I called it Twin Peaks. My dive buddy, Emy, chuckled because that was a title of a TV series. Can't have senior moments diving, can I?I've done just a few dives here in the Philippines compared to the over-100 that I did in Timor-Leste and Bali when I was there starting in 2006. Luckily for the few that I've done in Batangas, I was able to dive the famous San Agapito along the Verde Island passage. This place is dubbed the "center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity" by the World Conservation Union (WCU), now known as the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Twin Peaks will always be special. It was the first time I swam with bigeye (I guess) trevallies. I was mesmerized as the school swam around me giving me a treat of a lifetime. Being so close to them as to see clearly their eyes, their individual silvery bodies shimmering yet the school itself appears a threatening dark cloudy moving mass. They know you are there yet they seem to ignore you by welcoming you in their vortex. Photos of divers in a trevally vortex are quite common and make for arresting photos. But being in that vortex yourself is just awesome.
I touched a batfish! The fishes swarmed around dive master Danny when he let out bread in his hand. I wish I could touch that one big batfish, I thought, because Danny just did. As if looking for more after Danny's offering, the batfish came around once again but this time right in front of me. Perhaps curious of the others that nibbled on my fingers looking for seconds, it swam steadly right towards me and then I touched it. What an experience!
Batangas has really amazing dive sites! The relaxing shallow and wonderful dive at Twin Rock was just the way I would like to close a dive weekend. Thanks to dive buddies Jeng, Emy and Danny (a very good DM!). Thanks, too, to Inday, Gigi and Jojo who are nice (terrestrial) buddies.
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