Rarin’ for adventure
November 14, 2003 | 12:00am
Hi Marc,
I want to try rock climbing, diving, and bungee jumping. Can you recommend an ideal time and place for each?
Dull Doll
You definitely sound like my kind of person! An adventurous spirit! The first couple of sports you want to try are pretty easy to get into, although the bungee jumping might be a bit tricky. Let’s start with the rock climbing though.
The best way to learn rock climbing is to start at a climbing gym. Assuming that you are based in Manila, there are quite a few around the city. There’s a decent one in Pasig, another at the Colegio de San Agustin in Makati, or if you happen to be malling in Rockwell, you can go to one there, too! It’s becoming a fairly popular sport, so climbing gyms are popping up all over the place. You can usually just turn up without having to call ahead, and they have all the equipment (harness, shoes, ropes, carabineers, figure eights, etc) there for you to rent and try. They always have experienced climbers/belayers on hand to get you started.
Once you’ve mastered the different levels of climbing walls, you may be interested in trying a "real" wall, or rock face. There are numerous great climbing spots around the country, and once again, these climbing gyms are the best places to start. They’ll usually have a bulletin board with information of destinations or upcoming trips to good outdoor climbing locations. The climbing community is a very friendly one, and experienced climbers are always more than happy to give a newbie a helping hand. If you plan to climb outdoors though, you will probably need to invest in some of your own equipment, such as harness and shoes as it’s rare for people to have spares to lend you, and if they do, it might not be the right size, which is important.
If you really get into the sport, then after a while you may want to start leading your own route-finding expedition. As I mentioned, there are plenty of great walls all over the country, and most of them haven’t been tried yet! With enough experience under your belt and the right equipment and crew, you can climb walls that have never been touched before! The best thing about that is that once you’re the first to climb it, then you get to name it! And that will be your legacy to all the climbers that come after you!
Now onto the diving. I’ve been diving since I was 11 years old (both of my parents are instructors), and in my humble opinion, the Philippines has some of the best diving sites in the world. It’s almost a crime not to learn how to dive in this country given the chance! About 95 percent of the world’s marine life travels through Philippine waters at some stage or another, and the equatorial warmth of the water makes it comfortable as well (no super-thick wetsuits or cumbersome drysuits needed!). The Philippines is also a great place to learn how to dive, no matter how busy your schedule is.
The best way to learn would be to take a few days off and hit the beach somewhere. The most accessible to Manila would probably be Anilao in Batangas or Puerto Galera in Mindoro. Both have numerous excellent dive spots, as well as five-star qualified dive instruction. Most dive outfits teach the basic PADI open water course, which is OK to start with and will allow you to dive anywhere in the world. After that you may wish to take more advanced courses either with PADI, or one of the other dive schools such as NAUI or BSAC. Now here’s some more good news. The basic PADI open water course will only take about three days and cost around $200. This is a fraction of what it costs elsewhere in the world, and remember, the training is still highly rated (try and go for a five-star facility if you can, it won’t cost any extra).
In case you can’t make it away from Manila for three days, then you may want to start your training in Manila, and just do your checkout dives one weekend when you can get away. There are a lot of dive centers around Manila that can teach you the theories and some of the practical applications in the pool. Your best bet is to look up dive centers in the phone book and find one that is convenient to where you live or work. Most of them schedule their classes after working hours.
Once you have your license, then you can travel all over the country trying out the best it has to offer. If you’re just starting, there is no real need to buy any equipment as most dive shops will rent you everything you need at a minimal extra cost (about $25 per dive with equipment compared to $20 without), and it sure saves having to cart it all around with you. Try around Anilao and Puerto Galera to start with, and then check out further places like Subic, Cebu and Bohol. The real mecca of diving though is Palawan, in particular Tubbataha reef in the Sulu Sea. Many divers have called this the No. 1 dive spot in the world, and I have to agree. Us divers in the Philippines really are quite spoilt.
You also want to try bungee jumping, huh? Well, this is where things get a little bit tricky. Bungee jumping is now illegal in the Philippines as far as I know. I think it used to be offered somewhere in Subic, but that was closed down after an accident, and since then declared unsafe and illegal. Therefore, if you really want to try it, you’re going to have to go out of the country. I personally tried it in Australia with a company called AJ Hackett. They were the ones that pioneered the sport, and have all sorts of self-imposed safety rules and regulations. I felt very safe with them although that didn’t stop me from getting an incredible adrenaline rush anyway! If you ever get the chance, you should definitely give it a try!
Climbing and diving are accessible year round, although climbing outdoors in the sun is a lot more fun than when the rocks are slick and slippery with rain. Also, some dive areas (such as Tubbataha) are much more accessible during the summer season (March up to early June), whilst others are OK all year round. Bungee jumping, of course, really depends on where you go, but should be year round.
So have a look in your phone book and find out where the nearest dive school and climbing gym is! Go tomorrow and bring a friend. I guarantee you won’t regret it! Good luck and hope to see you hanging off a cliff or underwater sometime! Who knows? We might even guest you on Sports Unlimited!
Marc
I’m writing coz I’m in a bit of a bind. A good friend of mine confided in me that he swings both ways. I guess that’s OK with me. The problem is he has a girlfriend who’s also a friend of mine. Another thing is he’s having an on and off affair with another guy. Isn’t he being unfaithful? He’s about to get married to his girlfriend and according to him, he has no plans of breaking off his relationship with his "boyfriend." I really find this unfair to his poor unsuspecting fianceé. I advised him to cut off all ties with this guy especially because he’s getting married. My mind tells me to talk to his fianceé but I can’t bring myself to do so. Is it advisable to just let sleeping dogs lie? What do you think?
Jar
Your friend sure has put you in an awkward position! Sounds like he wants the best of both worlds, so to speak. Technically speaking, yes, he is cheating on his girlfriend as he is fooling around with someone other than her. Some may argue (and I daresay your friend will use this defense) that it isn’t really cheating because the lover in question is a different sex to his girlfriend and therefore doesn’t count as real cheating. That is really just a cheap cop out, and it is completely up to his fianceé to decide whether she can live with that or not.
Admittedly, I know a few guys who have no objection to their bisexual girlfriend fooling around with other girls, but they have pretty open relationships to start with, and there’s no guarantee that the girls would feel the same way if it were the guys that were Bi.
The thing about marriage, or any decent relationship for that matter, is that it should be based on honesty and trust. By going into a marriage with such a big secret or two (does his fianceé even know that he’s Bi?), he’s laying some pretty shaky foundations for their future. If he really loves this girl enough to want to marry her, then it’s time he did some confessing. Who knows? If she’s incredibly open-minded and loves him enough, she may be able to accept it. And if not, then he’ll just have to choose. Does he want to be with the woman he loves or the guy he wants to fool around with?
Your job as a friend is to convince him to come clean. If this means laying a huge guilt trip on him and shaming him into a confession then so be it. Explain to him how much his fianceé loves and trusts him, and make him see how it would destroy her if she found out from someone else. You’re his friend, and by expressing your disapproval, you may be able to make him see how keeping his illicit relationship a secret is bad for his impending marriage. Keep nagging him about it and tell him how strongly you feel. Before long he may start having second thoughts about keeping it secret himself.
Of course, it’s hard for you to come right out and tell his fianceé, even if she is a friend of yours as well. If you did, then it would probably alienate you from your friend for life. However, if she asked you directly, it would also be hard to lie to her pointblank. If your friend doesn’t take your advice, then maybe you just suggest to his fianceé that there’s something you think your friend should get off his chest before marrying her and leave it at that. Maybe if she asks him straight up, that will be enough to push him to the right decision.
Either way, your friend needs to realize that marriage is a serious thing, and it sometimes takes sacrifices that you may not have been willing to make when you are single. If this is a sacrifice that he can’t make, then it’s probably best that he doesn’t get married at all until he can.
Marc
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