Night Diving at Palm Beach, Marigondon

As a child, I remembered Marigondon as a weekend refuge from the city life for me and my big family. This is where we usually spend Saturdays, Sundays and all the public holidays specially when the tide is high. We all love the sea so much that we would stay in the water from the time we arrive til its time to go. I would get prune hands it would hurt all night but as a child, it never mattered then.

nudibranch - looking so fragile

However now that I'm crazy about scuba diving, this is how I spend most of my time in Marigondon lately. I didnt realized until now that it has a very vibrant marine life. No matter how many times I dove in this place, there is always something new to see or discover every time. Recently a friend of mine has been asking me to buddy with him for night diving almost every day. And like day time scuba diving there is always something new that we discover. Only that it is more interesting. Night diving is always a different experience, most creatures that you encounter during night time you may not see them during the day, ie. cuttlefish, brittle star, etc. But most of all, we usually feel more adrenalin as it can be a scary thing diving in darkness. I remember my first night diving experience, I almost peed in my wet suit when I was staring at the wall that feels like there is something that will appear ready to eat me alive anytime.

frogfish - so ugly looking yet so beautiful!!!

In one of our dives, we saw a white nudibranch with yellow highlights, which I havent seen before and a frogfish which I thought doesn't exist in this area but with a stroke of luck we saw it a couple of times now. I wish that the local government would protect this area from boat anchors and dynamite fishing, so we can all enjoy this gift of nature. God I love this place and night diving here makes it my top spot in Cebu and Mactan Island. This has become my favorite diving site in the area now, however you have to watch out for the tides, the current can be nasty when its going low. The best time is when the tide is going high or during high tide.

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Stop! Dynamite Fishing

Since I was young I've heard about dynamite fishing being practiced in our small island - Mactan.  I never really saw this happening however I've heard from my parents and others.  My mom used to tell me that the fishes sold in the market were caught using dynamite fishing.  I never really know what this means before but since I started diving many years ago, I realized how this method has damaged our reefs.

Dynamite fishing or blast fishing is a destructive way of catching fishes.  The fishermen uses a bottle full of kerosine or gasoline and insert a cloth which serves as a wick and then they light it and throw it in the sea and then it explodes underwater.  Unfortunately the blast kills everything in its way including the corals.  There are some fishermen that aren't lucky and blast their hands in the process.  I know a few.  The fishermen also does not realize that this method leaves them very little fishes for human consumption and most dead fishes are turned into pieces and are left underwater for other species to feed on and yet, kills the natural habitat of fishes to breed.  This is very sad.  Although the government is trying their best to stop this way of fishing, but it is very hard to crack the system.

I thought it has been stopped since the construction of many international resorts on the island has somehow prevented local fishermen to do this around the reefs, however just recently while I was diving I heard blast underwater.  It did sound very near us but we never saw it.  Sound travel fast underwater, it may be very far from us however it sounded so near.  The dive master confirmed that it was dynamite fishing.  I thought to myself, no wonder there are no great reefs around the area and fishes has declined in numbers.  I wish the government will do something to rid this practice, so we have a sustainable environment and nice reefs for us divers to enjoy.