Cabilao!

What a brilliant day of diving at Cabilao island, off the coast of Bohol. We got an early jump on the day, leaving the house at 5:30am – the boat trip was about 1hr 45min. Luckily we took the Ichiban, the faster of the two boats. The time gave me a chance to catch up with my friend Sol and enjoy the views.

The divers we went with were an awesome bunch that we have done dives with previously. Super nice people, seven guests in all, including Erin and me. It was the first time that I got to dive with my friend Sol too! He’s been my ballroom instructor/partner in the past, although we haven’t had much time for it recently. He’s been surfing too much. That’s not in my repertoire of water skills…

Let me say, Pinoy are SERIOUS about their food. Haha! They had a hot breakfast on the way out, not sure what all was there, but everyone started the day with a very full tummy. Lunch was another serious food break! I’ve never seen so much squid, fish, baboy (pork), chicken, rice, assortment of fruits, chips, and more! This doesn’t even count all of the snacks and food that were out the whole day.

A massive storm rolled in around lunchtime, but the boatmen knew exactly how to navigate around the island to keep us dry! It was nice to watch the darkness and heavy rains from a distance. Absolutely beautiful. It hung around during most of our second dive, making it seem more like a dusk dive rather than daylight. However, when we came out of the water, the special ordered sun was out again.

The dives were all nice, but not as good as I was expecting for the location. All three dives were quite deep and the visibility wasn’t the best – for here. Guess most people would kill to have what I consider less than ideal vis. On our third and final dive someone (ahem Jacqy) ran into deco time, so we hung out and enjoyed the water, the boat, and the sun during our extra 45 minutes. Once her time was served, we headed back to Mactan.

I can’t express how much I enjoy being on the open water, no islands nearby, just cruising along! Due to our long, fun day of diving and food, the sun began to set and darkness rolled in. We headed home tired and happy.