Ocean deep and beyond

In Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic flick, Team Zissou goes on an expedition to hunt down the mysterious Jaguar Shark that killed a crewmember during the filming of their latest adventure. Down under, there is a whole new world of blueness surrounding a rich marine life waiting to be explored.

A province that is slowly given thumbs up by divers and adventure seekers is of course Davao. It is in this part of Mindanao where Mt. Apo, highest mountain of the country is found together with the Davao Gulf that expands up to 623,000 hectares.

With this in mind, the Department of Tourism (DOT) recently invited members of the press for “Dive the Gulf” festival in order to promote the province as an eco-cultural destination. Other cool activities include white water rafting on Davao River, sky riding the 200-meter zip line at Eden Nature Park and even mountain climbing on Mt. Apo.

Perhaps what makes Davao a more interesting destination is that it is perfect for macro diving. The term “macro” means large in scale. Underwater photographers use macro lenses to allow them to take big, close up pictures of the tiny creatures like colorful sea slugs or nudi branch and pygmy seahorse.

“Davao Gulf is part of the Coral Triangle initiative where you can find the most marine species in the world,” says Sonja V. Garcia, DOT regional director for Region XI. “Since we have diving all-year round, our attractions include World War II shipwrecks, 100 types of corals and nesting sites for five out of six turtle species.”

Dig this, Davao has more than 23 dive sites in Samal Island. There is the Marissa Reef with an underwater mountain drop, which was named after Marissa Florendo who started underwater photography in the island. Another site nestled in Talikud Island is the Coral Garden with five kilometers of corals, sea grass and different schools of fish.

And to celebrate such marine life, Davao held the only nighttime festival or Caracoles (seashells) Festival at the Sta. Ana Wharf. Designers and those with the creative edge participated in a fashion show to promote the city’s advocacy campaign in order to preserve the environment. Participants donned costumes inspired by the sea like jellyfish, starfish, crab and other interesting creatures.

“Since Davao is declared a marine protected area, all our programs have advocacy campaigns to balance natural resources,” concludes Garcia. “We work closely with NGOs to help stabilize the island and we are doing our best to preserve and conserve the marine life not only for tourists but for future generations as well.”

Thanks to Wind and Wave, the first an only PADI Dive Center in southern Philippines, I was able to try the intro dive. Since safety comes first, dive master Randy Pascua taught the basics like hand signals, removing water from mask, equalizing ear pressure and proper breathing.

Getting into a wet suit was a bit tough. So, the trick was to splash it with water. When I had scuba gear ready like the mask, fins, weight belt and oxygen tank, I was ready to go down. Dive master Ricky Veloso was my partner and he led me until 20 feet deep. I saw clownfish, dory, starfish, eel, sea grass and even a turtle swimming down the mountain slope. Since I was enjoying being down under, I didn’t notice that I was there for 45 minutes. There is nothing like being under the sea.

It isn’t difficult to find the clownfish around the anemone. Even Dory from Finding Nemo, once said, “This is the ocean, silly, we’re not the only two in here.”