The Coral Gardens of Talikud
Posing with a clownfish
Before I took up scuba diving, the place called Coral Gardens was my favorite snorkeling site. Now I don’t think I’d ever be satisfied with just swimming on the surface in this aquatic haven. I had my second and third dives there today — each with a different entry point.
(I’m not sure how big the area is, but if taken from end to end, I’d say the Coral Gardens site is about half a kilometer long. But I could be mistaken.)
Honeycomb oyster
On the latter dive, I saw what I first thought was a clam, about the size of a plate, with a zigzag mouth. But after googling it, I found some images showing what I saw, and now I think it was a honeycomb oyster. (The picture shown here is from What’s That Fish?.) It was attached to a rock and partially covered with seaweed and small sponge coral.
A Korean diver
Here’s another newbie diver, in a better shot with the clownfish and sea anemone. The visibility was actually quite good, but this guy’s companions were stirring up the sand so much….
If only it were a problem of reduced visibility due to their kicking up a sandstorm down there, fine. But some of them, this group of Korean kids, were standing on coral while waiting on their companions. One of them was thrashing so much he hit a flower coral a couple of times.
Once I’ve received my SDI open-water license and gotten to know more divers in Davao (especially the more respected, long-time divers), I’m going to ask for their support to have dive shops post notices of diving best practices at their premises. And I’m going to have the notices translated to Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Here are some more photos from today’s dive, taken by Richard, one of the dive masters of Carabao Dive Center:
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- Two sea slugs…
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- …mating?
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- Clownfish
Tomorrow will be another two dives for me. I’m actually done with the skills training, so Sunday’s dives will be for fun. If they take me to Coral Gardens again, I wouldn’t complain. There’s so much to see there that I could spend hours and hours of bottom time before I get tired of it.
Since it’s a very well-known dive site, dive operators protect it. However, I did see a couple of cracked blue sea fans, and a table coral (that’s bigger than my bed!) with a huge chunk broken off. Also, coral bleaching is everywhere to be seen.
Can’t wait to get my license already!
Speaking of which, I highly recommend the instructors at Carabao. They’re very professional and it’s evident that they take great pains in ensuring their customers’ safety and training. The Carabao Dive Center is a full-service dive shop that operates dive tours, conducts scuba lessons, rents out all sorts of equipment. One of the partners owns two dive boats, and every weekend they always have groups going out to dive.
Destructive divers not welcome | Davao Gulf needs help! | Advocating for marine life | Scuba diving | Front-page news!
10 Responses to “The Coral Gardens of Talikud”
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[...] hundred meters or so into deeper sea from the Coral Gardens, there remains one buoy that’s meant for banca to latch on to. They don’t use it, [...]
Will be getting my cert when I get back home :) Did you get your own gear yet?
Not yet. Hinay-hinayun nako na kay gastos kaayo. Unahun nako ang basics: mask, snorkel, fins, booties. Kana pa lang hapit na 20k! Found the best mask for me – Cressi Big Eye.
Good idea talaga yan kuya, yang idea mo na best practices notice sa dive shops. At dapat nga talaga kuya naka-Korean ang sign, kasi wala sila respeto sa dive sites natin. Marami na yata nasirang corals dahil sa mga Koreano na divers. Tsaka di kaya dapat sabihan sila wag galawin ang mga corals bago pa sila magdive?? Frustrating talaga kuya eh.
Obviously you’re a diver. I hope more & more of us will feel the need to protect our marine environment. Thanks for reading my blog!
Blogs!!!! Your dive posts make me miss diving even more!!!!
Then come to Davao, you & the Jedi, and let’s go diving!! ;)
I really want to learn diving para naman ma-explore ko ang wonders underwater. Kapag natuto na ako, I’ll go back to Davao and let’s dive together! :)
Yes, let’s do that! :)
Wow! This is really a great place to visit. Davao really has so many wonderful tourist spots that people should visit.