Davao Gulf needs help!

Yesterday I had my first two official dives as part of my scuba certification program under SDI, administered by the cool people at Carabao Dive Center. We did Coral Gardens and the Dapia Wall, both found around Talikud Island, Samal. That was my first time to dive Coral Gardens, which is also a great spot even just for snorkeling. The seabed near the island is relatively flat, but gradually slopes down as you go farther to sea. I went as deep as 63 feet and stayed underwater for 55 minutes… but it seemed the dive was much shorter than that! I was having so much fun it didn’t seem I’d already spent an hour.

The coral colonies are quite large and are made up of many varieties. You’ll forgive me for not being able to name them — I’m not yet very familiar with the various species of coral and other marine life that thrive in the Gulf of Davao.

‘Thrive’, however, is contingent upon our actions. What I saw during those two dives (and in previous underwater excursions) opened my eyes to the reality of pollution and what it’s doing to the marine environment. There are also large swathes of dead coral to be seen. I was told that those are the remnants of a severe crown-of-thorns plague sometime ago. Local fishermen had all but wiped out giant triton shells in the area, you see. Triton are the crown-of-thorns starfish’s natural predators, also a delicacy among locals.

Other cases of devastated coral colonies were caused by boats’ anchors dragging on the sea floor.

The second site, the Dapia Wall, is a long coral reef that can be enjoyed by divers up to a depth of about 120 feet or so; I went only as deep as 62 feet. The visibility was really bad that day (~5 feet) when we entered the waters, though, but it cleared up at about 60 feet, where I saw an explosion of coral varieties and schools of fish. I saw several fan coral that were bigger than me; table coral that were more expansive than my grandfather’s dining table; a violet bulb anemone with the cutest clown fish I’ve ever seen.

I also saw a shoe, plastic and foil food wrappers. Next time I dive, I’m going to bring a net bag. I’m going to be a scubasurero!

The turbidity, according to the dive master, was caused by soil erosion, caused in turn by heavy rains.

Veteran divers have informed me that the dive sites around Samal and Talikud islands are world-class. A seasoned Australian diver who was with us yesterday exclaimed right after he surfaced from our Dapia Wall dive that it was “marvelous.”

We soon won’t have much to marvel at underwater, if we don’t act now and try to stanch the effects of pollution and wasteful human activities on Davao Gulf.

Do you have similar stories of dive sites in your area? Good or bad, please share them so that more people will come to appreciate the beauty of the seas and become more aware of the need to protect the marine environment. Join us on 8 June 2011 for Blog Action Day: Save Our Seas!

Photo credits: Bing Peña. SPS badge by Ia Lucero, using photo by Jayvee Fernandez.

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