Epic 2022 Siquijor Trip
I am in the very happy situation that I live close to Dauin, the muck diving capital of the Philippines (an unofficial title probably shared with Anilao) and get to dive there almost every week. I made it through the pandemic as non-dive-deprived as possible. Still, as soon as travel opened up again (there were travel restrictions between provinces in the Philippines) I went on a brief dive trip to visit my friends at Apo Diver in Siquijor.
When my mates started a dive shop, they had assumed that Siquijor would merely be a jump-off point for diving trips to nearby Apo Island. But then they found out that Siquijor’s diving is at least as good, and better in some respects, than Apo. These respects are a lack of crowds, and excellent, superb night dives! So, “Apo” remained in the name of their dive shop, but they dived mostly Siquijor. And in March I got to join them!
The highest highlight of the trip was the sighting of a wunderpus. This is a rare octopus which is closely related to the mimic octopus. Both of these animals are capable of mimicking other animals, like the spiny crinoid or the venomous lionfish. What a treat for the underwater naturalist! I stayed with the animal for a about 20 minutes. Check out the footage I got:
Mermaids
We also shared our boat with freedivers for one day, and I got to film then. Freedivers look so much more elegant underwater than scuba divers with all their clumsy gear. I am a very mediocre freediver myself (I am too jacked, all the muscles need a lot of oxygen), but I love filming freedivers in action. As usual, the shallower you are underwater, the nicer the colors will turn out:
More Night Dives
The wonderpus wasn’t the only interesting critter we saw at night. For some reason the flatworms were extremely abundant, and a number of otherwise rare shrimp species, like the marble shrimp. We also saw a snake eel too, stoically waiting for prey fish to swim by. The water was full of plankton at night, that probably contributed to the rich nocturnal fauna, together with the well-protected reefs in front of San Juan, Siquijor.
Some Stills, Too
You might have noticed when following my underwater adventures that I have drifted to filming from still photography during the last year. I still like to take pictures of course. Here is my output from Siquijor: Again, the flatworms are what impresses. As usual, all my images are Creative Commons, non-commercial, free to use with credit for non-commercial uses.
Sea Snake Aktschn
On another night dive, a snake came wayyy too close to the testicles of my mate Kay. He could just barely nudge the venomous reptile away with his dive light. The snake didn’t act with bad intention, but it was still a hair-raising encounter:
Paliton Wall
This is probably Siquijor’s most famous dive site. Beautiful how the tropical light hits the wall. The wall drops below 50 meters, and of course we didn’t go that deep. There is the aspect of scuba diving where I love observing the animals which live in the ocean, but there is also the very visceral aspect of flying, of floating in mid water over the abyss, drifting next to a vertical wall unconstrained by nasty gravity. The latter aspect you get fabulously at Paliton Wall.
A Lot of Fish
In a lot of places in the fish have been eliminated to a large degree by too much fishing. In these spots there are few fish, and those which are still alive a re small. A marine protected area in the south of Siquijor looked different: large schools of large surgeonfish. A conservation success story, likely paired with a beneficial spot in terms of high plankton densities.
Finally, Where Did This even Happen?
And, where is all of this going on? San Juan, where Apo Diver is located, is about 20 minutes by car from the harbor in the island’s sleepy main city, which is called Siquijor, Siquijor. I want to start a pub in Siquijor, Siquijor, and call it Siquijor: It would be Siquijor, Siquijor, Siquijor. Happy travels now that it’s possible again!
