When you need a break from exploring the reefs arounds Panagsama and Pescador island, take a tricycle or rent a bike and continue a bit to the north of Moalboal and you’ll find the town of Ronda. Though Moalboal and the diving is the main attraction for people traveling down to this part of Cebu, there are really some nice spots to visit in the towns and villages in the area. Ronda Harbour is one of these places. There’s a boardwalk that’s a bit half-finished (like a lot of places on the island, that’s what gives it it’s rough charm) and a small restaurant at the end. The perfect setting for a cooling drink while the sun sets over the Negros mountains.

Until yesterday, the largest aquatic animal I’ve seen must have been a sea turtle here in Moalboal (at least what I’ve seen under water, from the diveboat I’ve seen both shark and dolphins). At probably around one and a half meter, I thought that turtle was quite big. That was until I met the gentle giants in Donsol.

We set out from the dive shop at 5.30 in the morning, all still a bit sleepy but very excited about the day. After about two hours on the bumpy but very scenic road south we arrived in Oslob just as the whale sharks were coming in for their morning snack. You can choose to either dive or snorkel with the sharks, and to be honest I didn’t really miss my Scuba gear. They stay quite shallow all the time so you can see them really well from the surface, but maybe I’ll try diving next time just to get to see them from a different angle.

Small paddle boats take you out to the sharks, and we were all amazed to discover how big these fish actually are. They come up to the surface to eat the krill thrown in by the boatmen, open their mouths and the ocean rushes down in a rapid maelstrom. We slipped into the water quietly so not to disturb them, and got to see the entire animals under water. They are big, about six or seven metres long, and still these are only juveniles, the adult whale shark can get up to 18 metres. I tried to take some pictures but since visibility that day was rather low, I had to get close and had trouble fitting the shark within the viewfinder. A fish-eye lens would have been really useful.

We stayed in the water for about an hour (although it felt like 20 minutes), before we were paddled back to shore. It was a great experience, and after all the discussions we’ve had around the dive shop regarding the whale sharks, it felt good to have seen it firsthand. Fish feeding is of course not natural, and it’s difficult to tell what the long-term consequences for the whale sharks are. Feeding them could potentially disturb their migrating and mating patterns, and when the sharks associate food with boats, they can be harmed by propellers if they approach motorboats.

I have to say though that the sharks we saw looked very healthy, and there were some young cubs among them so it seems that two years of feeding them at least hasn’t had a huge immediate impact. The local government has also taken action to control and regulate how tourists are allowed to interact with the animals (I’ve heard some horror stories of what it used to be like before). And even though it’s not natural, I feel that it’s a lot better that the local fishermen make their living by feeding the sharks rather than selling them at the fish market.

The weather last few days has been less than perfect with lots of rain and strong winds, but the diving on the other hand has been great. Strong off-shore winds push the warmer surface water out to sea, and the deeper, colder and clearer water further out is consequently pushed towards the shore. This creates excellent visibility, and even though it has been cloudy and low light the last few days, the diving has really been like underwater flying.

Though the diving has been great, I have also explored another activity here in Moalboal; let’s call it mountain motorbiking. My brother came over to visit, and after renting him another XR200 (600 peso, about 10 euro a day) we headed for the mountains. There is a ridge that runs almost all along Cebu island, and you cross it with the bus going from Cebu City to Moalboal, but I had never gone up in the mountains on my bike.

The roads to Cebu City can be pretty bad, but the roads in the hills above Moalboal are even worse. Which makes the whole thing so much more fun! After about two hours of struggling up the rocky hill roads we finally got to the top of the ridge. We stayed for a while and enjoyed the view before we started our descent. If going up the hill was difficult at times, going down was truly a challenge. I suggest getting a few days of motorcycle training first if you’re not used to riding before trying this. These roads are so bad and so full of rocks and potholes, it’s difficult even for an experienced rider like myself to traverse them. Still, you see a family of four with two chickens, a sack of rice and a goat loaded on an old Honda heading down the steepest slope like there was nothing to it. We got down alright too, but my helmet’s off to the people that venture these roads on a daily basis.

For a northerner like myself, it’s hard to find the Christmas feeling in a tropical climate like the one here in the Philippines. They put up loads of lights, play Christmas songs everywhere, we had a plastic pine tree on the lawn at Barefoot resort, and I went diving with three Germans wearing Santa hats (one of them was even named Klaus!). Still, it’s not quite the same without the heaps of snow, the constant darkness and cold, the never-ending cold sniffles and frozen feet. Boy, do I miss it.

No, jokes aside I definitively prefer the tropical version of the holiday. It’s not bad spending Christmas eve submerged in 28 degree water. Or to be able to ride my bike to town in shorts and flip-flops at a time of the year I would otherwise be loosing my footing on a snow-covered Stockholm street, cursing the tube for once again not being able to handle the Swedish climate.

I did get to drink some mulled wine though, and danced to Bee Gee’s Staying Alive at the Quo Vadis staff Christmas party (it was a big hit!), so all in all it’s been a great Christmas.

Air contains 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen, and as every diver knows it’s the build-up of nitrogen from that air that usually limits our time under water. Today I did the second dive in my NITROX course, and breathed enriched air with 32% oxygen. The difference is really noticeable after you come up from the dive – you feel a lot less tired, refreshed almost. What a difference a few percentages of oxygen can do!

As a Divemaster you make several dives every day, and it’s good to know how to dive with NITROX since the nitrogen build-up is so much lower than with regular air. Coincidentally, Quo Vadis also just installed a new NITROX blending apparatus today, so I will definitely be testing out new air blends in the future.

After a few days incapacitated in bed with the flu (fever and headaches, and some feverish dreams about different NITROX mixes, had been studying it just before the fever hit) I was finally back in the water yesterday. Didn’t see too since it much since it has been raining the last few days and the viz wasn’t too good, but it felt good to be back in the water.

Today Johannes from Germany also started the Divemaster course, and together we assisted our instructor Albert with two Open Water students on their first and second open water dive.

I don’t know if it was the nitrogen narcosis or the sudden absence of fish eating corals that created a feeling of tranquility as I descended below 30 meters into the Cathedral at Pescador Island. Or maybe it’s because in many ways, diving is very much a sort of meditation. Communication is limited to simple hand signs and you focus on your breathing as you float through a world completely different from the one above the surface.

This was my deepest dive so far, and we also saw some interesting marine life coming back up to about 20 meters. One very rare creature, an Electric Flame Scallop that emits electrical impulses to ward off predators. The underwater world truly is amazing.

This dive concluded the Advanced Open Water Course, and I have gotten started on the Rescue Diver course.