Galera: The Tragedy

After finally getting added as one of Ethel’s friends at Multiply, I have mercifully gotten some of the pics that she took while we were at Puerto Galera. There were five of us who went to the popular summer destination - three of us, namely Yves and Cheng were also present during the Hundred Islands post-tournament escapade. Dammit, pictures of that trip has not been uploaded yet! Damn you Justin! Haha.

 

 

Believe it or not, three of us have not been to Galera yet. Ethel has been to places like Tuguegarao and Surigao, but she has yet to see how [un]fine the sand is across the Bay of Batangas. Cheng is also a first timer. Actually, this was supposed to be her first time in Punta Fuego. Yes, don’t ask. Move along.

 

The most notable Puerto Galera noob is of course, yours truly. I’m Batangueño and I lived roughly 10 minutes from the pier that has numerous trips to Puerto Galera daily. How did I find the place? This picture sums it up.

 

 

 

We went there Friday morning. It was the day that the mighty Dallas Mavericks were to face the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors. The Mavericks escaped elimination at home with a close win in Game 5 and they needed to win Game 6 to force a winner-take-all rubber match.

 

I f you’re not an NBA fan, here’s the low-down.

 

1. The Dallas Mavericks had 67 wins in the regular season out of a possible 82 games. This was the sixth best regular season win-loss record in the entire history of the National Basketball association - the record is 72-10 by the Chicago Bulls led by you-know-who in the mid 90s.
2. The Mavericks had four win streaks of 10 games or more, including a 17-game win streak. Ironically, that streak was snapped by the Warriors earlier this year.
3. Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks’ team captain, is the leading Most Valuable Player candidate. The award hasn’t been given out yet, but he will get it by all indications.
4. I have been rooting for the Mavericks since John Stockton’s retirement. I was originally a Jazz fan when I started watching the NBA back in 1996.

When we arrived at Galera, it was still the first game - Utah vs Houston (Rockets lead the Jazz 3-2). I still have a bit of Utah pride in me because I still have respect for Jerry Sloan and Andrei Kirilenko [the only two remaining relics from the playing days of John Stockton]. Carlos Boozer has been playing well of late while second-year guard Deron Williams has definitely stepped up as one of the best point guards in the NBA today. As luck would have it, the Utah Jazz were able to squeak a win in to extend the series to seven games.

 

The second game was pure… HELL. The Mavericks lost big against the underdogs. If it’s not yet clear to you, the Mavericks were the favored team to win it all. Everybody expected them to have a hard time against the Warriors, but nobody dared to say that they will lose four games to a 42-win team. Needless to say, my body suddenly lost the will to live after that. I ran a fever and suddenly became nauseous. Good thing Cheng has tons of drugs in tow. Yes, yes, UP Manila has a lot of students who are really into drugs - they’re called med and pharmacy students.

 

Despite my failing state of health, I was still determined to put this to good use.

 

For an almost decade-old PADI diver’s license, this sure looks pretty decent. Somehow, reading Darwin’s post regarding the Marco Vincent dive center made me feel like I wanted to give the reefs and waters of Puerto Galera a quick look. Unfortunately, my scuba diving pictures (i.e. the pictures that the boatman took while I was going into the water/ascending) are still in my digicam and I can’t locate the cord that would allow me to transfer the files to my PC.

 

 

 

Needless to say, it was awesome. Nobody else was diving that afternoon so for a good price, I was able to rent out scuba equipment, have an entire boat to myself (a speedboat) and be supervised by a dive master! The dive site that we went to was Manila Channel (yes, talk about lame names) and it was probably among the easiest dives I’ve ever done. The terrain is slightly sloping and the depth never really goes beyond 50 feet (I’m assuming the depth gauge was accurate! hehe).

 

 

The reefs were still intact, and the vaunted biodiversity of the area seems genuine as the entire dive was a taxonomist’s delight. I saw two puffer fish and both of them were flashing the familiar blue warning colors to ward off potential predators. I also saw a scorpion fish! Seeing one made me realize just how dangerous diving could get. But just the same, diving again after so long just affirmed that the feeling that gets from communing with the marine life is inexplicably exhilarating and yes, addicting.

 

The hands-down highlight of the dive was seeing a sea turtle! I’ve never seen a sea turtle swimming in the open sea and hovering about a huge specimen was absolute bliss. I would later find out through my fellow diver and friend Popo that sea turtles have been known to bite off fingers! Ack! All my fingers are still in place so I guess I was lucky there.

Midway into the dive, my left fin got loose from my foot! Hahahaha. In my excitement, I forgot to tighten my fin to secure it to my aqua shoes. Good thing I realized it quickly and I was able to swim to get it before it floated to the surface. Ironically, this is the second time this has happened to me! haha

 

Speaking of luck, it was really fortunate that my colds subsided shortly before the dive. As you all know, the pressure underwater is different from the pressure at sea level. For every 33 feet, the pressure increases by 1 atm! And with increased pressure comes to the risk of popping your ears. To counteract this, divers are instructed to do the Valsalva maneuver (Ok, pinch your nose and blow until you feel/hear your ears pop). By doing this, the pressures inside and outside the ear are equalized and your eardrums stay happy and intact. If you had a cold, the mucus would prevent you from equalizing. Failure to equalize can cause deafness or worse… you’ll lose your hearing. lololol.

 

What am I missing? Oh yeah. Puerto Galera has a beach. There are loads of people - and you all know how I feel about people. If I’ll ever come back to Galera, it’s definitey going to be for the diving and nothing else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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