I only knew about the typhoon yesterday afternoon. It’s really odd since it’s still supposedly summer and we never had typhoons in May. Well, that’s climate change for you. The typhoon is still on eastern Philippines while we are in the west. However, this typhoon is pulling up winds from the southwest where we are.
It was a good thing I chased the sun yesterday and did freediving until sunset. Diving today was just exhausting. It wasn’t raining but you can feel the swirling currents even just looking at the surface.
Battling the currents at Sombrero island was beyond what my will power can take. I was on standby mode so I can take care of my sister-in-law and my nephews who are novice snorklers, so they had to wear life vests. My older nephew and my SIL were taken away by the current; my SIL was brought back by the boatman from another boat with me pushing/guiding my SIL’s behind and then I guided my nephew to my diving buoy. We secured the buoy with a long line connected to the boat and that was their anchor. Meanwhile, I was also keeping an eye on my daughters who were diving on their own. I told them to keep close to the line.
What makes this dive such a disappointment was that the corals are dead. It wasn’t like this four years ago! This is coral bleaching, I thought. The die off was massive and it broke my heart.
Upon research, my suspicion was right that there was massive coral bleaching, not only in Sombrero Island, not just Mabini, but it seems like the whole of Batangas. This paper described the bleaching in Lian town, while this news article written by my friend talked about the bleaching in Calatagan.
This happened in 2020, the year we had to stay in place because of Covid.
The worst thing here is, we couldn’t do anything about it. It’s the rising temperatures that kills kilometers and kilometers of coral reefs. 😭
We shouldn’t have spent an hour battling currents. I told the boatmen to proceed to the cove in Maricaban Island, near Sepoc Beach. The beach there offered calmer waters and better living things. These were not coral gardens but gardens nevertheless and it looks like the start of a coral colony.
The boat ride back to the resort was scary as it began to rain. The wind was picking up. It was the end of this diving trip.
After a buffet lunch, we spent the afternoon warming our bodies here in this pool while it rained. Parts of Mabini have hot springs owing to the stratovolcano, Mt. Panay, on the western side of the peninsula, where we are.
We couldn’t do anything the rest of the day. It didn’t stop raining. So I finally asked the front desk for a massage, then had it after dinner to remove the huge knots on my back and shoulders.
My masseuse told me that there are several resorts for sale in the area. If only I have millions to spare…