*photo credits to dkeats under creative commons license.

The 7,107 islands of the Philippines sit on what some consider the “center of global marine biodiversity”, and more dive enthusiasts are catching on.

With its abundance of wildlife, the Philippines is a biodiversity hotspot in its entirety, one of only a few countries in the world with such distinction. It is also one of six whose waters comprise the Coral Triangle, the richest collection of marine life anywhere on the planet.

Here, the world’s most diverse array of corals and reef fish – three-fourths of all coral species and over 2,000 varieties of fish, to be exact – populate the sea. There’s even more upon closer inspection, as the array of wildlife includes everything from dolphins to crustaceans, sea slugs to eels. The variety of creatures is simply staggering.

While it shares some of this wealth with its neighbors, the Philippines is wonder on its own. In fact, biologists have been finding new creatures here consistently in recent years, both those thought to exist only elsewhere in the world and entirely new species altogether.

Among the more noteworthy marine ambassadors of the Philippines are five species of pawikan (sea turtle) and Sorsogon’s enormous butanding (whale shark). But among macro photographers, the small and often strange critters wandering the sea garner the most attention and intrigue.

With much of the world’s marine biodiversity housed in the Philippines and the Coral Triangle, collaborative conservation efforts among stakeholders have fittingly stepped up. Challenges posed by pollution, dangerous fishing practices and climate change, among others, remain.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) puts the Philippines’ marine marvels on show this summer as it hosts the 1^st Philippine Dive Seafari. To headline familiarization tours at four of the country’s top dive spots – Anilao, Bohol, Samal Island and Coron – are top international underwater lensmen Bob Whorton, Robert Yin, Dave Allen and Alex Wu as well as our very own Gutsy Tuazon.

“With this event, we hope not only to establish the Philippines as a world-class marine macro photography destination, but to build appreciation for the beauty and fragility of marine life as well,” said Secretary Alberto A. Lim.

Sponsored in part by STI-Tanauan & Lipa, Acacia Resort in Anilao, Batangas, Davao Pearl Farm, Bohol Divers Lodge, Balicasag Dive Resort, Peacock Garden Resort in Baclayon, Bohol, Calamianes Expeditions, Davao Dive Guides Association Sonny Dizon of the Davao City Government, the 1^st Philippine Dive Seafari will run from April 25 to May 5, 2011.

I ACTUALLY DID IT YOU GAIIIZ!!!

Okay, so Nic (our friend) arranged for us at Ariel’s Resto in Boracay station 1 for this very flair adventure!  We started off meeting the others at Ariel’s at around 11am.  Then we headed off to the boats docked at Station 1 for a 30 – 40 min (ish) ride.

For a tiny fee, P1,200 (about $27 US Dollars), you get a boat ride from Boracay to Ariel’s Point, which is about 30 minutes away. There, you have unlimited drinks, including alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, along with lunch and of course your boat ride back to Boracay during sunset. Oh, let’s not forget the unlimited number of cliff dives, jumps and (like my friends) belly flops that you can do.

When we got there, I saw the plank that was stretched out of the cliff for everyone to dive on.  There were different levels.  The lowest plank was at 5 feet, then I think there was a 10 feet and 30 feet.

Then I saw the 45 feet.  I was not as overwhelmed as I thought I would be.  I saw the height (from the boat) and I was like “mehhh… I think I can do this, it wasn’t as high as I thought it was.”

Then we head up to the top of the cliff.  There were tables and chairs for us to hang on.

I think everyone was too busy to take pictures of the people jumping that I couldn’t find pictures of the hangout area… This is the only picture I have with rest of the area… of course, it’s the one with me and Marc Nelson in it… *faints*

There was even a hammock…

*searched for pictures of the hammock but couldn’t find any*

but, I found a picture of a monkey…

There you go! The moody monkey… Sometimes he’s shy, sometimes he’s playful… sometimes he’s just acting cool ;p

Oh, and he loves rum coke!

That’s why he’s a bit high lol

Everyone settled down first but our friend Oli jumped on the 45 feet plank first… wooot!!!  I think he was the most excited guy on our group to really cliff dive.

I instantly thought that I must jump already – on the HIGHEST plank, just to get it over and done with.

I am a good swimmer and I am very buoyant (If you know what I mean lol).  Anyway, kidding aside, I studied the area.  I studied the cliff and the water where I would fall.  It looks deep enough.  It should be!  I saw Marc Nelson doing his Eagle Swan dive and his brother jumping on the highest plank the same.

Immediately I knew it was safe to jump.

This is just to reassure my mom and my aunts who got so mad seeing my picture jumping off a cliff…

After Oli jumped and he was okay, he had fun and he said that was just amazing!  I initially though of jumping second.  So, I grabbed all the balls I have and went to the stairs, and walked my way (slowly) to the plank…

Tick…

Tock…

I felt like the whole world was in slow motion.  I was climbing the last stair to the top and I could feel my heart beat… both with excitement and I admit, I got scared… That was when I was overwhelmed by the height!!!!!!!

Slowly, I made my way to the edge of the plank…

I looked down…

BAD IDEA!!!

From below, it didn’t look scary…

But when you’re on the edge of the plank, and you see the water below you’d shriek with fear!!!

Then, I heard encouraging words from the crowd…  My friend Trondz was there too at the stairs of the plank and he was like… “kaya mo yan… it also took me a while to jump from that plank”

I thought to myself… “I guess everyone is scared at first, but look at all those who jumped… they now walk with pride knowing they jumped a 45-ft cliff”

At this point, my knees weakened… like all of my adrenaline was crumpled into a ball inside my adrenaline gland, not wanting to go out yet…

I walked back a few steps and I saw my other friend Jake, waiting in line to jump next.

I knew then I wasn’t ready…

So I asked her to jump first ahead of me.

It took her a little while to grasp the reality that she was standing in the plank… but I guess she just wanted to do it and not hold the line so she jumped!!!

Then I heard the splash!!!

It was just quick and so I asked “How was it?”

“Masakit sa pwet pero okay lang, it’s fun” To translate she said “it hurts the butt but it’s still fun”

I brain is one nice machine but my body is still weak and frazzled.  Since logic is telling me that it’s just perfectly fine… I managed to grab all the balls I have and convinced my body that it will be okay.

I found myself at the edge of the plank again.  This time, I heard Trondz voice again “Don’t look down while falling, just look at the horizon”

“That seems like a helpful tip… in fact the horizon looks nice… helps me calm down” I thought…

Without thinking next, I let go of the plank and stepped on air…

The fall lasted for about 3 seconds.

It happened really really quick and my brain processed every emotion per millisecond.  And the conscious side of my brain is a bit slow to realize that I finally did it and even though I got mixed emotions, the word FUN was still on the top of my mind.

Good thing my memory still captured the feeling, millisecond by millisecond (I’m exaggerating) and this is why I’m blogging this right now to make the moment immortal!

min:sec:millisecond

00:00:00 just jump hannah

00:00:01 right foot first

00:00:02 left foot still on plank

00:00:03 this is it there’s no turning back

00:00:04 let go left foot

00:00:05 look at the horizon

00:00:50 PAUSED at 0.5 secondS (HOLY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS I REALLY JUMPED! I’M ON AIR! I’M HANGING .. I’M FLYING

00:00:70 MOTHER FISH PRAWN CRACKERS!!! MY STOMACH FEELS FUNNY!!! (like when I ride roller coasters)

00:01:00 So this is how it feels huh… Alright, let’s just enjoy the last 2 seconds on air…

00:03:00 **SPLASH**

00:04:00 Whoah… my ass hurts!

00:05:00 Ahh… so nice to finally touch the water… It’s perfect… I miss the sea…

00:06:00 emerged up the water… with a smile… and I heard Mark Nelson say “good jump” (or at least I thought it was him… or I was just dreaming or knocked unconscious for .05 seconds) **faints**

In normal motion, hit play to see the video of me jumping 🙂

So, there you gooooooooo!!!

I DID IT!!!

I was “mayabang” (one proud little kitty) when I went back up.  Weee I did it!!!

Then I went back to Vince (who was assigned to take my video)…

One thing I would not want is for him to miss my jump and not take a video of it…

“I took your video!” he said. “YAYE!!! Let me see!”

and this is it… In normal motion…

To my horror, I did not like the video… Why? It was not zoomed in on me so my face was not recognizable… It wasn’t proof enough that I jumped…

All the vanity took over me and without anymore thinking, I said… Get the camera ready, I’ll jump again… This time, use the Sony Cybershot TX1 so that you can zoom in and zoom out while recording a video.  (Other digicams can’t zoom in and out).  “Zoom in when I’m on the plank and about to jump… and Zoom out when I remove my feet off the plank” – I gave him specific instructions 😛

So, there you go… Jump number two 😀

O— M—G—!!!

Check out these awesome Cliff Diving Videos from WhenInManila.com

Cliff Diving at Ariel’s Point in Boracay

>

How not to Cliff Dive and Falling in Gay Love with Marc Nelson