Finally, the Philippines! (Part 2-Tubbataha, June 2024)

At last we were aboard the Atlantis Azores, the flagship liveaboard vessel of the Atlantis dive operation. Having left San Diego on Tuesday, we finally made it onto the boat on Saturday evening.  Our downstairs cabin was at the end of the hall, with a small bunk bed above a full-size bed below.  The rooms are compact, definitely easier for a couple to share than roommates, but otherwise the boat is well appointed and quite comfortable.  The unexpected discovery of Greg’s silent Covid + status led to a reshuffling of rooms.  Thankfully, Mike K had a single room and was willing to switch with Greg and room with Dan, making it easier to isolate the infection.  Having passed hours hanging out and eating in the lounge with Greg in Manila between flights, Steve and I were the most likely to come down with it if anyone was, but thankfully, that didn’t happen. Greg had a mild headache and was a little tired on the first day.  He sat out the first morning of diving, after which he was asymptomatic and didn’t miss a dive from then on, usually surpassing our tendency to do 3 dives a day.

The three areas comprising Tubbataha are North and South Atolls and the Jessie Beazley reef.  Tubbataha has been the site of several ships running aground and Jessie Beazley was the captain of one such vessel, which seems to me strange grounds for having a reef named after you.  There isn’t much to see above water but sand spits and a light house .  At low tide, portions of the atolls become visible.

Sunday, June 23, 2024

(Jessie Beazley reef)

Before we could head into the water, we had a few housekeeping issues to address.  Steve and I wrote medical justifications for each other so we could wear gloves (otherwise forbidden).  We also emailed and printed out our drone permit.

Today’s dives on the Jessie Beazley reef were the maiden voyage of my new 8 mm fisheye lens and Zen medium size dome port, which I found more neutral and easier to swim with than my usual set-up with the WWL-1. Putting my gear together, I was horrified to discover I had forgotten a piece of my modular BCD (into which a weight pocket would fit).  I improvised by putting a 2 pound weight into a pocket for 10 pounds overall.  The water temp about was about 84 degrees.  I was very comfortable in a thin (older) 5 mm wetsuit with a hood.

Steve and I were grouped with Mike B, Lynn, Dan, Mike K and Greg (all the photographers together), led by Aries and Norway as safety diver.

The other group consisted of  Laura, Kate, Matt, Joyce, Andrew and Leigh, led by booming voiced Eric.

It was overcast.  Only one other live aboard was in sight.   Greg sat out the morning.   Dan’s computer malfunctioned but the Gear Guy (Greg) came to the rescue, loaning him his back-up.

Dive 1 (60 min 68 ft) Jessie Beazley NW: This is a wall.  A cooperative hawksbill turtle was the highlight of the dive for me, before I ran out of battery.

Dive 2 (61 min 44 ft): Jessie Beazley SE: gentle current, scattered bleached corals, colorful and drab giant clams, dark damselfish danced above a concentration of acropora coral.  Dan showed me a rockmover wrasse. A white tip shark appeared on entry, reappearing cruising through reef, and rested on the bottom on our safety stop.  A large pair of lobsters under a ledge edged away from Steve’s close approach.  Lynn’s back led her to sit out the second dive

 

1. 

   The anemones were huge and plentiful in Tubbataha!

For meals, at least when it was rainy, Greg was relegated to a solitary seat in the library mezzanine off the dining room, facing the wall as though he was in the corner for misbehaving.  It was the equivalent of exile to the children’s table at Thanksgiving.

Dive 3 (61 min 58 ft): Black Rock Corner: This was an exciting drift dive, with lots of fish activity and an octopus, but dark.

Steve and I passed on the 4th dive.

On returning to the Azores from the dives, we are given hero’s welcomes and a heated washcloth.

“Hello, Marie, WELCOME BACK (in chorus)!”

Hot chocolate, with or without Bailey’s, is offered after the final dive of the day, which was usually four.

Monday, June 24, 2024

(south of South Atoll)

Greg was still testing positive but feeling reasonably well.  The cushions upstairs dried off enough from prior day’s rains to eat al fresco.

We had a very good morning of diving.  Between the dives, I flew my new drone (DJI Mini Pro 4) towards the lighthouse.   (Before this trip, I practiced hand launching and catching the drone 5X/day, knowing most of my flying would be from the boat.)

Dive 1 (61 min 70 ft): At Deisan Wreck, a large school of jacks kept edging away.

Dive 2 (63 min 57 ft): Triggerfish City: Sightings included a large turtle with a shark-shaped right front flipper defect, many spotted sweetlips, beautiful golden fans, a giant clam.  I swam out into blue with Greg and Steve towards a large barracuda school.

Yet another turtle popped up just before the safety stop.

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   Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides (aka harlequin sweetlips, clown sweetlips, spotted sweetlips or many-spotted sweetlips) line up for cleaning at the Jessie Beazley reef in Tubbataha, Philippines.

   

   Sea fan coral reef scene, Jessie Beazley reef, Tubbataha, Philippines.

   

   A giant Tridacna gigas clam nestles atop a healthy mix of hard and soft corals at Jessie Beazley reef, Tubbataha, Philippines.

We did the 3rd dive in the afternoon to Staghorn Point (63 min 60 ft),  but again passed on a 4th.  Mike B captured video during the 4th dive to Deisan Wreck of a frantic chase,  a large turtle harassing a small turtle, around and around.  This was initially billed as a mating chase, but Aries’ review of the footage suggested it was 2 males of different species (green and hawksbill), presumably competing for territory.

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

(north of the South Atoll to southeast of the North)

Greg continued to test positive, but remained asymptomatic.  No one felt ill, except Lynn, who was sidelined by a persistent back spasm issue.

We did two morning dives to Ko-ok. This dive (59 min 66 ft and 61 min 68 ft ) was along a wall.  Initially, it felt like we were swimming through molasses, against the current.  A small turtle cruised along the  wall and down.

Large fans hung off the wall with some huge barrel sponges interspersed.   Greg clowned around underwater, imitating Alex K by screaming through his regulator at me, bringing back a memorable incident on our Indonesia trip on the Wellenreng.

Aries aborted the dive a few minutes early when he couldn’t see or find Steve and Mike K.  They had swum faster than the rest of us (Dan, me, Greg, Mike B) and ended up hanging on at 12 feet when the reef ran out, waiting for us to catch up.  Steve complained for several days about a fiberglass sensation in his fingertips from hanging on ( even though I wrote him a medical note for gloves, he wasn’t wearing them on this dive).

The afternoon dive was to  Ranger Station Buoy #1 (63 min 80 ft), a gorgeous site.  Even Steve was impressed with the hard corals and profusion of fish. 

It was so stunning I decided to do the 4th dive.  That was until Greg pointed out the red warning light illuminated on my housing.  I had downloaded at midday, but I knew I had vacuumed the housing and that the light had been a reassuring green during the 3rd dive.

There was a small amount of water inside and corrosion was evident on the small internal flood battery.  At Greg’s suggestion, I obtained baking soda from the kitchen, added a little water and swabbed at the contacts with a loaded Q-tip.  More water was mopped up with an alcohol loaded Q-tip, before storing the empty housing in the warm engine room for an hour.

After the divers returned, we loaded again into the skiffs to visit the ranger station.  It was low tide, so we had to disembark and walk through ankle-high water to reach a sand spit.  Greg and I flew our drones. 

The sunset light and clouds were gorgeous. 

A woman walked up to me on the sand spit:  “Marie?”  It was Alexis, a diver on the Aggressor live aboard I had been chatting with on the flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa.  She is a goldsmith jeweler from Florida whose marine-life themed ring I had admired.

After dinner, split between the Caesar salad course in the dining room with the group and the seafood main course upstairs with Greg the leper in the upstairs open air seating area, I loaded a fresh battery into the housing, turned on the system and hurray, the expected blue light lit up.

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

(south of North Atoll)

Greg’s daily Covid test was less quickly positive today, a pink line appearing after 3 minutes.  Kate developed head cold symptoms but tested negative.  Lynn was moving with more ease, enough to join us on the second morning dive.

My camera’s green light glowed reassuringly.

Dive 1 to Malayan Wreck (66 min 53 ft) started at a shallow small cargo ship wreck, inhabited by sweetlips. 

The current swept us along a wall, festooned with fans. 

Mike B waited patiently for bumphead parrotfish massing in the shallows.

A white-tipped reef shark patrolled up and down the reef, approaching closer than most.

I found a bleached white anemone at the end of the dive.

Steve tried out a loaner lens from Greg.  I saw him shooting a fist-sized colorful anemone with the tips actually touching the dome port.

Dive 2 (Malayan Reef, 62 min 48 ft)

Mike K found an octopus, which Norway showed to me. 

As I was waiting for it to emerge more fully, I saw a small manta ray sweeping along the edge of the drop-off. Steve saw it as well.  Greg had his back to the ray, but whirled around as I pointed behind him, in time for a quick shot.  I hoped it would make a few forays, but this was not to be.

After lunch, I was sleepy enough to head downstairs for a short nap.  As soon as I laid my head on the cool pillow, I remembered my camera had run out of battery towards the end of the prior dive, rousing me out of bed to change it.  I was brought up short by the red warning light glowering menacingly on my camera.

Not again!  Just like the prior afternoon, there were a few drops of water under the tray. The battery did not appear corroded but there was some discoloration of the contacts. Out came the Q tip swabs and  Deoxy to clean the contacts.  I changed the body O-ring, re-seated the port and viewfinder while everyone was out doing the first afternoon dive (Wall Street).

I put the GoPro together in time to make the 4th dive (again to Wall Street).  It felt like diving while missing a limb, off balance without the familiar weight of my regular camera.

Afterwards, I flew the drone over the night divers in time to see the divers enter the water at Malayan Reef.

Thursday, June 27, 2024

(north of North Atoll)

Greg was still testing positive for Covid  but the line was pale pink and taking even longer to develop; Kate was also negative on Covid re-testing.

This was our last day in Tubbataha.  Rain was coming in sideways when we ascended into the salon.  Someone had zipped my drone bag shut but raindrops dotted my land camera, stashed on the middle level of the camera table.

My camera’s flood warning light was still glowing a reassuring green, as it continued to do during and after the dive.

Dive 1 (63 min 69 ft) Seafan Alley : beautiful golden fans extend off the wall, a squirrelfish peered out of a large barrel sponge.

Dive 2: (53 min 69 ft), also to Seafan Alley,  I found Steve photographing a gorgeous large anemone on the wall. 

After I took my turn, I headed up under a large barrel sponge.  Turning my camera upwards, my serenity was shattered by the audible alarm and red warning flood light on my camera.  I turned the camera dome side down and hailed Norway, who indicated to Aries he’d head up with me.  We made a safety stop and surfaced about 5 minutes before the dive would have been called anyway.  Nelson picked us up and ran us the short distance back to the boat.

Back on the boat, the diagnostics began again.  The inside of the housing was dry.  The battery didn’t look corroded but after cleaning the contacts with the fiberglass pencil, the warning system didn’t come back to life, even with a new battery.  Diagnosis: electronics shot.  Any further use of the camera would be using the poor man’s version of the leak detecter: pump out the air (guessing at the number of pumps, I probably overcompensated with 12), then test if the port could be removed (impossible if a vacuum is successfully induced).

Dives 3 and 4 (62 min 70 ft and 59 min 88 ft) Terraces.  I decided to do the 4th dive, also to Terraces, which Steve sat out.  It was along a wall.  Norway flapped his arms in a sign I interpreted as a manta ray.  The ray part was right- there was a large marble ray resting in an alcove on the wall. Dan’s approach caused it to rear up and book down into the depths.  Mike B followed it down, down, down, to an undisclosed depth.

Cruising along at 60 feet, I was surprised to see Greg below, gesturing from under an overhang to come down for a sleeping shark.  It was a large nurse shark, originally found by Mike K. I could have approached closer than I did but thinking Greg might want another turn with it and a closer approach might prompt the shark to depart, I held back. It turned out his camera was not functioning properly.

In the shallows, a huge gray cloud pouring overhead proved to be a large school of jacks.

We were off overnight to the Visayas for another 5 days of diving before disembarking at Dumaguete.  To be continued…in the Visayas!  Here’s a preview:

-Marie