Atheista -

I promise, there will be more pictures. My dive master had an underwater camera for the dive so I’m really thrilled to see the shots online. My group of seven braved the trip from Manila to Mabini and thanks to boundless enthusiasm and early bus trips, the gang was able to arrive at the Aquadventure dive resort around 7AM.

We had two dives for the day – a 38-minute excursion to the Cathedral dive site and a 39-minute trip to Twin Rocks. It’s really cool to go back to Cathedral because I graduated there. It’s been almost 9 years since I got my PADI certification – yup that long, no one even knows my dive instructor anymore (he’s Jay Cross by the way, does anyone know him?). Twin Rocks featured a massive school of jacks – that’s talakitok in local parlance. They are amazing creatures that seemed to move in a deliberate and synchronous fashion. It’s  great to be in awe of their grace and precision but it’s also a bit disconcerting that they’re the length of your arm! haha.

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The travel-oriented Couchsurfing is nearing one millionth sign up and just a few minutes ago Ben Hanna (one of the great people working under the Couchsurfing Project) shared that the site will be debuting a  new logo to comemorate this feat. The project was started years ago to allow for greater interaction between people of different backgrounds as they travel – allowing for greater communication and appreciation for the diversity in culture, traditions and beliefs all arond the world. I’m a member  of Couchsurfing and thanks to this initiative, I’ve been able to find other travel aficionados. In the past three months, I’ve been to Anawangin, Pinatubo and Sagada – all with Couchsurfers in tow.

Aside from the logo, Hanna also updated users regarding these changes:

• The Home tab has been removed to make room for your profile, giving you easy access to your settings and friend information. You can still get home by clicking the logo.
• To use search for a couch, just click on Surf/Host! This section will expand in the future to include useful tools for hosts.
• Community is no longer a jumble of links (whew!). Now, it’s where you’ll find the most useful tools for connecting with your local community, including your groups and events.
• The Messages tab will be pretty much the same. Don’t fix what isn’t broken!
• Share is a place to share your opinion of the project and your support of the community through donation and CS gear. Shirts with the new logo are coming to CS gear soon!
• The Organization tab will fill you in on all the details about how CS runs, who’s heading up the effort, and how this non-profit organization is structured.

Couchsurfing will be sending routine alerts on how close we are to the million. 

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Insane jumpshot (on the way to Bomod-ok Falls, December 25, 2008)

Towards the end of the year last year, my brother and I went up the the Cordilleras to spend a full week exploring caves, trekking and just relaxing after months of exhaustion. My younger brother and I rarely find common ground in terms of activities other than playing basketball so this was an excellent opportunity to experience new things together. Well, it’s not exactly that new. You see, I’ve been to Sagada, Mountain Province enough times for me to launch Visit Sagada while my brother was last  here almost a decade ago. He barely saw anything back then since he only spent about 16 hours before shuttling away to Baguio so he was really excited to see what he missed out on. Continue Reading »

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Ok, so for some reason this awesome jumpshot didn’t make AXN-Asia head hunters swoon and pick us as one of the twenty-four (24) teams for the AXN Asia Big Challenge so I had to make alternate plans for the weekend. Instead of running around inside a mall built on shaky foundations that may be claimed by the sea any minute now,  my teammate Angel and I will be going scuba diving off the coast of Anilao, Batangas this weekend. You see Angel recently graduated from PADI’s Basic Open Water Diving Course so he’s still really excited to go diving week after week. It has been months since my last dive as well so it would be great to be reacquainted with the denizens of the deep. Anilao boasts what it said to be the most biodiverse marine ecosystem in the world and as if that’s not enough, whale sharks – the largest fish in the world — have been spotted swimming in the area the past few weeks!  I’ll take this over AXN Asia Big Challenge any time.

And no, we’re not bitter. Good luck to all those who made. I’m sure we’ll be having more fun that you guys. Take care and stay safe throughout the race!

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Exhibit Title: Living by Water
When: May 12 -27, 2008
Where: Alcove Perspective, Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati Avenue, Ayala Triangle, Makati City Continue Reading »

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After languishing in the middle for many weeks, Tubbataha has broken through to claim the seventh spot in New7Wonders.org’s quest to list the seven new Natural Wonders of the World. Despite the fact that less than 0.1% of the Philippine population has seen this wonder – heck, I haven’t even met another blogger who’s also a scuba diver— Tubbataha Reef is in good position to land inside the Top 21 slots by year’s end. The twenty-one candidates with the most number  of votes will advance to the public voting stage wherein people from all over the world will be allowed to cast their vote online and via SMS.

Sharing the top spots with Tubbataha is Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh,  Ganges River in Bangladesh and India, Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Everest in China and Nepal and the Amazon Rain Forest in South America.

Notable wonders in the running include the USA’s Grand Canyon  (#16) and Niagara Falls  (with Canada, #17) and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (#21).

You may still vote.

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