Model Dive Rice

Man picking sea life from rocks during low tide.

Continuing my instructor internship, I reviewed with Grace the rest of her knowledge review homework. We went over the six chapters she read and answered homework questions to. It went over fine, and is really not that interesting to talk about. Lunch at El Galleon was a lamb sandwich that is fairly good considering I’m in the Philippines.

Grace enjoying her time.

At 2:30 PM I went back to “Sabang Wreck” with Grace for another mapping dive. This time, I was to lead the dive and guide her around. I wasn’t 100 percent sure where to go. Regardless, it was a much more fun dive than the previous mapping dive. I was proud of myself for finding all three wrecks, successfully deploying my new surface buoy marker, and surfacing without any issues. Everything went as planned and it seemed like a “model” dive.

Maziar watching the sunset.

In the evening Grace, Maziar and I hung out at the Point bar for a few drinks. I stayed for 5 beers and then went home to eat my leftover chop suey that’s going old. While waiting for my rice to cook, I sat on my bed and watched some TV. A man burst into my room, ran into the kitchen, I saw my fan, a puff of smoke, he showed me my charred rice and left before I could say anything. I had fallen asleep and cooked my rice for about an hour. The man that ran into my room was my landlords husband. I soaked the charred pot in my sink and went back to sleep.


- jason

Interning, Feces, and Creative Photography

My 1946 Speed Graphic camera that I left back in LA.

This morning I helped instructor Pete out with his Rescue Diver class. It’s nice being on the instructor side of things because you don’t have to do nearly as much work as a Divemaster or student. The Rescue student was an older Dutch guy named Huub and the “victim” was Grace. There were several different rescue scenarios we did and I was responsible for making sure Huub did certain skills correctly. Pete oversaw the rest which was good too see and learn from.

During the last scenario, I jumped into the water near the dock and put on my equipment. In the water, there was a strong smell of sewage. I looked around to see where it was coming from, and just in front of me I saw a piece of human feces. I kicked it away in disgust and swam away from it. I noticed the “Gran Turismo” boat had just left the dock. Someone must have just used the bathroom. So, so, so gross. I felt slightly nauseous when I got out of the water and was a little concerned about getting sick. I washed my equipment really well.

At 2 PM I went on a dive to “Sabang Wreck” to guide Grace for her Divemaster mapping exercise. It was my first instructor related dive which was an easy dive where I was just her buddy. One of the perks of being an Instructor or Divemaster is getting free dives. Divemaster Julio went with us to guide us around because I wasn’t familiar with the dive site. The dive went well but there was a lot of current. When we surfaced, we surfaced into diesel fuel. Not a really clean day in terms of swimming in water for me. Fuel at least can be used as a cleaning agent.

Right after the dive, I had Grace do her “tired diver tow” exercise where she had to tow me for 100 meters in a certain amount of time. I was a little cautious getting into the water near the dock where the feces was before. She needed to swim 100 meters in under 3 minutes 15 seconds in order to do well. She completed the exercise in 2 minutes 36 seconds.

After we cleaned up, really well, I went into Grace’s file to sign her off on the skills she completed. It was the first time I officially signed anyone off, and it was an exciting feeling. I guess it’s the feeling of being put into an authoritative position and seeing people look up to you for advice and direction.

While waiting around at El Galleon, I talked with Jacob who has always interested me since I met him because of his living situation. He’s the guy that works about 3 hours a week supporting his software product in the US that pays for all his expenses here in the Philippines. His lifestyle here is expensive since he does tech diving everyday. You get an idea of him from looking at his keychain—keys, a LED flashlight, compass, a device to detect wireless networks, and a USB thumb drive with all his work on it all connected with a “suicide clip” termed from tech diving. I’m interested in his idea of living abroad but getting paid back home, but not tech diving.

Jacob mentioned that there are several books out there that talk about the idea. One book he mentioned that’s actually a top seller in the US is The 4-hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. It seems like it’s something that only recently started becoming more commonplace because of the Internet. I’ve met several other people that have investments in their home country that pay for their living abroad. It’s easiest when the cost of living at home is more than the cost of living abroad; get paid more and live for less.

At 5 PM, I sorted through my dive log that I’ve neglected. I synchronized my digital dive log with my paper version. I also went through and sorted some pictures. I found the collaborative photo publication JPG Magazine very interesting.

First of all, the simple layout and art direction of the site is attractive. The idea behind the magazine is interesting—any photographer, writer, or journalist can submit their work where anyone can vote on what they want published. It’s an “open source” magazine created by the readers for the readers. Each issue is theme based with photo galleries, essays, and articles on photography, techniques, etc.

Pali Lookout in Oahu, taken with the Speed Graphic.

What makes it an interesting publication is that it focuses more on the creative side of photography in an alternative manner. They talk about how to modify your toy camera, or how to use blur creatively instead of the usual photo magazine talking about latest camera gear, reviews, or composition 101. Imperfection and randomness is far more interesting than controlled perfection. I digress, but I’m excited about JPG Magazine and will hopefully be able to contribute to it one day. I uploaded a photo I took with my 1946 Speed Graphic camera to their transportation theme. We’ll see what happens.

By 11 PM I was tired of being on the computer so I ate dinner at Point bar with Maziar. Oh, I also had two beers too.


- jason

Evaluating "Shark Attack"

For the morning I just hung out at the bar at El Galleon to journal and go on the internet. Pete talked with me as an informal orientation for the instructor internship I was to start. I felt I took a little too much time off after the IE to start my internship; hopefully I can learn enough to feel comfortable teaching. Though, lately, it wasn’t busy at Asia Divers so I wouldn’t have missed much.

To start off the internship, I went into the pool with Grace who is doing her Divemaster training, to help her on her 20 Divemaster skills. Evaluating her skills felt weird because I was on the other side now—evaluating instead of being evaluated. I felt like I knew what I was doing giving her advice even though I was getting advice from Warren just a few weeks prior. It took some time to do but Grace felt the session was very helpful.

Online, I checked out PADI’s website to see what my status was officially. If I wasn’t officially teaching status, I wouldn’t be able to sign anyone off on their skill evaluations. To my surprise, all my paperwork cleared with PADI and I am officially teaching status. Excellent.

In the evening, the usual crew went to Point bar to have a few drinks and to celebrate Maziar Rescue Diver certification. I bought a round of Battery Buttons—mushrooms deep fried in a light batter— and a round of garlic mussels. Point bar has different themed t-shirts you can win by drinking a certain set of shots. Grace and I really wanted the “Shark Attack” shirt which required drinking—Great White, Deep Blue Sea, Nurse Shark, Sting Ray, and Coral Garden shooters. The worst was the Deep Blue Sea.

A great night and I think Maziar enjoyed himself.


- jason

Diving and Partying in Sabang

Kids play in the water during high tide.

I woke up at 9 AM today. I went to El Galleon to hang out. Greg dropped by and we decided to eat lunch at McJim’s Burger Haus. There I ate rice with a fried egg, a chicken leg, and a Coke for only 85 pesos! McJim’s is the cheapest good food place I’ve gone to in Puerto Galera. I’m coming back.

Maziar taking a picture of a sunken jet ski.

A big, orange frogfish.

At 3 PM, I dived with Maziar and Julio as our guide to “Sabang Wreck“. I saw the usual shrimp on a tube anemone, mantis shrimp, orange frogfish, flounder, and sunken jet ski. It was an okay dive where I didn’t get any really exciting photos.

Beautiful sunset at the Point bar.

In the evening, I went to Point bar for happy hour drinks. Greg and Grace met up with us and we later went to La Laguna Beach Club resort to shoot pool. Maziar called me and asked me if we wanted to go to his friend’s birthday party in Sabang. We wanted to try something new and so agreed to meet up with him.

The party was on top of a multiple story apartment complex. It was a nice view. At the party there were a few tables littered with empty bottles of Red Horse beer, lots of disco girls around, and a few Filipino guys I’ve never seen before. I knew immediately Greg wasn’t into the scene.

One of the girls was mad at one of guys for bringing his handgun that he kept in his trousers. He obviously needed attention as there was no one at the party that was intimidating in any way nor were we in a bad part of Sabang. A few of the girls were quite flirty.

I started to fall asleep and finally left at 2 AM.


- jason

Batangas, Visa Money, and Bye Caroline

Old white man with young small Filipino girl. A common sight.

With only two days left until my visa expires, I needed to go to the Immigration office in Batangas today. Batangas is an hour boat ride north of Puerto Galera plus I had to figure out where the Immigration office was. Grace decided to come along with me and hang out at the SM mall in Batangas. We left on the 9:15 AM boat.

When we arrived in Batangas, I coordinated with Grace to meet at the Starbucks at 12:30 PM at the SM mall. I gave myself about an hour and a half to get my visa extended. The first tricycle driver offered to drive me for 150 pesos to the Immigration office; I knew this was too much and told him to take me for 40 pesos. He left. A friendly jeepney driver I was talking to at the time found me a driver to take me for 50 pesos. I agreed.

Immigration Office, not the Veterinary School!

My tricycle driver had no clue where or what he was taking me to. First he took me to a veterinary school and then to a garden. Finally he asked someone and that guy pointed us in the right direction. I brought my cell phone charger and charged my phone at the Immigration office because I knew Caroline wanted to call me and meet up with us later.

At Immigration, I had to pay six pesos for them to photocopy my documents. Twenty minutes later when I got my bill for my visa, they charged me 1,000 pesos extra for “express” service. The lady said that without express service, I wouldn’t necessarily get my visa today. It only takes them 30 minutes total to process my visa, how could it take more than a day? I can’t see how they can take longer than a day unless they just put it off until the next day. There was only one other person waiting in front of me.

It turns out I was 400 pesos ($10) short of the total bill. I had to go out, find a bank and get money. I needed to get money regardless, but was going to get it at the mall. They had a guy accompany me because I was clueless as to where to go. He was nice because he found transportation and showed me exactly where to go.

When we got back to the Immigration office I was ready to pay but then the lady helping me told me I should go out and eat lunch and come back to pay because it was lunch time. It was 12:05 PM and the entire office closes at 12 noon until 1 PM for lunch. I told her I couldn’t, and needed to meet a friend at 12:30 PM. Not only that, but I didn’t want to find a place to eat! She said she’ll process it, but she was “very hungry”. She processed my visa by 12:10 PM.

I had 20 minutes to meet up with Grace at a mall that was supposedly far away. I tried hiring a tricycle but he wouldn’t drive me for less than 100 pesos. I felt that was too expensive so I went to a jeepney. The driver in the jeepney realized I looked lost and said for me to sit in the front. He drove me to a town center where he pointed me to a tricycle and said it should only cost 50 pesos. He didn’t charge me at all for the ride.

I made it to SM mall and met Grace at the Starbucks slightly after 12:30 PM. She was sipping on a tea in the heat outside. I was extremely thirsty and insisted that we go eat somewhere. We decided to eat at a Japanese fast food place. My tonkastu was good and drinking a large Coke was refreshing.

After lunch we just walked around the nice air conditioned mall. It was quite large, and as modern as the malls in the US. I dropped by a pharmacy to get contact solution and 30 pieces of 100 mg Aspirin for Warren; they gave me 100 pieces of 100 mg Aspirin instead. Indiana Jones was showing at the theater in the mall and I really wanted to see it but we wouldn’t have enough time to meet up with Caroline. I bought a can opener I’ve needed for a month to eat my corned beef at home.

Tricycle ride with Grace.

Venders along Batangas pier.

Grace and I quickly got bored of the mall and decided to go back to the pier to meet up with Caroline and catch the 3:30 PM ferry back to Sabang. We waited at the pier for 15 minutes looking for Caroline. She never texted me back after saying she was on the boat out to Batangas. Eventually we met up with her and I later found out she couldn’t respond to my texts because she was out of cell phone minutes. It was good to see her even though it was only for 15 minutes. I was sad to see her go off to Manila and then to Japan.

My first attempt at chop suey.

Back in Sabang I went to the market to get some food and then went home to make some chop suey. After dinner, Maziar wanted to meet up for drinks at the Point bar but I accidentally fell asleep watching TV.


- jason

Caroline's Last Day

Beer supply.

Hang over. To help cure it I ate a late breakfast with Caroline at Full Moon where she had bacon and I had a pad thai. At Full Moon, I met Jacob who created two companies in the US from Thailand. He’s developed software that he sells over the Internet, has no employees, outsources marketing and support, and only works about 3 hours a week. He can sustain himself working remotely by living in places with a lower cost of living than in the US. Now he is just diving in the Philippines while he gets paid in the US. My goal is to somehow do this too.

After our meal, Caroline went off to dive with Mermaid divers because she first dived with them and wanted to end with them. I didn’t dive and just hung around all day.

Caroline and Pedro at Broadway.

Evening activities included having a few drinks at Point bar and meeting up with Caroline and the rest of her friends at Broadway bar. It was her last day in the Philippines to live it up and so we all went out to party. Dave, Ricky, and some else from Mermaid joined us along with Pedro and some people from Atlantis. It was a fun night of pool with a little too much tequila.

Ricky shows off his moves with Caroline.

I think I see a smile under those hands.

The second round of tequila...That hurt.

Dave and I...wait, what camera am I shooting with?

No night would be complete without drama though. When it was time for Dave, Caroline and I to shoot pool, Ricky had a hissy fit because he wasn’t shooting pool with us. It wasn’t like we didn’t invite him; he never asked to play.


- jason

Equipment Problems and Sharks

Mantis shrimp coming out of his home.

Caroline’s dive equipment was left at my place and so she picked them in the morning. I made breakfast for both of us—oatmeal and coffee. After breakfast, we did a morning dive at 9 AM to “Shark Cave” with Matt and Jerry, a guest from Manila.

Caroline at the end of a concerning dive.

At the dive site, we descended to 75 feet where Caroline signaled to me her regulator was breathing irregularly. She noted her alternate air source was breathing irregularly also. I was concerned and remained close to her as much as I could during the dive in case she needed to use my alternate air source. Equipment failure is rare, but does happen.

Later in the dive, I noticed that my strobe on my camera randomly flashed by itself. This is usually a sign of my strobe being flooded. It made it hard to take pictures. This problem coupled with Caroline’s regulator made the dive less fun. We did see a white tip shark though in a cave, but it was too far in to take a good picture. Corals were nice and colorful too and I found a nice mantis shrimp.

At the surface, Caroline had a technician at Asia Divers look at her regulator while I frantically tried to figure out what was wrong with my strobe. Matt was kind enough to wait for me to figure out what was wrong with my strobe before our next dive. I looked online at several websites and support groups but couldn’t find anyone with a similar problem. I unscrewed a few ports in my strobe to have them dry out in case there was moisture in any of them. Eventually, my strobe seemed fine. Caroline’s regulator problem was that the diaphragm was folded over.

Ornate ghost pipefish hiding in a feather star.

Cluster of xenia coral.

The second dive went much more smoothly than the first. Caroline’s regulator worked fine and surprisingly my strobe didn’t flash on its own. Additionally, we dived at the “Hills” which is one of my favorite dive sites out in Puerto Galera. There, we got to see two frogfish, several interesting nudibranchs, and an ornate ghost pipefish. During the dive, I focused on learning how to adjust my strobe, aperture, and shutter speed of my camera to get different effects. I was looking for the best settings to isolate and light a foreground object while having a dark black background.

Feather duster bunch.

Devil scorpionfish almost walking along bottom.

Flying nudibranch in current after Maziar kicked it up. It did eventually land.

Afterwards, Caroline, Maziar, Matt and I hung around El Galleon and ate lunch. Unfortunately Matt had to leave for Manila by 4 PM. In the late evening, I ate dinner with Caroline at Toko’s at Atlantis resort. I had pasta which was good and surprisingly not as expensive as I thought it would be. Toko’s bar has the fanciest espresso machines I’ve seen out here in the Philippines. I analyzed one of the workers make an espresso from it; not bad, but, his grind needed to be finer and he needed to tamp harder. I’m such a coffee geek.

After dinner, Caroline and I had a few drinks at the Point bar and then we watched Sharkwater on my laptop. It’s sad to see how sharks are being killed so inhumanely for just their fins. 100 million sharks are killed a year because of ignorance, corruption, and money. Most of the finning occurs from Asian countries especially in China. I’ve talked to several divers about how often they see sharks now versus before; they always say it wasn’t what it used to be like, there were a lot more before.

Being aware of this previously, I no longer eat any shark dishes.


- jason