“Vertical Limits…”

By: Dr. Bob Whorton 2010

Moalboal is a relatively little-known diving location in central Philippines in the south west of Cebu Island. Like much of Philippines coastal areas it is embedded amid lush countryside with bright unspoilt beaches.

My visit was hosted by Seaquest’s ‘Sumsid Lodge’, which is built just off the beach at Panagsama and provides very easy access to some surprising diving opportunities just footsteps away. This cosy little set-up is just great as it’s not too far removed from that ‘live aboard’ kind of feel - Within minutes one feels right at home and relaxed, with the soothing sound of the sea lapping up the narrow beach.

Initiation
I love wall diving, but didn’t realise how much until I dropped backwards off the boat for that initiation dive at ‘White Beach’ The shallow fringing slope is covered with mainly hard corals, which leads to the drop off where the reef stops abruptly. The wall drops away to dark blue with layer after layer of sea fans, and an infinite collection of colourful sponges. I just don’t expect to find a harlequin ghost pipefish whilst ambling a long a wall, but there it was, a slender individual amid the branchlets of a small fan coral. Also a good variety of anemones parked along the many shelves; the colours and variety of symbiots was refreshing to say the least. A shark on the very first dive too - a large blacktip reef Shark!

Most of the time ‘House reefs’ can be pretty tame affairs with easy access from the adjacent beach, and provide initiation/check dives for those new to the area or relatively inexperienced. Several of the group had arrived a day before me; diving it already. They made a point of “Bigging” it up: its topography, its rarer critters and the fish traffic. Well, this has all of that check-dive simplicity until you swim out 30m to around 6m depth… It then plummets vertically to around 65m before sloping off into God-knows where! Witnessing it for myself a little later I realised just what the fuss was about “Woooooooooooow – That’s Vertical!” Then the usual moment of ‘back-to-the-wallness’ staring out into the deep-blue, just wondering what could be staring back at me… Whips, sponges and sea fans soften the abruptness of the cliff, and within seconds a member of the macro fraternity came into focus halfway along a sea whip: An orange & white xenocrab

Then, “brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” (scaring the crap out of me): A large school of Bonito swirled past followed by a dozen hungry Tuna…

Bonito have the ability to beat their pectoral fins hard against their bodies to produce this amazing noise (Not unlike the old lollipop stick in your bike spokes antic). Quite un-nerving – as it was evolved to be, and it certainly worked against the Tuna attack.

I purchased a bonito in ‘Morrison’s’ after I got back to show my kids how it worked.

Back to the business of investigating the wall revealed an incredible variety of life from the tiniest shrimp through a myriad of sea slugs to tiny juvenile boxfish, yellow puffers and a variety of brightly coloured frogfish.

This was however, not unique… Every site along this stretch of coast produces the same amount of “Rush” in one shape or another, even caverns.

There are at least a dozen similar sites along Panagsama but one that is “Unique” among them is the “Sunken Island” This underwater island raises up from the ocean depths to 23m in the middle of Tañon Strait. As the site can be difficult to locate quickly, dive shops used to take a local fisherman who could find it easily, but now rely more on GPS.

Descending from the surface down into the deep blue water you only have the decent line as a reference point until you see the top of the sea mound looming ahead of you at approximately 23m. Currents can be quite strong here so it is not a dive for the inexperienced. A lot of pelagic marine life passes by here including schools of tuna, barracuda, rays and whale shark have been seen here on numerous occasions too. For photographers Frog fish are always on the top of the island, with lion and scorpion fish in abundance. This is an amazing portal not to be missed!

Pescador Island - Sardine City!!!

Michael Aw recommended that I took a look at ‘Pescador’ (Fisherman) Island, just ten minutes south west of Panagsama. “There are a few thousand sardines residing there…”

Pescador was on the itinerary the following day, so we set up for wide angle and off we went… Pescador is a small round flat-topped affair with a small warning light structure in the middle. The local fishermen have made it a home from home with small structures of there own; providing respite from the sun and weather. We arrived to find the southern end of the island had a flotilla of small outriggers with one, two or three fishermen in each. Quite a social event as they all congregate not to catch the Sardines specifically, but the bigger stuff that prey upon them; and there was lots!

In we went… heading north and west away from the lines of fish hooks. The reef has a large flat rounded plateau in the south tapering to a long narrow reef in the north. Most striking is again the absolute abruptness of the reef edge, dropping vertically to blackness. The edges of the wall adorned with corals and sponges and a large amount of colourful fish species around it.

It’s not long before you sense you’re not quite alone… It went extremely dark! I turned to look and was confronted with the almost ‘unreal’ spectacle of not just a few thousand sardines, but literally MILLIONS of Sardines… Wave after wave after wave of pure hydro-dynamic art; it was just awesome! Predatory tuna and large jacks bounded in to pick off the unwary, and again the shapes adopted by the mass were highlighted by the strong sunshine. “Mesmerizing” It was quite difficult to concentrate on any of the other attributes around me. I did my best in the poor visibility to grab as many varied images of them as possible, but for sure; nothing could really capture actually being there, living those moments as organised chaos reigned supreme.

Settling down towards the end of the dive, there were still large outbreaks of sardines leaving the main swarm across the brightly lit shallows, periodically blanking out the sun and producing lightning-like flashes across the reef. I literally swam into a large blue frogfish atop a set of grey tube sponges. Quite unperturbed by my presence; keeping totally still, as not to give its position away to any passing meal potential.

This was to be the first of many exciting dives at Pescador, each turning up new mind-blowing visuals, but on the down side we were to witness first hand just exactly what a “shit-storm” really is! One subsequent dive was spent at the ‘Cathedral’ this is a vertical shaft in the reef wall with a number of openings from 18-38m. It certainly feels like diving a lift shaft and not too much to see inside unless you’re there at daybreak when it’s packed with fish.

Most of the group went on a night dive to Pescador too, and it turned up some amazing critters.

Since our visit in March 2010, friends informed me that a group of thresher sharks has joined the fraternity of predators, rounding up and dining on the sardines at relatively shallow depths and close into the reef wall.

“Just when I thought it couldn’t get better!!!”

Did I mention the hundreds of Dolphins?

Generally, twilight or night dives are done on the house reef, but believe me, this is no trade-off. The nightshift along the shallow expanse of sand is diverse and plentiful and only the anticipation of another tasty dinner draws you out…

Tanon Strait

The Tañon strait separates Cebu and Negros. Its peripheral provinces are Cebu, Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. The Strait has a total coastline of 452.7 km. and a total area of 3,108.00 square kms. It is relatively deep with the deepest at 509 meters. Its coast is sharply sloping and fringe with reefs. There are around 190 sq. km. of coral reef within the strait, composed mostly fringing reef along the Negros and Cebu coastlines.

The Strait is a distinct habitat of the chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius, local name taklong) and a migration route of Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus). It is frequented by at least nine species of cetaceans, the most interesting of which are the Dwarf sperm whales (Kogia simus) and Melonheaded whale (Peponocepala electra). Thus, the strait is one of the priority areas for conservation of cetaceans and reef fishes.

A special proclamation was penned by the then President Fidel Ramos in 1998, designating it a protected seascape. The whales and dolphin has become a tourist attraction in Eastern Negros, and the efforts of local n.g.o’s has seen the re-educating the over populated fishing fraternity to offer them a different income based on the popularity of reliable whale watching excursions for the growing eco tourism industry.

Getting to Moalboal couldn’t be easier as several International operators fly directly to Cebu City from Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific) or Singapore (Silk Air). Internal flights and ferries from Manila are regular too and quite keenly priced with Cebu Pacific and/or Philippines Airlines.

The transfer from the Airport or Port takes around 3 hrs in the relative comfort of an AC minibus, up and over the mountains. Almost the whole of the journey is through picturesque countryside and small towns in which to get helpings of a wide variety of food and beverage.

Meal plans can vary according to requirements and as an alternative to the excellent resort food there are BBQ’s and a really good Italian restaurant across the square. There are plenty of bars along the beach-parallel street to meet up and socialise, with a disco every weekend.

Value for money – It doesn’t get much better, and this is one place I’m heading back to for sure in May 2011 as part of a three-centre tour. Thankfully it won’t be an ‘El Nino’ year as this one is...

Philippines grants a 21-day visa on arrival at any international airport, such as Cebu or Manila