December (almost January): Diving Anilao, Batangas

(Planning a Vacation? Come to the Philippines! Feel free to get in touch if you need help planning your trip!!)

(Disclaimer: photos were taken from previous trips. We only took videos the last time out)

Karen and I held off any trips outside the Philippines until after we got married. Though the idea seems restrictive on first thought, I am glad we did it. Now we have so much traveling to look forward to!

We have resolved to try to travel at least once a month this year, whether within or outside the Philippines. Nothing extravagant, mostly on long weekends or by taking 1 or 2 vacation leaves from work at a time. This trip counts as our trip for January!

Our good friend Nicco, and his girlfriend Erica, took us to their family’s dive resort in Anilao, Batangas last December. Although I’ve tried diving a couple of times before, this was the first time I really enjoyed it. And that is mostly because I got comfortable under water, and was able to control my movements and buoyancy well enough.

I used to think that going underwater was a completely quiet, peaceful affair. I discovered on my first few tries, though, that may not always be the case. Breathing through the regulator gives you the feeling that Darth Vader’s just behind you, with all the pronounced inhaling and exhaling sounds you make. The pressure of controlling your buoyancy to hover just at the right depth can also be stressful for beginners, who often find themselves hitting rocks and corals, or floating involuntarily. There’s also the issue of purging your mask of water while under water. It can be disconcerting for beginners to have to lift their mask off their face to expel water.

I tuned all those out last time, for some reason. I was able to move and float with considerably less effort. Expelling water from my mask and equalizing pressure came so naturally I didn’t even notice I was doing them. And then, I noticed how peaceful and relaxing being underwater can really be!

We fed fish soggy bread while underwater; they literally swarmed around us. So much so that we only discovered from videos later on that we were actually surrounded by trigger fish the entire time! Trigger fish are known to be aggressive during their breeding period, nipping at divers to leave nasty bites (through wetsuit!). Good thing December’s not breeding season, and the species we encountered were not the most aggressive.

(Five trigger fish in the frame)

Watch out for the trigger fish in this video. You can tell them apart because their dorsal and anal fins go the opposite direction compared to other species. 

We visited another site the next day, and were lucky to come upon a huge school of jack fish. They looked like they were stationary at first glance, but we quickly realized how strong the current in the area was. The fish were swimming against the current, probably feeding on smaller sea creatures riding the direction of the water. 

Here are a few other pictures from our previous trips, with Nicco, Erica, Vince, and Kirby: