DIVE SAFARI TO THE EAST CAPE OFF DAVAO...looking fo Tiger sharks...an interesting story from Alan Nash at Asia Divers
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Hi everybody, this is Allan I like to share a short story from my
resent trip to Davao.
SAFARI TO THE EAST
CAPE OFF DAVAO
It was May 19 when we boarded a plane for Davao city on our way to
explore the Cape, east of Davao bay. Some weeks before the trip I was
asked if I would join the trip as an advisor on the dive sites and
fish life found in the area. Out of curiosity and the promise of
big action, tiger sharks and strong currents I said, I’m
on.
After arriving in Davao, checking ourselves in, we met up with
Andrew Macdonald, Jane, Carlos, Peewee, Maeng and Frank the owner
of Davao Scuba. After a very good brief of what we will be looking
for (big action and tiger sharks) and how we intend to proceed, it
followed with a tour of the dive centre and the boat we would spend
the next few days on. It was to be roughing it as one would say,
sleeping on a camp stretcher on the open deck of a Bunker and
showering from a camp shower rigger from the roof, no mirror for
the morning shave and little if any privacy with the exception from
the bathroom toilet, Ha me hearty, those were the good old
days!
We met the next morning at 4am and set off at around 5ish. The
weather was perfect and as the sun rose we were well on our way
heading east for the cape. Arriving at around 12:30 we were anxious
to see the dive area and what the currents were doing. As expected,
it was howling! We looked for a suitable place to jump in and take
our first look at what the conditions would be like and if in fact
the fish life was as prolific as we had been told.
After deciding on a course of action we developed a plan that
incorporated the safety needed to be diving in strong currents and
in a very remote area as it was. We entered in some howling
current, descended to about 20 meters in waters that had at least
60m visibility and drifted along the back wall of this very long
underwater extension of the cape. During the dive we seen a turtle
and some very small reef fish, but no big fish! We were surprised
to see little coral and an area that would have been half the size
of a football oval completely dynamited without any life on it at
all. Disappointment was setting in after our hopes of big fish and
shark action. We ascended and gathered for a dive debrief and to
recalculate our course of action for the following dives. The
second dive was on the east side of the cape, this time much better
reef life with some soft and hard corals, schooling fish at one
point, and towards the end some big fish were spotted at around 40
plus meters, but little else except a screaming current.
After our first night of spaghetti Bolognese a couple of beers and
a very early night, it was time to go over our plan for chumming
the waters. Andrew and Jane had built this very elaborate system
consisting of a bottomless plastic bucket and a metal waste paper
bin lashed to the bottom of the plastic bucket with cable ties.
With over P5,000 of fresh finely ground fish and large fish heads
we set ourselves up to start the chumming process. We had thought
that after four hours the chum we had placed would drift to a reef
called Widows reef (70 plus meters deep and some 7k away) where it
has been said some large tiger sharks would hunt the area. We had
hoped the chum would draw these sharks to the cape, where we would
be patiently waiting to see them. After an entire day of waiting
and doing three dives we came to the conclusion, either we were not
putting enough chum, not enough patience, or there was not tigers.
In fact we had not even a small fish try and take our fish heads we
had dangling over the side for hours! It was quiet an unhappy sight
seeing this fish head dangling inches below the surface, and in my
experience, had there been any sharks or pelagic, they would have
been there for a feed.
Disappointed
and exhausted, as we were after waiting for the sharks and wearing
ourselves out fighting with currents during our three long dives,
we decided we had had enough and retired back to the small bay to
rethink our next move. We invited a local Barangay official to come
and speak with us on the boat. She told us that the dynamiting and
cyaniding had stopped some year and a half ago. However she also
told us, as did the fishermen we talked to, confirmed the Taiwanese
long liners had just finished fishing the area two week prior. With
other information on the over fishing of the area and a brief
explanation of what we thought would be appropriate action for her
Barangay, (ruling the cape) we decided that any further dives would
lead us to the same conclusion. The area needs at least three years
of no fishing to bring back the fish and corals to an acceptable
level where divers could be interested in diving the area. Shame as
it may be, the cape has all the ingredients of an exhilarating dive
area. If the sharks and fish had have been there, we would have
with out any doubt said it could have been one of the Philippines
premier dive destinations for big fish action, we certainly had the
currents, that the fisherman can’t remove.
Setting our course back to Davao we decided to do a dive off Davao,
one of the more popular dive sites called Lapot (spelling, sorry
guys) a very advanced dive with again lots of current. The time of
day we got there proved to be slack tide and we had almost no
current, however what a fantastic dive it proved to be. Fantastic
formations, sea fans and ferns with walls covered with soft corals.
We did not see that much fish life, but I’m told, if there
was current there would have been big fish! The fact is, the fish
life we did see was everything from pigmy seahorses to fire gobies
and lodes of other small reef fish, more than enough to satisfy the
keen diver.
A very big thank you to Andrew and Jane for organising a wonderful
exploration trip, even if it did not prove to be a great spot, it
was in deed adventure and fun. Thanks to Peewee and Maeng for their
company and great humour, I don’t think I have met with
happier people. And not to mention the crew who took care of us and
made sure everything worked and went well.
Allan Nash
PADI Course Director,
Asia Divers with El Galleon,
Puerto Galera, Philippines
Certificate IV workplace training