havecarryonwilltravel

May 01

I think I can mention this without jinxing it. We have been diving for four days now with 20 divers and 22 staff. They all seem to be quite easy to get along with. After the last couple of boat experiences we were worried. One of the deck hand guys has done up the zipper on the back of my wetsuit about ½ the time. The guests are from all over the world. Three from Shanghai, China, two ladies from Germany, a couple from the U.S., two guys from Belgium, a Vietnamese lady living in Singapore, one local fellow from Manila, a couple from Chile living in Panama, another couple from Singapore, three French Canadians and us. Almost everyone interacts and switches up seats at meals so we all get to know each other. Meal time is always fun.

The current today was behaving and the dive are much more manageable. We still glance out into the blue but we don’t spend a lot of time hanging in the water flying along with the current looking for the ever-elusive hammerheads or whale sharks. We spent time scouring the wall and traversing the flatter parts of the reef keeping our eyes peeled for some of the animals more familiar to us. As I mentioned before the coral is in extremely good shape and there are a ton of fish, mostly in ones and twos but there are some very large schools.

Debbie writes:

Murray mentioned the past boat experiences and I was feeling the same way. After our last liveaboard, I was not sure I ever wanted to go on a liveaboard again. This liveaboard, boat, crew and guests, has restored my faith in liveaboards.

May 02

Last day to dive Tabbataha. People leave tomorrow and some have early flights so in order that they get 24 hours of non dive time in we are up at 5.30am and diving at 6.15am. Roll back into the water and it is the first cold water we have got into right off the boat. It warms up as we dive but the early morning shock wakes us.

The goal is to go deep and see what is out there. Today is the day we are all short a bit of air and that does not coincide with deep diving. We use more air at depth. We motor along at about 60ft and then the dive master heads out into the blue to see if it is worth a trip to the deep. Nope. A school of jackfish is all he can see so we stay higher. More of a reef dive. There were a lot of sharks enroute but mostly small ones, less than a meter. I did find an octopus which is always ego boosting. I don’t find many. He was tucked in a hole and keeping an eye on us as we passed. Considering they were the one animal I was afraid of when I first started diving, I now find then super interesting and fun to watch.

The last dive of the trip the current was again very mild. We spent ½ the dive swimming into it. A lot of work after floating with the current for so many days.

Overall Impressions

The Solitude One is a great boat. It is a converted ocean going Japanese built ship and it is so stable. Even in moderately rough seas I didn’t even feel the rocking. It is laid out for divers. There is a big camera room, a lounge, dining area and a sun deck. The dive deck has ample room to get dressed and ready to dive and loading onto the pangas is easy. The cabins are small but definitely big enough to accommodate all of a divers’ needs. There is even a small desk to type the blog post on.

The crew was completely accommodating. They were there to help and help they did. Food was good. They say the people make the country and these folks made the boat. The guests were all great. To a person they were nice. They were all willing to chat and tell stories of where they had been and where they had dove. This liveaboard with crew and guests restored my faith in dive boats.

The diving was good but, in my view, unot spectacular. There was the opportunity to see some pelagics, big stuff, manta rays, whale sharks, hammerheads, but nature does what nature does and we didn’t see any. Considering the amount of time we spent looking we had a good chance if anything had been there to see but nope. The reef is in very good shape and there are tons of fish. With the strong current on most of the dives we could not stop and enjoy a lot of it. The movie went by and we had to be satisfied with that. Still fun though. I am not sure this would be one of the places I would come back to but not disappointed we came.

Debbie writes:

My overall impressions agree with Murray’s on the boat, crew and guests. I do disagree slightly with the diving. Although, maybe not spectacular, the diving was pretty darn great. Yeah, there was current. We didn’t see a lot of small stuff, which we like, but sometimes diving is like that. During many of the dives, I just marveled at the health of the reef, the large schools of fish and enjoyed being in the moment with the reef.

April 29

More diving at the north atoll. There are many, many boats plying the Tabbataha area. We were told 14 this week. So even though I‘m pretty sure the boats coordinate where each is going to be each day, we share the dive sites with other boats. Occasionally we pass one of our groups and every once in a while we come across a different boat’s group.

The four dives today had varying current conditions. One dive was medium to strong current. We could not stop to see anything and the last few minutes of the dive were a magic carpet ride. One dive was mostly docile. We flited around from place to place and if we wanted to stop and take a picture or just observe something it was possible. The last dive had a bit of everything. We don’t spend much time kicking into the current but there was one spot on the last dive I could not make any progress. I probably could have if completely necessary but I am not going to kill myself just to swim up current when we can turn around and go with it. The dive master wasn’t making any headway either so we were soon headed in the reverse direction.

On the second dive we headed out into the blue and tried to spot a hammerhead or two. No luck. We did see a lot of sharks. Mostly white tip, some black tip and I think a couple of grey reef sharks. I finally started to be able to ‘see’ things again. Up till now I have been blinded by the abundance of visual stimulation. Today I found two nudi’s. Funny I think this environment should have many nudi’s but between the five of us in our dive group we have only found a few.

The water is really warm. I have not felt cold for more than a minute on any dive. There are many thermoclines. Not horizontal layers but warm and cold up and down wellings of colder and warmer water. We pass through them but in the end my computer figures out the average temperature and it has been around 85F.

The excitement of the day came on the first dive. 40 minutes into the dive M, the other lady diving with us, had an O ring on the swivel attached to the mount piece of her reg. blow. There were bubbles everywhere, her vision was completely obscured and she had no idea where she was in the water column. The dive master was quick, grabbed her and held her down and managed to get his octopus to her. We aborted the dive. That was the first dive I have ever been on that was aborted because of an emergency. M wasn’t even really shaken by the whole thing. The other four of us were far more concerned than she was.

April 30

OK diving again today. Currents still and issue. The last dive, we only did 3 today, the current was so strong we couldn’t stop if we wanted to. I think we should have just aborted the dive. I should have taken it for what is was and enjoyed the magic carpet ride but I was just frustrated. We surfaced early. We had crossed two dive sites and were a long way from the mother ship. The pangas did not know where we were in the ocean and it took an extra long time for us to get picked up. The other dives were unspecial.

Debbie writes:

Yup, today’s currents were rocking. The first fast current was along the wall, so the trick is to stay close to the wall to go slower. But the problem is that we get sucked into the wall and knock the coral, which we try very hard not to destroy. The currents seemed to be coming from everywhere, up, down, left, right so it is very hard to control buoyancy. I thought it was just me but later heard everyone was having the same issues. The magic carpet ride was smoking and we ended up in the “washing machine”, where two currents collide and cause turbulence. The dive master didn’t keep us in there very long and we went to the blue to be picked up. Once of the surface, we were far from the mother ship with no pangas close, so we floated patiently, trying to stay together in the choppy water, until we are spotted and the trusty pangas came to get us. It definitely is an exciting day.

April 27

First day on the boat. Pick up at 2.00 and on the boat by 2.30. Everybody on board. All seem quite nice. After the last two group experiences we were somewhat apprehensive. The crew is super helpful. Can’t make a step without someone stepping up to help. The boat itself is roomy. There are only 20 of a possible 24 on board so there is elbow room The dining area is set out with two long tables and with way more that 20 settings so people are spread out. Over time I think Debbie and I will move around enough to chat with everybody. We set sail for Tabbataha at 6.30pm.

Debbie writes:

Tabbataha Natural Park is about a 10 hour ride from Puerto Princesa cruising at 8 knots. We leave after the port authorities clear us to go, about 6:00 pm. The park is made up of the North and South Atolls and Jesse Beasley Reef. At high tide, it is all covered with water and at low tide, just a small portion shows above the water line. There is a ranger station there whose rangers patrol the area and take care of the reef.

April 28

Up at 6.30am. First breakfast upstairs. Briefing at 7.00 and then in the pangas. Dives are all set for 60 minutes. My first time underwater in a year and I seem to be fairly much at ease right away. The dive master gives the let’s go hand direction and we’re off. There is a mild current and all our dives are drift dives so no battling up stream. I like that and from what I gather so does everyone else. The water is very warm. Haven’t had a chance to check the numbers on the dive computer but I don’t even feel a thermocline as we descend. We drift over the coral, which covers almost every inch of the reef, hardly kick at all. The current lets us drift at a leisurely pace. We can see things and if we want to inspect something we reverse, kick into the current and at least hold our position. Debbie says it is a bit difficult to take photos but she still manages to get a few. There are many fish but only a few schools, mostly individuals today. I still haven’t got my naming chops yet so I am looking but not being able to know exactly what I am looking at.

We are all in groups of 5. Our group has the other two older people, Americans from Houston. And one fellow who was born in the Philippines, with Spanish origins, and now lives in Manila. All nice people and good divers. We don’t get in each others’ way at all and we can all stay down for the entire hour. All things looking good for a fantastic week of diving.

Debbie writes:

I had just been to Roatan diving and the reef there is almost totally covered with green algae. As I looked across the landscape it was green green green. Right from the beginning of the first dive in Tabbataha, I see great swathes of hard corals, all brown in colour (their true colour). Individual soft and hard corals are as big as a coffee table. Incredible that a reef is so healthy. And the fish, huge schools of fish of all colours. And some of the individual fish that are the size of serving platters, or larger. These reef inhabitants are a healthly lot. I am in awe.