Happiness - It's taken for granted all too often

 It’s one of those things isn’t it? I know that I am very fortunate (and maybe a LITTLE bit lucky) to be able to live the life I do.  I feel the need to explain the difference. Fortune is something that an individual can directly influence e.g. being able to find traction to stay in the Philippines because I (hope) I have earned it whereas luck is this abstract, some might say karmic, invisible force that randomly affects people along the way.

'Conquering' Sarawak, Borneo

Over the last 12/13 months I have adventured in the jungles, discovered the underwater worlds of the Philippines and spent time in my be-loved London. I think that you guys have enjoyed reading my writings as much as I have enjoyed producing them. I feel quite privileged that I have the stories to tell and the people to listen to them and for that, I thank you. Yes. YOU.

Spreading my 'good word' through
the Philippines

I appreciate I have been a tiny bit absent of late. I am not altogether sure as to why that has been the case either so I have decided that I will not be as arbitrary with my communications. I write as I sit here waiting to board a flight from Terminal 3 at NAIA Manila to Dumaguete – a place I call my home away from home... Duma-G not the airport. Why am I so excited? Well. If you were to ask me to say the first things that pop into my head it would go something along the lines of:

Seeing Tim and Zoe

Massive bro-hug with Jim

Soly and Kai’s big smiley faces

ALL of the staff. Can’t wait for a barrage of people calling my Byran (Adams), bum patting from the 

boat crew, trying to learn Visayan with the house keeping ladies, banter with the kitchen crew... oh gosh. EVERYONE

Getting into the water (and playing with my new gear)

Diving. Full stop.

The Sun. The Sea. The Sky. Capital S’s intentional

My family. Those who helped me
create MY balance and give me the support and 

I don’t know why but my heart skips a beat at the thought. My theory or life philosophy if you want me to be pretentious is one of creating balances. Pride is only a virtue if tempered by humility. Strength of mind is a good characteristic made only more creditworthy if offset by empathy... If you want me to translate this to life in London (the real world) then it would go something along the lines of this. On one hand life costs money. You need to make enough money to make yourself happy by giving yourself the options money bring. This feeds the practical side of you. On the other hand though, life is there to be lived, you have to have that something that feeds and fuels the passions that are the fire in your belly. If you are LUCKY/FORTUNATE you will get a job that will appease both but most people are NOT that lucky so you often have to choose one over the other. I have tried the money route. Didn’t do it for me. Right now, I am trying the slightly more selfish path of just making myself plain old happy. Let’s see how we go eh? I am extremely aware of how little I have actually said here but I think you’ll have to bear with me on that. I feel like I am on a roll.

I’m no Doctor Who BUT, it have now magically shifted from three days ago to today. KAPOW. I 

have been back in Liquid Dumaguete for a full two days. BLISS. Being picked up at the airport by Gery and his wonderful semi-toothy smile was a great way to be welcomed back. A few bits and pieces have changed most noteably Alf has decided to take a (Filippino) sabbatical which is basically an indefinite period of time off with a view to freelance and study more towards becoming a marine biologist.

Interestingly this concept of low season has passed us by. It was about 3 weeks ago that I called Zoe to ask if it was ok to stay in the UK for a few more weeks. At the time, it was QUIET. Turns out that lasted a night. So, we are very lucky to have Yannick working with us on a freelance basis. He passed his IDC with Tim last year. He’s a very good instructor and a all round general good guy. He has also readily stepped in as the resident attractive European man. Good to have you here buddy. Eric is also now a key member of staff working as our Fillipino dive guide. He is a mild mannered and extremely polite young man. He is a superb, if not short term member of the team.

What else has happened? Sundancer (our boat) has been dry-docked and refurbished. Now she not only looks tremendous but is also a lot more assured in the water. Have I mentioned I love this place? It is the little things that I am slowly remembering that are serving as a gently reminder of why I am here. If it’s not the constant, chirpy, happy, background noise of people’s chattering then it’s the noise of nature and it it’s not that then it’s the sound of the ocean or the view of Mount Talinis or the rice and fish that I had for breakfast. MAYBE, it’s the water. That could easily be the case. Maybe it is laced with something? I’ll do some experiments and get back to you. I know I am not the only one because we have had many guests who were due to be here for a few days who are still here a month later. AMAZING. There is a good cross section of cultures, nations and attitudes which all contribute to the wide-rangingly positive ambience that is floating in the air.

As another day ends...

I am not happily talking to guests or busily readying gear for a dive on the Dauin coast, I am playing cards with Tim, Jim and Zoe. There are many moments where I think about home BUT there are innumerable numbers of moments where I feel blessed (in the least religious way possible). Personally, I think we all need a few instances where we are forced to take stock and re-evaluate. Sadly, it is the darker and harder times where we do this like when a family comes together in the wake of a sick loved one. In theory I should use this paragraph to sell Liquid Dumaguete HARD but I am not, this place seems to sell itself. Instead, I am going to gently encourage you to have a think about what makes you happiest and make sure that you increase the time you concentrate on doing that. If you’re at a loss, try diving. It’s awesome. Especially here. (There’s the subtle sell). Make sure you indulge yourself a bit. Make sure to take the best especially from the jaws of adversity.

I’ll leave you with a song recommendation. A friend played it to me at Christmas and then again when I was home this time. It has the lyric “Long live living... if living can be this.” Right now I feel lucky AND fortunate to be able to say these lyrics as a mantra and believe it. Make sure you can do the same too. Thank for listening.

DiveMaster Life - a proleptic retrospective

The Dream Team

It has been an interesting generic period of time since the last time our literary paths crossed. I am, for once, not remorseful about the looseness of the consistency of my communications because, for once, I have been actually real-world busy.

The view I force myself out of bed for

I am becoming more involved with life at LD which I am immensely happy about. Naturally, this means I am maybe staying here a little while longer than initially planned so that means that you have more time to come and see me or if you’ve already been once before, then you have ample time to convert that yearning into come back here. It is rare that I will ever admit to this but my Dad has said for quite some time that I should work in the hospitality industry and I always gently (internally) agreed with him but I never really knew HOW on EARTH I could make that transition. It turns out that I have done it accidentally and have destiny and good fortune to thank for giving me this path. Thanks destiny. Thanks good fortune. You’re both awesome.

Look at the concentration on Isac's face

THIS is a Mola Mola. Yeah, I know, it looks like an alien

The last month has been almost utopian in the mix of the guests we have had ranging from two ultra laidback Chinese through to the Beer Jenga loving Scandanavian contingent and so the days continue to wander by sountracked by laughter, excitement and bottles opening. It’s just another day at Liquid Dumaguete. There have been MANY days recently where I walked out of my front door, stood on the balcony and looked out over the views punctuated by coconut palms, tiny boats, gorgeous blue skies with that glorious summer-ish breeze wafting around whereupon I smile to myself and think (in Louis Armstrong’s voice) what a wonderful world. Don't get me wrong, 


the oceans seem to be blooming with the joys of spring and excitement for summer. There have been continued sightings of dolphins on the way to Apo Island and from Sumilon. Ne'er a day goes by without countless stories of turtles (juveniles and dinosaur-like adults), sea snakes and a noticeable abundance of life on the reefs. This in turn has lead to an increase in predatory species to the area. Insta-disclaimer - Let me make this clear, they are predatory to other fish NOT humans. There are some HUGE schools of Jacks, a Great Barracuda, a whole school of juvenile yellowtail barracuda, trevally, a baby Whitetip shark and an adolescent Blacktip shark. AMAZING. Oh and (holy shit) - a Mola Mola - a Sunfish was spotted just down the coast from Liquid HQ.

The Zeagle Scout BCD

As a Divemaster, you are expected to have your own equipment. I am sure I mentioned the other day that I had bought an Aquamundo QR12 first stage and an AROQ2 second stage. They are excellent – pics to follow. This means, I have the breathing apparatus sorted, I have a masks (and dorkel), a noisemaker which is a metallic pink pointer with matching weight belt my favourite blue rash guard and a fetching pair of purple and gold basketball shorts for diving in. It turns out I need a Bouyancy Compensation Device - BCD - which is basically a jacket that you can put air in or take air out of to alter your underwater buoyancy. It is also the means to hold your tank in place and store all the bits and pieces you want to take with you into the blue stuff. There are many MANY types, details and personal preferences to take into account so regardless of whether you like it or not, I will explain why I chose the one I chose - the Zeagle Scout. My prerequisites include the need for a comfortable harness with an easily adjustable fitting system, a back mounted air bladder, lightweight when dry and versatile. I have taken advice and recommendations from many people and I am VERY excited to play with it when I get it. HURRAY!! 

It's not all work work work

It has been a nice time to sit back and think about how life has moved on to the current tangent. I have been a qualified PADI Divemaster for 3 months now and I seem to be enjoying it more and more everyday. If you imagine that is was a year ago today that I first emailed Zoe after a drunken conversation with Gav, a mutual friend of mine and Zoe's, about coming to Liquid. Having signed up for an initial 6 months, you have to remember that I do not think I had ever snorkeled before, I can honestly say that I regret NOTHING. THe life of a DM is not all sleeping on boats, sleeping on sofas or sleeping on the ground. There is diving to do, equipment to talk about and people to please. The INTERESTING thing for me is looking back to my humble diving beginnings and now understanding how they helped prepare me for doing what I do now. From the day arrived I knew I would be being trained in the right place by the right people seeing as the instructor to DMT ratio is usually about 1 on 1 or better (bearing in mind there are 5 instructors living and 'working' here at the moment).

I DO do stuff. HONESTLY I do!! 

Something that surprised me was how useful it was to talk to guests/customers/divers about their experiences and expectations which was made easier by to open plan communal spaces. EVERY NIGHT without fail you will hear talk amongst the hubub about dive gear, best practice, amazing sites and the inevitable nights out that precede too many early mornings after. From a trainee's point of view, the instructors or scheduling overlords employ the stick and carrot method to incentivise you. If you work hard, push yourself and go the extra mile (e.g. cleaning gear even if you are not diving) you will enjoy life much more. The package is set up to help minimise daily living costs and negate the need for additional diving cost so your biggest expense is usually the bar tab, the academic materials as well as any gear you may choose to buy for yourself. The best part for me happened without me really noticing until the time was long passed - you basically end up guiding dives and learning about dive shop operations by the time you finish. THAT is the part I really liked and is super transferable. Interestingly for me, it was not until I had been to other dive shops and seen how they run that I realised what a well run and tight operation Liquid has. Let's not forget that you live, entrenched in a team of like minded people whom you can learn with and from with the prospect of the next beer or Dumatini just a few hours away! Hurrah!! 


I know I talk the big talk about life here but I refuse to use anything but gentle exaggeration, hyperbole and superlatives. To put it bluntly, I am called ALL of YOU out on this. Come find out for yourself (that I am right). I would love to see you.


For now my friends,


Massive amounts of Love (with a capital L),


BeardFace

SEE! Me Demonstrating a 'BSAC ascent'

The day that made me smile to the core of my heart

I am only half a man without my pipe

Friends, another period of time has passed and thankfully we are reunited with our physical and mental health intact. For once I shan’t go down the faux-extistensial route about how fragile life is and how much we should cherish every second. Instead, I am going to tell you the story of what I consider to be the best full day – start to finish – almost since I first arrived here.  I appreciate that this a bold and superlative fuelled statement but I have slept on it for a few days and I stand by it.

Liquid Deco Shots - they're dangerously moorish

I will provide you with a little back story for your literary delectation. The resort has been FULL almost to the point of referring to its fullness as chock-a-block which is good for many reasons but mainly because a full resort is a happy resort. All the DMs and DMTs are busy, there is a full diving schedule and the gentle hubbub has been turned up to a roaring cauldron of activity. I have moved out of the DM village and into Grandma Darlene and Grandpa Al’s house with Our Old Friend as acting caretakers which I am very happy about not only because we get on very well BUT because it is nice to have your own self contained space AND the number of hilariously conjugated retorts never ceases to amaze me. Oh and the Liquid Deco Shots have been flowing.

Jari doing his thing

We have a new Rescue Diver/DMT to accompany Berlinda in the ‘journey’ to DiveMasterdom. His name is Jari from Finland and he will be juuuuust fine. If you imagine arriving to a new home to a game of Beer Jenga which had been underway for a while (therefore a fair few drunken people around), he settled straight in to bantering and drinking like a trooper. Welcome Jari. We look forward to many MANY more nights ahead.

The restaurant has been through a bit of a re-structuring under the guidance of Elin and so far the new roles are working like a dream. The standard has somehow increased with a new tinge of variation and much as it feels like a silly thing to talk about - the seasoning is now exemplary. I do have to add a small side point which relates to dessert. You and I already have preconceptions as to what ingredients usually furnish the sweet course of a meal so have a think on this – coconut porridge or maja blanca (coloured blue not white) with sweetcorn or banana and CHEESE crepes. Let me explain now thought that 90% of the time the desserts are magnificent but I had to give an honourable mention to these three.

For those of you who know me, I like to get a job done and I like to do it well. The hallowed day that I speak of is one of those rarities where I came away feeling like I could have done nothing better than what I did. The last few days had been busy in a fairly arbitrary way. I am affectionately known by the other local DMs as a DRIVEMaster as well as a DiveMaster because they see me driving the dive jeep as often as they see me leading dives. I have acted as an interim boat mechanic (I love getting messy trying to fix stuff); a dive guide and buoyancy guru, a never ending source of local knowledge, a cocktail developer as well as a focus for humour and beer. It was on a day punctuated by driving, carrying, liaising, smiling and planning.

The Cars - one Ferrari and one BMW

We had two new guests from Taiwan who were pretty serious divers and photographers who had been left in my charge to take them for two coastal dives using the Lobster. First of all, I LOVE driving that vehicle (it somewhere between a car and a tank). Secondly, as you know, I like to help newbies and pass on something I love, BUT it is wonderfully refreshing to dive without having to worry as much about your fellow divers’ ability. I was a TOUCH nervous because it is often the divemaster’s job to find little critters, interesting things to see as well as showing the dive site, this becomes increasingly prevalent with the divers’ ability mainly because the more ‘run of the mill’ fish you have seen, sadly, the less they are the focus for photographers. We were going to a site called Cars. Why is it called Cars? Is this a whitty, kooky joke? Nope. Basically there are two cars and a bunch of other foreign metal object sunk in the water at around 25metres. But this is pollution no? Under managed circumstances metal objects vastly encourage marine growth and much more so than natural organic matter. It will take around 6months for a metal object to be teeming with life whereas wood will take a few years to become ensconced with macro life.

Scorpion Fish

Ornate Ghost PipeFish

We walked into the water from the shore and meandered our way towards the cars. Me being me, I decided to take an alternative route via a few mooring blocks I knew of an BINGO we started off with a Donald duck shrimp and three sleeping juvenile lion fish. Confidence was on its way up. We moved deeper along the slope and found a few small coral lumps and some tangled rope where Cathy found a beautiful flamboyant cuttlefish – AWESOME. The three of us were a good team. I searched out the broader area ahead, I would alert Cathy to what I had found and she would wait for Star to come with his huge sea monster of a camera rig.  Star was busily and expertly taking photos always being careful not to get in anyone’s way or interrupting our marine hosts. I will not over describe what else happen EXCEPT what we found: two species of moray eels intertwined together, a scorpion fish, a large Sea Moth with iridescent blue fin tips, a bunch (not sure of the collective noun) of Lion fish – BEAUTIFULLY DANGEROUS, glass shrimp and 5, yes FIVE ornate ghost pipefish. The pipefish were a huge deal for me because I had never found ANY on my own before and they were the FIRST critters I was ever shown back on my first dive with DM Dan back in the day. Back then I had not real interest or understanding of the skill it takes to spot these tiny, camouflaged creatures so there was a nice circularity there for me.

There was a tidy little challenge embedded within this dive because it appears the Star and Cathy did not really need to breathe underwater, so for the first time in a LONG time, I was having to carefully monitor and ration my air consumption. It turns out that after an hour dive with most of it at a decent depth which increases consumption speed due to increased pressure and therefore air density, (well within our deco limits), we all finished with about a third of our air left. AWESOME DIVE. I could quite happily say that it was one of the best dives I have ever had the honour of being on let alone led. Adam = Happy BeardFace. The rest of the day panned out nicely, with fun and laughter, drinks were drunk and stories were shared. BLISS.

Since then I have lead many MANY customers around and continue to see amazing and beautiful creatures. I think I am in love with the ocean a little bit. I now have a favourite nudibranch (literal translation – naked lung because they breathe through their skin) Funeral Jurona. Having a favourite nudibranch was something I always gently scoffed at when i first started diving however, now I understand what the fuss is about. Look them up. 

Life here is becoming increasingly addictive. The people I call my friends are slowing setting up camp the long term section of my heart and I continue to look forward to writing to you. ALL OF YOU.

I have not been listening to as much music as usual BUT somehow (and I am not usually a fan) but FatBoy Slim’s – Don’t Let The man Get You down(Pay Your Debts) has been on constant rotation in my brain. Maybe it’s the aptness of the line “and the long haired freaky people need not apply...”

I hope whatever you are doing and wherever you are, I find you in good health and high spirits. I cannot wait to see you again and when I do... HUGS ALL ROUND!!! Hurroo!!

Love as usual,

BeardFace

A special thanks to Star, Mark Pacey and Anna for letting me use their photos in this blog!

PS. TELL YOUR FRIENDS

PPS. Yeah, that is a photo of me with a magnifying glass and 'smoking' my pipe while diving

Life - it's worth thinking about

It feels like a long time since I first wrote but let’s be honest with eachother, sometimes life gets busy. Yeah, I know what you are thinking but I DO do things quite often. I have daily chores and responsibilities

Firstly, I’ll give you a brief rundown of what else has been happening. Juilette and Laura are deeply entrenched in their DiveMaster training while Suzi finished hers INCLUDING the snorkel test. That’s her. The one in the pictures. PLUS a new DMT – Belinda – arrived. Hurroo!

Before

After

We have been diving at Siquijor and Sumilon a fair amount recently. I understand that I talk of these magical, mystical places full of curiosity and wonderment but why? Why?! If you’ll allow me to indulge my love of the analogy then I shall explain. If you imagine my head office – Liquid HQ – is where I work, there is the conference room (the bar); breakout rooms (the classroom and dive shop) and the training facilities (the pool). We also have a few satellite offices, partner companies and preferred suppliers – dive sites. These are the Dauin Coast, Apo Island, Siquijor, Sumilon and Oslob each of which gives us something slightly different but all equally important to us. Gotta love the corporate schpeil.

This is mainly another excuse to put a photo of myself up
BUT Siquijor is in the background

I look at Siquijor every day. I am fairly sure we all do because it is on the other side of the strait from us (it’s the island in the background there). I have been here for a while and wanted to dive over there pretty much ever since I arrived so when I was presented with the opportunity I bit off everyone’s arms.

I was doing two specialities – Deep Dive and Nitrox – so not only was I on a day trip, I was a student again. It appears I really like learning about things I like. Siquijor was dive 1 of my Deep Speciality and dive 1 of Nitrox. To make things better, Our Old Friend was my instructor. What are these specialties I speak of? Well, they are basically extensions of your certifications that allow you more options when it comes to diving and dive planning. Having the deep speciality allows me to dive to 40metres which is not necessarily important but interesting. Nitrox speciality is actually quite geeky and very cool. Basically it certifies you to dive with a different blend of compressed gas. A normal tank is filled with standard compresses air which is roughly 79% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen whereas Nitrox is usually a higher percentage Oxygen. This does not mean you can go deeper BUT it does mean you can stay at a depth for longer as I diminishes the risk and prevalence of decompression sickness.

The day started wonderfully well with the sun shining, the seas were amazingly calm and Sundancer was ready. We were a small group and spirits were high. Once we were in the water, which was a chilly 26°C (no sarcasm – it was COLD) Our Old Friend and I descended over the edge of the wall to our target depth of 36metres did some exercises and then slowly swam along the front of the wall gradually increasing out depth exploring caves and crevices along the way. I know I keep saying depth isn’t everything and it isn’t BUT it is a weird thought to be 12 stories UNDER the water. Dive two was my first Nitrox dive and it was fun. We were able to stay deeper than the rest of the group for the same time that they dived which in this case was a technicality but being deeper can often be useful if you are diving on a wreck or looking for something in particular at a given depth.

As if this wasn’t enough the NEXT day we were heading to Sumilon to finish my Deep and, just as a sweetener, we were going to hopefully go snorkelling with the local celebrities – whale sharks. Our Old Friend was in attendance and disco Phil one of our new managers. It is very rare for the three of us to head out together so, that day was a real treat. I was going to write a fair amount about my feelings of the whale shark trip and what goes on there but I think our fearless leader – Zoe – wrote a really great article on them already. HERE. Basically, there were 2 or 3 whale sharks one of which was around 12metres. I named him Humphrey. It was kinda cool for me because I was swimming back to the boat and I saw a turtle in mid-water so I stopped to look at him for a while. THEN Humphrey swam right up behind me and said hello. So at least I got to see him on my own without all the other people there. Perfect. The dives were great. I am certified to 40metres now. The company was even better. Thanks guys.

Me with Alan (in Blue) and Roy. Captions on a postcard please

It sounds silly but these days for me are made SO much better for me by hanging out with the boat crew despite not always understanding each other, the banter always flows. PLUS I get to indulge me love for music in poignant situations. Picture the scene. It’s a glorious day (in paradise). You’re on a boat with good good people. You have some of your favourite music in your ears. (this is the clincher) and you are lying on the very front of the bow of the boat. BLISS. There were many moments over these two days where I was struck by an overwhelming sense of euphoria. It’s an ALMOST indescribably perfect ethereal feeling that I have felt few times before and I doubt I will feel with such strength in the future. It takes me back to mantra I used to utter to myself a few years back when I was going through a tough time. FIND SOMETHING. GET INVOLVED. I still live and die by that. It can be something you connect deeply and emotionally with or something that fuels the fire in your belly but whatever it is and wherever it takes you, make sure have SOMETHING that fulfils your passions and get involved in it. Right now, I have travel, diving, adventure, my beard and the wonderful people I have left behind as well as those I am now surrounded by.  I am no genius, but please. Think on it. Feed your passions. They are important.

As I have already mentioned, music is a hugely significant part of my life. Recently, the song Biko by Bloc Party has been a focus. The lyrics plead ”if I could eat you cancer I would” because “you’re not doing… this alone”. Somehow the track feels uplifting and empowering while being gently punctuated by heart-wrenchingly thought provoking sentiments.  Last year I lost two very dear people to cancer. They were both awesome. They each shared an adventurous spirit with a noble, chivalrous and kind outlook on life. They were great friends to me. I like to indulge myself while listening to this song, the memories it helps to conjure and the warmth they fill me with. Peter and Mo. You truly were an inspiration. You are missed but your spirits live on!!

Jamiroqui – Blue Skies (Flux pavilion remix) – this might be for the younger folk out there. It is exactly what is says in the title. It is the audio representation of blue skies. Y’know, that soaring, timeless and ageless sensation you get when you see that gorgeous spectrum of blue that the sky has the unique ability to show-off. Thanks sky. You rock.

I hope this finds you well. I hope you are winning in whatever it is you need to win at. Most importantly, those people in life you care about know that you care.

Until the next time good people, take it easy.

Much love, Ads (beardface)

I love it when a plan comes together

I sit here as Juilette plays guitar, I sink further and further, deeper and deeper into and smug warmth that is almost comparable to a euphoric sense of content. Why would a man use such hyperbole with such little regard for those words not considered to be worthy of the term superlative? As Our Old Friend said to me today (as a joke as I took a slightly different path back from the beach) – “the last thing Liquid needs is a maverick Ads”. Well basically, I am coming off the back of an indescribably wonderful series of days. Admittedly, I said indescribable BUT, as you can guess, I am going to describe them now.

Let me set the scene. If you have been lucky enough to read some of my words before, then you will know how beautiful Liquid Dumaguete is. Let me go a little less mainstream in my description now. My name is Adam WonderBear Detre. You know this. I am called many things by many people BUT, those out there who know me best/closest they call me Ads or Bear. I don’t know whether it is something from childhood or whether it is the comfort of feeling close to someone purely by what/how they call you, regardless, I like being called by a familiar name. It was hard leaving the UK this time around so when I came back and my friends and family here called me Ads, it made the transition a little bit easier to the point of filling my heart with a little bit of joy. The people here managers, staff and guests alike are AWESOME.

I digress. Diving. That is what I do and that is why I have my alarm set earlier here than back home in the UK for my former office job. It has been a tremendous few weeks of day trips to Apo Island, Siquijor and Sumilon Island; on top of all this there have been a multitude of coastal dives and of course, a massive number of PADI certifications. My personal highlights include diving at Apo with Sandra. Much as she was a lovely lady, it was more what happened than with who. Gui and I were working together which is something I always enjoy and we had decided on trying the Coconut Point drift dive. A drift is when you drop in on a site that has a known current and you ‘ride’ it, much like skydiving sideways… underwater… This particular dive definitely got the adrenaline pumping as we hit medium-strong horizontal AND down currents gently sending us over a variety of Apo’s famously exquisite corals. Not only this, but in one of the few current shadows, we stumbled across a HUGE (bold, caps, underline and italics intended) fish called a Jack. I estimated it to be around 2-2.5metres long and maybe a 1metres tall. Let me put it this way, it put Morris the resident BIG Grouper (found at Publacion) to shame.

Earnie the Eel

Having worn the guests/students out a tiny bit, Gui and I decided to have a nice relaxing shallow dive to finish the day. Sandra and I wandered off around the shallows at Katu Panan – one of my favourite dive sites in the area – and we immediately blessed with the gift of a turtle feeding on some soft coral. He seemed pretty chilled out and very comfortable with us being there so we stayed for five minutes always respecting his space and not busying up his area too much. This is something I strongly believe in. We, as divers, are VISITORS to the underwater worlds so we should ALL leave stuff ALONE. Mini-rant done. We continued to wander around at around 7metres deep (it’s not all about depth y’know) and once again, lucky us, we stumbled across a fluorescent green hermit crab the name of which we have not been able to determine yet. Awesome. Quite content with having found these two I felt like my work there was done. Oh no. As if by magic, I was staring blankly at a rock trying to centre and focus my thoughts, during which and to my amazement, I found myself eyeballing an octopus poking his head out of a crack in said rock. Double-awesome. Ok, so at the risk of showing off, it does not stop there. Sandra had been asking to see a sea snake all day, so I was pretty keen to pander to her desires. It was as if I had set everything up so that while hovering at 5metres for our safety stop, I looked down to see an iridescent snake eel gliding through the corals. I nonchalantly tapped her on the shoulder to point it out and right on cue, she squealed with delight.

a tiny TINY crab

All this sounds fairly unimportant BUT as a DM (oh yeah, I passed all my exams) part of your role is to not only guide dives but also point out local wildlife. Anyone can spot a fish because there are loads but spotting a rare fish or a tiny organism or downright weird something-or-other is a bit of an art form. That afternoon was one of the first where I felt I was able to accomplish this to a creditable level. I have a LOT to learn from Alfred who has telescope eyes while being a bastion of aquatic knowledge.

Our Old Friend has recently started on the road to his dream diving job. He has started his Tec Diver training courses which will take him towards becoming a Tec Diving Instructor. What is Tec Diving? Isn’t diving diving? ‘Fraid not. There is recreational diving which is generally run by the associations you have heard of – most notably PADI and sends people down to 40metres (having passed a Speciality Deep Dive Certification). Tec Diving is more like what you imagine hardcore diving to be like - lots of tanks that look like jetpacks. Plus, from what I can glean, lots of clips and extra gear that sounds cool and does amazing things with minimal margins for error. There is an extraordinary amount of theory that accompanies the practical side of things and THIS in itself is worth looking it to. It covers everything from manufacturing principles and servicing through to human physiology and psychology. It is the closest manifestation of diving that I know of that takes it from being an activity to way of life. There is no limit or end to the learning and development involved. Plus it gives Our Old Friend and excuse to indulge his favourite activity – talking about, playing with and buying new dive gear.

This week has gently been soundtracked by The Stornoways – We are the Battery Humans. AND Bright Eyes – First day of my life. I could write for HOURS about this song. It is easily one of the greatest songs of my lifetime. Listen to it and create your own memories. You will not regret it I promise.

I have talked a lot today and I have not even mentioned the important bits that I was going to write about. I would have put exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence but I have the voice of my old English teacher shouting at me not to so please imagine that the last sentence was accented by three exclamation marks. I will try and give a brief photographic run down of what else has happened:

We celebrated the 30th year of Gui being born

The Liquid Dumatini was created

Eva had her snorkel test

I had MY snorkel test - Branston Pickle included

From all of us here - G'BYE FOR NOW!!  

Philippines - Papa's a-coming

2012. It’s been a funny year already but mainly in a good positive, good-foundation-on-which-to start-a-year kinda way. I left London and my family and friends at 7:30pm on the 31^st December only to wake up in Riyadh at 4:30am (I think) to the constant sound of mobile phone ringing. The sound of a phone ringing is no longer noteworthy but it seemed like the world I had woken up in was suddenly sponsored by the Nokia ringtone you know the one – diddle-dee-dee-dee-dee-DEEEE diddle-dee-dee-dee-dee-DEEEE - including  the airport tannoy.

I went home, back to London town, for Christmas and I have to admit that is was not relaxing but nor was I expecting or intending it to be. It was a maelstrom of social jitterbug of flitting and shimmying making sure I spent time with the people I wanted to while also crowbarring in those who make my life the wonderous joy that it is. I feel/felt the need to state my love for London and the UK because I do often as a retort to a remark like “I don’t blame you for leaving this hellhole”. I am proud to be English and swell with pride while wondering the street of my London town.

I have been ‘working hard’ (I add the inverted commas because I can imagine Dad laughing at the fact that I am calling it 1) working and 2) hard) while I was home and I am now a product/user tester for a few outdoorsy products. At the risk of sounding like I am kissing arse (ass for our American cousins) a bit, I have to say I am extremely impressed with what I have been given.

·         DD hammocks have given me a new sleeping system to test and so far I am very pleased to say that their new Travel Hammock/Biviis excellent. I cannot wait to go out Mount Talinis now.

·         Pelican cases have also given me an iPod case which is crush proof, watertight (but not submersible) and extremely light considering what it is able to do

·         Paramo have provide me with a pair of their Men's Maui Cotton+ Cargo Trousers. Anyone that has been following me for a little while will know that my jungle trousers from last year got obliterated so I set a few companies the challenge of providing me a decent pair and Paramo were the only ones to step up. Not only that but their use a very ethical supply chain (kind of like fair trade but for trousers) that starts in Bogota, Colombia. All else aside, these are a wonderfully well made and very light weight pair of cotton/polyester blend trousers. I already highly recommend them.

I am really quite unfashionably excited for my near and far futures. I know that any time spend at Liquid will be treasured for the rest of my life. There is a 99% chance that I am going to spend the second half of this year in Madagascar with an organisation called Frontier which would be a boyhood dream come true so you’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

It took me over 57hours to get from Heathrow to Dumaguete. I can hear everyone questions as to WHY OH WHY it takes me that long BUT I took a long way round and it was fairly cheap too. Manila NAIA Airport Terminate 3, an airport terminal I know intimately down to where the only power socket situated next to a chair is and the wireless password to three of the closed networks, was kind to me as usual. This time, I invested my time wisely by watching two parts of the Lords of the Rings trilogy (extended versions OBVIOUSLY) as well as a fair few episodes of The Wire. “Omar’s comin’ y’all”. I am tired but so happily excited to be getting back to the country/island/town/resort I call my home away from home. What should I do first when I return. Eat? Sleep? Dive? LIVE?!? Probably all of the above plus maybe a drink or two. I also need a hair cut but I think that that can wait. I am keen to meet Eva who is a new DiveMaster Trainee as well as all the many others imminently arriving over the coming weeks. (Gui has been busy).

I have bought a sack (disguised as an ASDA back for life) of treats for my co-habitants which got me thinking. What would I miss from the UK that I can’t easily get in Negros? I can access Ribena here which is something that makes me feel at home when I am away from the UK, I do not miss chocolate so much. Cooking-wise, Ricki and Peddi are able to turn their hand to anything so, my favourite at home which is chicken in breadcrumbs is available then necessary and then it dawned on me. I definitely miss my cat Li’l (short for little... because she is little). I also think I miss Hungarian Salami - something I was bought up on. I am not the most Magyar-ish of the Magyars although there are definitely Detre/Frankl traits that are beginning to shine through – mainly blagging and charming. This was bought to my attention when explaining my favourite Jedi mind trick to my extended family which goes along something like this. If I am faced with a situation which is likely to put a spanner in my works then I explain, regardless of my experience of the situation, that “It’s fine, it’ll be ok”. This is most useful when dealing with airports, aeroplanes or the staff that man these entities. I have not paid excess baggage since I first arrived in Asia and apparently I am able to use the staff facilities in both Saudi Arabian and Filippino airports mainly because “it’ll be ok.”

I have to admit that this entry of my life feels a lot like the gentle mental meanderings of a sleep deprived diving junglist without any mention of diving or jungling. I admit also that were it not for the sleep deprivation, the mental meanderings would probably be slightly more erratic. If you have a problem with that then you should probably have stopped reading a while ago. I ALSO think the jungle can be made into a verb. One CAN jungle.

Wild Child – Pillow Talk; Daughter – Candles and SBTRKT –Right Thing to Do were the main songs that highlighted and sountracked my sojourn back to the UK. I heartily encourage you to give them all a listen.

I could have summed this 1,092 words up in a couple of sentences:

Friends, family and London - I love you and I’ll see you again soonish. Liquid, my family there and Dauin – I love you too and Papa’s home!

Heading home (soon)

This week has been highglighted (for want of a better word) by the weather and if you want me to be more precise then I will specifiy the WIND in particular. If you imagine the scene, a glassy smooth ocean with the sun rising behind it and a gentle breeze cooling you to the perfect temperature then you will be and as I was imagining Liquid (I think that is the simplest abbreviation) on a normal day. HOWEVER, I had not factored in Beelzebub nor Aeolus. They are two fellas / mythic beings who should NOT be messed with. Naturally though, we had Roy, Vince, Julias and the rest of the boat crew on our side so we braved the high seas and went on an adventure to Apo. This is usually a fairly simple undertaking. The return leg was a lot of fun and most enjoyable with our implicit confidence in the crew. The seas were ROUGH with 10-15 foot swells. Having said all this, calm has been resorted to our little corner of the Philippines now and we are once again bless with glassy seas and sunny skies (MOST of the time).

Thursday 24^th November saw an away day for most of the staff and guests to the Drill Shack for a Thanksgiving meal. I am not American so you could argue that I am jumping on a bandwagon but if you ask me bandwagons are there to be jumped on sometimes. ESPECIALLY those that encourage togetherness, community and socialising with friends and family, close and new. Plus, I am pretty thankful in general at the moment AND I LOVE turkey. I consider this to be a warm up for Christmas – another time I love. I have pretty much finished my international christmas shopping so I hope (some) of you folks are looking forward to Filippino/Malaysian themed gifts!

I have recently made a new friend. She has gorgeous, glossy blond hair, blue blue eyes, a wonderful smile and she LOVES to use her tongue (bear with me)... She likes nothing more than lazy Sundays, long walks along the beach,swimming in the ocean and a drink at the end of the day. Her name is Polka and she is a golden retriever. Solymar and I WITH Polka’s assistance have been searching for treasure up and down the beach when we take her for walks. If we are lucky we have Captain Kai along for assistance. He is particularly good at spotting boats and the moon. He is pivotal to our success.

John and Ro left and to be honest, they were wonderful people and definitely brightened up the place with their laid back and cheerful demeanour. Don’t misinterpret that by imagining that Liquid is not still the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow BUT they helped us turn the joy-factor up to eleven. We have had a series of guests coming and going and we are currently fairly quiet with a fair few arrivals on the horizon.

I think I should probably start talking about diving a little bit seeing as that is pretty much my favourite passtime these days. Gui (with my assistance) has been certifying divers left right and centre and with James being the latest addition to the PADI Family (yuck, I can’t believe I just wrote that) having passed his open water and I now moving on to his Advanced Open Water cert. Chapel dive site at Apo? Yeah, I think so. Interestingly enough, Gui and I  were very lucky on our last trip to Apo because we (and by we I mean the boat crew) spotted a juvenile whale shark. I have heard rumors and stories of these beautiful creatures but I was not even close to being prepared for how majestic they really are. I named this one Andrew (in my head), he was roughly 4-5metres long and was quite content hanging out next to the boat while we gasped and excitedly chattered BUT for inexplicable reasons neither Gui nor I thought to grab our snorkels and jump in. This is something we mutually berate ourselves about often.

As for me, I have passed my first DiveMaster exams with 100%, yeah, I know, I am awesome and having assissted in enough courses to appease the criteria I am ploughing through my course while still managing to be in no particular hurry. I am heading home for a few weeks but fear not, not only will I continuing furninshing your internets with my thoughts BUT I will be returning triumphantly in January to finish off my certification and continue to make rainbow coloured waves in the PADI community. (Yeah, I know I look like a walnut).

Before I leave there is the important detail of Keith aka Lolo and his imminent depature. Being the gentleman that he is, and I use the term loosely, he has kindly bought a lechon for family, friends, guests and staff. I am hilariously excited about this. Filippinos know how to cook a whole pig. I will tell you in GREAT detail about it once it has happened. On a serious note, I will miss him for many reasons and the place will not be the same without him BUT is wonderful wife Claire arrives at the end of Jan so I look forward to that with excitement.

YEAH. That's numerical bullet points

I write this while getting my hair plaited. I needed to get that off my chest. I’ve said it now and there is nothing I can do to take it back. Judge me if you dare. It has been a fun filled and busy week here at Liquid headquarters. I’ll give you a quick lowdown.

1.       The DiveMaster Village has started to come together

2.       Sasha and I have passed our Rescue Diver course

3.       Stephen and Peggy left BUT now we have John and Ro (not to mention a hoard of French botanists plus another couple due tomorrow.

4.       Keith aka Lolo and Claire’s house has been completed and Keith spent a wonderfully cool first night sleeping there last night

5.       I have bought a dive computer

I’ll break these down for you as to why they are interesting/important/noteworthy. For Reference’s sake, I shall write a small directive relating to its numerical co-hort above. Interesting? I don’t care whether YOU think it is, I LOVE this kind of geekery.

1.       We/ I am very lucky to be one of the longterm “guests” here. I am one of three at the moment. There is Gui, the classically handsome French, butter loving Instructor; myself – hairy, happy, heart-makingly happy and our old friend – superbly knowledgeable, hard working and a good partner for propping up the bar. As an aside note, I personally use the term heart-makingly as the antithesis of hear-breakingly. If you have a better idea, please get in touch. WE are going to inhabiting the DiveMaster Village which will give us a room each with a communal self-contained eating, sleeping, sitting, washing, cooking, talking, eating and SLEEPING area. Yeah, I meant to put eat and sleeping in twice for added contextual importance.

2.       If you were paying attention you would have noticed that last week I wrote “Saniya and I successfully passed our Rescue diver exams”. There were a series of moments where we both thought we had finished the course (having being told so – a simple mistake to make), only to hear an “Oh no! There is a non-responsive diver in the water” or “where’s Gui? I saw him out in the reef about 100 metres that way” only to find him/them at the bottom being non-breathing divers in trouble. S’ok, we saved them. It took a fair amount of convincing to assure us that we HAD finished. We, are now RESUCE DIVERs ready to respond to your rescuing needs which being well accomplished and responsible rescue divers means we will pro-active prevent as many problems arising as possible.

3.       John and Ro are here with their limitless enthusiasm, smiling demeanour and GREAT diving videos. Four dives a day for the next week then? Don’t mind if I do! THANKS. The French ‘botanists’ arrive tomorrow so Gui will be able to happily talk to them in his mother tongue without fear of reprisal or the micky being taken. The interesting question is whether they like to dive? We have been informed that they like plants and nudibranchs. The trickier part is how they relate. The running thought is that PERHAPS they will like coral as well. I think they will especially because the coral here is magnificent and has left most of our past guests speechless. I look forward to their arrival.

4.       Keith’s house which is the lower floor if the grandparents’ villa has been completed. In the process, Tim and I were ‘asked’ to build Kieth a kitchen cabinet. When I say asked, I mean cajoled. When I say cajoled I mean told that it was part of my DiveMaster training. Little did they know that I quite enjoy building stuff so I was happy. Watch how it went here!

5.       A dive computer. Is this necessary? Isn’t it just big boys toys? To be honest. No. It is a vital piece of diving equipment. Yeah, I know, electronic tape measures and USB laser pointers are also vital but in this case it serves a heavily practical purpose. I’m not sure if you knew but as you dive (deeper) an increasing amount of nitrogen is absorbed into the blood, so computers are there to make sure thatyou stay within the conservative limits by tracking your depth and time and reducing the possibility of decompression illnesses... Decompression illness is NOT GOOD. Do stuf that stops it being a possibility. PLUS, if all goes to plan, then I will be doing this for a fair while with (good) people being my resonpnsibility so it would be negligent NOT to have a computer to help plan my dives with them. If you are interested, I am going to get a Suunto Vyper.

I hope that all is well whereever you may be. I think that if you’re feeling a bit down on your luck or in need of a life-is-good boost then, honestly, you should start considering a visit to these shores. Not only would yo ube welcomed by a big smile, cold beer a-plenty and wonderful food, you will also have to deal with sun, sand, and the sound of the ocean waves. G’waan. Do it. I promise you won’t regret it