An Abso-freaking-lutely Fabulous Dive Trip in Cebu

Last Friday, November 30, was a national holiday, so the past weekend was another long one for Filipinos. Rocio had informed Gines and I months ago that there was a dive trip to Cebu scheduled for this period, so we signed up quickly. We decided that come hell or high water, we were going.

As it turned out, the trip started out with a lot of stress. A last-minute curfew imposed by President Arroyo because of a failed coup attempt threw a monkey wrench into our plans. We ended up having to go to the airport much earlier, and we waited hours for our flight sitting or lying on the cold and rather dirty airport floor.

Anyway, all those negative vibes were shoved aside when we got to Cebu. The weather was perfect, the resort was comfortable (though they had atrociously expensive food), and the company was excellent.

It was a different diving experience for me. I had so much fun going deep at Cabilao Island, where we saw a school of barracudas. The walls of coral were simply majestic. It was very quiet and peaceful at those depths as well, and I felt then more than ever, how diving can be an experience bordering on the spiritual.

Me gaping in awe at the school of barracudas

On the boat ride back to the resort, we had a brief stopover at a sandbar which we christened "Happy Island". It was a really small place, but the white sand and clear waters had us all jumping about and gamboling like children.

Rocio, Gines, and I on Happy Island

Best attempt at doing a group jump on Happy Island

I seem to be at a loss for words in trying to describe what made that trip so special to me. I do have snapshots in my head of what happened there, a slideshow that I play when I try to remember what happened in Cebu. Tom leading our four-minute descent into the deep, Gines downing four tequila shots at a time, Rocio doing jumping poses on Happy Island, Greg digging into the bottomless "talaba", Travis striding into the water with twin tanks, the wall that seemed to stretch endlessly into the bottom of the sea.

I flew home to Manila more exhausted than I'd been in recent memory. I hardly had any sleep in those four days. But I realized there would be time to sleep and rest in Manila, so I lived those four days to the fullest. I stayed in the water for as long as I was allowed, I stayed awake as long as my body could endure, and I spent as much time with my friends as I possibly could.

Last weekend will undoubtedly be top-ranked among my happy thoughts.