After completing my PADI Freediver course in Wellington, I hopped on a ferry for the South Island of New Zealand. Soon after I landed at my last Workaway in the Marlborough Sound for about 10 days, then drove to Kaikoura and Christchurch, picked up my friend Alex, and did our whole South Island roadtrip with a great many wonderful stops and little adventures. But no matter how many mountain trails or hot springs or landscapes we saw, I couldn't get the idea of freediving out of my mind. I just had to do it again.
Cue my friend from Wellington, who told me that the best place in the world for freediving was the Philippines. The Philippines? I hadn't really considered going there… My friends bak home said it's amazing but I had no idea what I would be in store for. I had no knowledge of this country.
And so I got to TikTok and was blown away. I quickly drafted and itinerary, and reached out to a local company called Freedive Project, who graciously offered for me to join them on their big annual trip to Apo Reef. After that I would stop in Coron, El Nido, and Siquijor before flying on to Thailand.
So, in a few short weeks I said goodbye to Alexa and hopped on a flight for a couple days in Sydney, and then my flight to the islands of Southeast Asia. I departed Sydney around 11 am, and then flew several hours to Manila, landing just before sunset. I then got in a taxi, then I met some of the crew in a little van that picked me up outside of a Jollibee (and I had to try the fried chicken as my first meal, but I wasn't brave enough for the sweet spaghetti that I had heard about). We crawled back in, and drove into the late evening on our way to Batangas.
There I met the rest of the group, and it was so much fun to be the only foreigner, with everyone else curious about who I was and how I ended up on their trip. It was a long wait, but once we got onto the ferry we laid down on the sundeck (at night) and looked up at the stars as we slowly made our way to Mindoro. There we had a short walk off the pier and jumped into a private bus that took us, overnight, to the far side on the island. On the way I had a really interesting experience with Filipino food on the side of the highway at 3am, we all stocked up on snacks at the 7/11, and our night drive ended by rolling into a small mall that had a single food stall open, so it was fish, eggs, rice, and sausage for breakfast.
We rolled up to the pier and met our boat captain and cooking crew, who gave us a briefing on the whole weekend, in Tagalog, so I had no idea what was going on for a lot of the morning! But we sailed off around 8am and there was coffee, sunshine, and lots of sleepy travelers aboard. As we left view of the island, we were blessed with amazing weather and a pod of dolphins! They swam right up in front of our boat and we were hootin' and hollerin', loving the show that they were giving us! It was such a magical start to the journey.
A couple hours into the ride, we pulled up to what was nearly a deserted island - with one small building, a few park wardens, and two dozen other travelers hanging out under the mangrove trees. It was such a magical place, with crystal clear water rolling against the shoreline and nothing but big skies and white sand in sight. It was quite the shock after spending the past four months in New Zealand, and this whole adventure being my very first experience in Southeast Asia.
We settled in with our tents plopped down directly on the sand, and I can't remember how or when, but I passed out in my tent, in 30 degree heat, with nothing but a sweater under my head… and it was wonderful. Honestly one of the best naps I've ever taken haha. And after waking up, it was time to dive! We jumped back into the boat and took a short ride out and got dropped into the sea.
And WOW. The life! The fish! The sharks!! It was incredible! I had done a snorkeling trip in the Caribbean once and that was beautiful, but there was something more special to me here. I had a big floor puzzle when I was a kid, and it featured all of the life I was observing right there with my own eyes! It was so different from what I remembered the sea being like when I was in the Caribbean. There was something so special and magical here. I was stunned for the entirety of the dive.
The following day we went back out again, but this time it was to explore a shipwreck about a half hour away. We got back on the boat and headed out, anchoring in the middle of the ocean with no landmarks to be found. This was a little spooky for me, but I felt quite at home once I jumped in and found there to be not too much current, and I could see the bottom so easily about 12m down. And very quickly, a school of Napoleon Russ showed up! The swam towards us, over the wreck and back off into the deep. They were huge!! It was such a cool sight to see.
Then we got organized, and everyone got their turn to swim through the shipwreck. This scared the crap out of me!! Like who am I to swim down 10 meters and through a ship?? The thought terrified me, especially getting trapped down there, but I was determined and I knew that I could do it.
On my first attempt, my equalizing was not cooperating with me. I was still using the Valsalva method, and it was a real struggle to reliably pop my ears on the way down. So I bailed on my first attempt, and swam over the coral-covered ship, which was an incredible experience in its own right.
The second attempt was also not smooth on the way down, but I kept at it. I had been training my breathhold for weeks now and I knew I had more gas in the tank. So I made it down, slowly and messily, but I popped into the hull and was enveloped by darkness - except for the glow coming through the hull opening ahead of me. I swam through, turned around and smoothly exited the ship, kicking gently and slowly returning to the surface. When my head reached the air, the rest of the group was cheering for me!! They watched me struggle and despite all that, I made it through. I was blown away by their support and by my own confidence and bravery. I did it!!
The afternoon required a good nap, and then a second dive just around the island. It was on this dive that I saw something so amazing that it would (also) change my life forever. The coral reef here was a long slope down to maybe 15 or 20 meters, and then it hits a steep drop-off into the abyss. And in that shadow at the edge of the shelf, I saw the forms of two reef sharks, bust barely visible, cruising along the edge. That view would stick with me, and it would inspire my refined goal of wanting to go deeper and deeper. I no longer wanted to just see the ocean, but I wanted the ability to explore it. To go down there and see what lay along the edge of that shelf.
(Little did I know at the time that you would have to do 40 meters to become an instructor anyways haha)
That evening we did a hike up the lookout tower to watch the sunset, ate an amazing meal cooked by our boat crew, and drank under the stars with calamansi to cut the burn. The next morning we packed up, and made one more stop on the way home where I had a shallow but very cool experience with a sea turtle and a stingray!
This was followed by our last boat ride, full of naps under the limited shade and the bouncy beats of Filipino budots music. When we landed, we said goodbye to one another and with some help, I got on a bus to another town so I could continue my adventure to Coron, instead of going back to Manila.
This little weekend away, with a local company that took on their first foreigner guest on an overnight adventure tour, was truly such an incredible experience for me, and it really cemented the idea that I loved the ocean, and despite it still being frightening to me, that I was resilient, strong, and capable of so much more than I ever thought I was in the ocean. It felt like I had found a new home.
