Sail Rock Diving (2) “it’s more fun in the Philippines”

This dive site has a lot of rave reviews and videos showing whale sharks, bull sharks and a host of other pelagic species. This site was the coveted gem in this dive trip and it actually fueled the adrenaline rush in our preparations.

One thing we wanted to forget was the fact that Sail Rock is located in the Gulf of Siam, which is actually the dumping basin for all the mighty rivers in the region. This will tell you that sediment from these rivers can make visibility in the sea unpredictable. Today may be clear but tomorrow could be murky. One dive site may be murky and another dive site 10 kilometers away - clear.

The photos will now do the talking :-P

we were in the dive boat early and it was still dark.

the excitement shows through the sleepy eyes

some divers checking the gear

While some try to get more sleep in the hour 

and half it took to get to Sail Rock

That's it... Sail Rock in the midst of nowhere.

from the boat we could already see that the water 

was greenish, which means poor visibility. we 
donned our gear and jump overboard and our fears 
were confirmed...1 meter visibility. it was quite 

disorienting and we even got separated, which 

means we had to ascend prematurely. 

we cut short the dive and the dive 

master decided to head to another site

hoping that the visibility was better.

Southwest Pinnacle proved to be much better

and this giant grouper and plump fusiliers

greeted us.

this cordia was so shy that i couldnt get

close enough for a good shot.

a great school of barracuda kept the water

at southwest pinnacle swirling. it was 

really awesome.

a closer shot

this grouper could have easily tipped the

scales at 30kg.

rabbit fish (danggit) 

hills and hills of grass-like anemone

teeming with fish. it reminded me of the

chocolate hills of Bohol.

some areas had good visibility as it got deeper.

taking a break between dives

preparing tanks for the next dive

the conditions for underwater photography 

weren't good this time.

Nikki showing how to operate

the dive computer.

crown of thorns... "touch me not!"

a hermit crab on top of some bleached coral
and a parrot fish (molmol) encircling above.

damsel and butterfly fish with some sponges

a pair of moorish idols

a beautiful nudibranch

another type of nudibranch

Nemo's first degree cousin

a juvenile grouper watching over a 

banded water snake.

Thanks Nikki for 2 great dives and an 

awesome cave dive at Red Rock.

lunch before boarding the catamaran for 

Chumphon and home.

these feathered friends feasted on our

leftovers.

Sail Rock was a disappointment to us, but our spirit's were not dampened. One day with God's grace we will return to conquer this dive site.

Some reasons why it's more fun in the Philippines is the clear water and gorgeous divers like this lady. She already completed all required dives and skills and only has to take the written exam for the Open Water Diver's course.

Sail Rock Diving (1)

This trip was planned in January (4 months before the actual date) and train and boat tickets were booked that early, because the dates we chose coincided with the Songkhran festivities when travel in Thailand is the heaviest.

The Lambda Sigma dive team had an additional diver and she wanted to do the Discover Scuba Diving course just to see for herself if being a fish was her type of fun.

The photos will tell the rest of the story.

we left Bangkok in the midst of a water fight. had to keep the taxi's windows closed or get soaked.

That's the Central Train station at Hua Lamphong.

we found our place on the sprawling floor and waited 

for boarding time.

That's our train bound for Nakhon Si Thammarat leaving at 19:30

Inside the sleeper train. 

the usual photo-ops.

Cris getting ready for bedtime. we had fresh 
blankets, sheets and pillow cases.

Nood's berth was above mine. the younger guy 
gets the top slot for obvious reasons.

this could have been the case if we didn't 
have sleeping berths

that's how it looks after everyone is tucked in 
for the long haul

third leg of the journey on the sea

on board this swift catamaran. the two islands are known as 

Nang Yuan where we did 2 dives the following day.

we were met at the Koh Tao pier by this guy holding 

a signboard with my name.

dive boat at Nang Yuan

Mary Cris and her dive instructor going through 

the DSD lessons

getting ready with her dive gear for the plunge.

 ready to go

 her first ever scuba jump in her life

 and she disappears in the foaming froth

 that night we did some catching up with 
delicious grilled stuff

 on the beach

before we retired to our beds dreaming about 
the dives come dawn of light

To be continued...

Three times a sister

I used to call her Até Ethel. We were born a year apart. She was double my size for 12 years of my life in the elementary grades and I never won a wrestling match against her.

She stood up for what she knew was right even if it meant being the only student in the entire school against the imposition of Martial Law. She did this when the police officers came to our school and gathered the school population in the auditorium to lecture to us about the Martial Law, which was proclaimed just about a month earlier. She didn't flinch when questioned in front of everybody.

I was very proud of her even while I feared that she would be shot by a firing squad. 

She is my sister by birth.

*****

I used to call her Eting or Ting. She finally stopped growing and I zoomed past her. I guess she was glad wrestling was not the sport anymore or she could have tapped out easily under my arm triangle choke.

I got into medical school 2 years ahead of her. She first tried her hand at teaching in nursing school, but then decided to follow my footsteps.

Still her fearless self, she joined a frat/soro and her hazing was done by the batch that I had a hand in grilling. Through all the fear, pain and insult she kept her wits and survived.

She is my sister by birth… then she became my sister by creed.

*****  

I used to call her ‘tol. Wrestling is now out of the picture since it would be hilarious to see guys with grownup children engaged in a grappling match. I would admit too that our joints couldn't stand the activity anymore.

We were at the 4^th decade of our lives when I decided that I needed to test the doctrines that we were born into and raised. In my search I found out that the church of my birth was unbiblical in many doctrines and worse yet contradicted God’s holy word. I made the shift out of the church and sis gives me a stern lecture and tells me to stay loyal to the church.

She however gives in to my invitation to study the bible and go through the tests of truth and shockingly comes to the same conclusion as mine regarding the key issues of the Gospel.

With her husband and four kids she decided to receive the true and unperverted gospel and she is born again in the Holy Spirit.

She is a sister by birth, she became my sister by creed and now she is my sister by spiritual rebirth! Three times my sister.

Happy Birthday sis, love you!

that's our favorite wrestling arm lock :-)