Wrecks Underwater Circus

Erich and Sara pose, in what looks like a Coke ad in Australia.

Today Erich, Sara, and I planned on doing three dives—two wrecks and one dive in an unusual fresh and saltwater lake called Barracuda Lake. We left for diving at 8:30 AM and I didn’t have time for breakfast. The first dive we were scheduled to dive was at the Irako wreck and the second dive was to the Tangat wreck. It was the same wreck we first dived where Erich was lost then found. I was a little concerned because I didn’t enjoy the strong head current last time.

A haunting hatch in the wreck.

Our dive guide for the day was a British guy named Kevin. He was a good guide that was nice and thorough. In our dive group, I dived with Nina, Erich, and Sara; Franek was grouped with another group. The Irako wreck was a great dive especially compared to when I went on it the first time. As usual, the visibility was bad at about 7 meters. The Kevin was pleasantly surprised that all of our air consumption was good; not sure if he knew we were two Divemasters and one instructor. My underwater camera housing is designed to function up to 40 meters depth but my shutter button got stuck at 33 meters. I couldn’t take pictures and was only able to take video.

Outside the wreck, a dense school of fish.

A relatively large nudibranch on the wreck.

A jellyfish and a small filefish wait with me at my deco-stop.

The second dive at 12:10 PM to the Tangat wreck was good also. We explored more around the wreck but saw a good amount inside. There was a slight current but it really wasn’t an issue. Around the wreck, I saw more sea life than the other wrecks—scorpionfish, and a large white nudibranch. For the dive, I went down to 30 meters for 48 minutes. At the end of the dive I had to do a required decompression stop at 3 meters for 6 minutes. There, Franek was waiting for his buddy to complete his 25 minute deco-stop at the same depth! A huge difference in dive computer algorithms based on similar dive profiles. Franek was bored so he decided to play tic-tak-toe on his dive slate.

The sharp and slightly scary rocks we had to climb over to get to Barracuda Lake.

The last dive of the day was at Barracuda Lake. This dive, by far, was the most unusual dive I’ve ever dived. To get to the lake, you have to swim to then hike over sharp rocks with all your scuba gear. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wear wet suits for the dive because it gets to be over 100 degrees F / 39 degrees C. The lake consists of layers of freshwater and saltwater varying in temperature from 102 F (39 C) down to 84 F (29 C). The top layer is cool freshwater but as you descend down you feel the warm then hot saltwater. The hot saltwater is easy to see in the water

At the bottom, there is a soft, thick layer of silt that you can dig your hand deeply into. The best though was when a Divemaster rammed his head into the silt and layed there vertically head first. It was a hilarious sight to see. Several others in the group including me tried it out. It’s weird burying your head in the silt, upside down, and still being able to breath. I tried blindly taking a picture of myself but just shot my pressure gauge. Too bad.

Erich takes his BCD off to cool off?

Walking around with a tree underwater. Really strange.

Diving with only a tank and regulator...Strange!

Reflecting rocks at the surface.

The silt part of the dive was just the beginning. While we swam along, the temperature of the water got to a point where it was suffocatingly hot—similar to being stuck in a hot sauna with a mask on and breathing through a regulator. For some reason, Sara and Erich were taking off their BCDs then putting them back on. I noticed the Divemaster that stuck his head in the silt before was only diving with a tank and regulator—no BCD—and was walking around carrying a tree? Erich stole Sara’s fin off her foot and swam away. The whole dive felt like an underwater circus. Was everyone having a case of nitrogen narcosis? Everything was so surreal and unlike a dive I almost lost forgot to keep track of my dive time and profile. All good things come to an end and so did the dive at Barracuda Lake. Once we got out of the water, we hiked back over the rocks, and swam back to our boat.

Tranquil evening waters in Coron bay.

After cleaning up, I and several others hung out at the Sea Dive Resort where we went on the Internet with my laptop. Despite having free wireless Internet conveniently close, I didn’t get a chance to get much journaling done. It wasn’t like I had several hours a day to write and update my journal. We were all busy doing other things plus whenever I had my laptop out, others wanted to use it to. It was fine, I was on vacation. Maybe I should get away from the computer anyway.

Franek writing notes for his journal.

After everyone was bored using the computer, Erich, Sara, Nina and I went to downtown to get some food supplies for the next day at Caluit—SkyFlake crackers in various flavors and a few other things. Later in the night, we stopped over to Helldivers Bar for some drinks and pool. Back at our rooms, there was no running water—which wasn’t a first at our rooms and is very annoying. So, I had to go to the Sea Dive restaurant to get some fresh water. Additionally, we frequently lose electricity and have cockroaches in our room. Well, at least it was only 280 pesos/night total with two persons per room.

- jason