Allow me to take a trip down the memory lane and share with you what probably is one of the highlights of my 2016.
For a not-so-adventurous person like myself, who only enjoys binge-eating and has zero passion for any physical activities, scuba diving is definitely not on my bucket list. I don't even know how to swim, let alone be 20-feet deep underwater. It was my former Supevisor's idea to take us to Batangas to try intro diving. Our company used to have this social recognition platform that allows us to reward our colleagues and once it has accumulated a certain number of points, it can be redeemed with gift certificates that can be used for team lunch, and in our case, we're able to use it for team building.
We stayed at Casa Bahia, a lodging/dive center for scuba divers located in Mabini, Batangas. It's a 4-storey building with a homey atmosphere. The room where we stayed in is good for two people – it has a bunk bed that could actually fit four people, has an in-suite bathroom, AC unit, but no television. We arrived there around noon on a Saturday (straight from our GY shift), but just rest for the whole day since we cannot push through with the intro diving as it was very windy that afternoon.
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| Back side of Casa Bahia – you would need to go through the very steep road in order to get here. |
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| There were beds at the terrace, where you could hang out and watch the stars at night. |
The next day, we prepped around 9:00 am for a short intro diving lesson with Mark (Dive Master), Kuya Toto (Assistant) and Lars (Trainee). They discussed the basic rules of diving, hand signals and a few pointers for beginners. The diving site was just a 20-minute boat ride away from Casa Bahia. It was very sunny that morning, so it's perfect to take a plunge and explore what's beneath the surface of the water.
The actual dive only lasted for less than an hour – we first practiced by pair, then went on to dive individually, each accompanied by two professional divers. I was with Kuya Toto and Lars; Kuya Toto held the buoyancy compensator I had on (or BC, which is like a like a life vest but with equipment attached to it for breathing) and guided me so I wouldn't lose my balance and basically, won't die. Haha! We went 20-deep feet, seeing lots of coral reefs, school of fishes and the highlight was – seeing Nemo in the flesh! Lars was the one who took videos and pictures all throughout the dive.
Here's a picture of me and Kuya Toto at around 10 feet underwater.
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| I was paddling my feet, but it's actually not needed! Haha! It was just for the video's sake. |
After waiting for my teammates and the group of professional divers to finish their turn, we went back to Casa Bahia to have our lunch and prep our stuff to go back to Manila. It was a very fulfilling experience for me since I am not a fan of going to beaches and normally does not enjoy any water activities. It was nerve-wracking at first, but our dive masters were very professional and assured us that we're going to enjoy, which we did!
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| Beautiful sunset! |
If you want to try intro diving for yourself, here are the deets:
Address: Sitio Balagbag, Brgy. Bagalangit, Mabini, Batangas
Contact Persons: Eric (+63) 9209115059
Glenn (+63) 9175349913
Email Address: dive@casabahia.net
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/casabahia
Jovel | JUST JVL
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