a prelude to his trip to Bohol. So he, his friend Claudine, and I went to favorite dive destination Anilao. We were operating under a time constraint since he had to fly at 11:45 the next day. He didn’t want to pop and fizzle like a freshly opened can of soda so he wanted as much no-fly time as possible. We therefore planned for a quick morning dive.
We were supposed to leave for Anilao by 4 but I got lazy and thought it was too early so I moved it to 4:30. And then Erwin misplaced something (again :P) so we ended up leaving around 5. Talk about always leaving some buffer time. Still, we got to favorite dive resort Aquaventure Reef Club early enough at around 8:30.
After registrations and gearing up, we started diving around 10. The sky was gray and it was drizzling. We dived at Beatrice and Caban. The current was strong and the viz was not good at both. But we still saw the usual clouds of fishes and even two puffers. I haven’t dived since April so that was already great!
We were back in the resort by around 1 where we ungeared and had the usual lunch buffet. It didn’t disappoint: All the food you can eat in an attempt to make up for quality with quantity :P I don’t really eat that much but I know from experience that the ala carte items are expensive and take way too long to serve. Nor do they taste any better.
After settling our bill and packing, we left the resort around 3. On the way to Anilao, we had noticed the extremely long line of northbound vehicles on the South Expressway so I decided to take the supposedly scenic alternate route through Tagaytay on the way back. Unfortunately, the view was shrouded by fog. And worse, we ended up stuck in traffic at Tagaytay anyway.
When I finally got home, I felt tired but glad for a great drive and dive day. Here’s hoping for another one!
Gerber EZ-Out
This is in memory of my Gerber EZ-Out which I lost somewhere not so long ago.
The EZ-Out is a lockback folder with a modified clip point blade that is partially serrated. A non-serrated version was available but I chose the serrated version for the flexibility. The blade has a thumb hole for rapid opening with either hand.
Its handle is Zytel plastic with Kraton rubber inserts to provide better grip. The handle is pretty durable. The Kraton inserts disintegrated over the years and I had to remove them for aesthetic reasons. But the Zytel was still going strong.
Finally, it has a strong clip so it can be secured to your pocket. Unfortunately, it can’t be switched to the other side so if you prefer it on another side, you’ll have to compromise.
The total package is small, light, and handy. You can carry it everywhere. Which is what I did. I carried it at work, at play, to hills, the occasional mountain, caves, swims, and even dives. And through all these it often came in useful: cutting cardboard, rope, vines, wood, preparing food, even for prying. Even when it was not needed, it always gave me comfort that it was there ready for use.
I’m going to miss it.
Rating: 5/5