Today, as we further explore Donsol, Phillipines Sam and Dad go Scuba Diving at Manta Bowl. The day starts in a tiny tricycle that can barely fit us. When we get to the dive shop our scuba instructors show us what the day will look like through a beautiful hand drawn diagram. We met the others that we’re going on our tour with us after learning about the dive.
Once we finish the briefing we make our way to the boat, where we have to walk through the water to get to it. When we get on the boat they take us to San Miguel island where we do our first dive. After getting suited up we do a backward entry into the water. Once everyone was accounted for our group descended. We went down slowly, equalizing our ears when necessary. When we made it to the bottom we swam slowly along the bottom. There was many cool things to see, such as vibrant sea slugs, colorful fish, and majestic coral.
As we continued we went along an underwater cliff covered in life. There was an overhang we made it to where we were able to see many amazing things. Near the entrance was a huge coral fan that was beautiful. Other things we saw in that area was a sea horse, stonefish, lion fish, a huge sea slug, and many other cool corals and fish. Our dive was cut short though because dad was running low on air. On our way up we did a safety stop and were able to see a super cool sea snake and some more cool fish and corals. Our guide launched bubble rings at us which were mesmerizing and super cool.
After surfacing we drove to our next dive spot which was the Manta Bowl. Our boat went way out into the middle of the ocean where there was a shoal that was the Manta Bowl. So we got suited up and dropped in. There was a somewhat strong current that pulled us from the starting point to the bowl. As we descended we drifted then stayed low on the bottom to avoid the full force of the current.
After swimming along to our target point we used metal hooks attached to a rope to hook ourselves to rocks so we didn’t need to swim. We waited there for a bit then our guide checked dads air and it was almost gone after only a few minutes. So we headed back up and dad even used our guides alternate air source because of how low he was. We did a safety stop then surfaced after only 20 minutes of bottom time. Our guide gave dad some tips on how to use less air, like taking a breath then breathing out for twice as long. The others were under for another 10-15 minutes at least.
Once everyone was on board we ate some lunch and circled around for an hour because we have to wait at least an hour between dives. Then we went down again, and this time were able to be there much longer. There were a few fish here and there and several sea urchins lining the bottom, but other than that not much. After hooking in we waited for the manta rays and after waiting a few minutes in one spot we tried another, and still no manta rays. We waited, hoping to see the rays but none showed themself. Just before ascending there was a school of tuna swimming near us which was really cool. As we ascended we hoped to see a ray but none came. So we sadly got on the boat and headed back to Donsol and explained that we hadn’t seen them to mom, which finished our day.
