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Sea Cucumbers Anyone?

The Sea Cucumber at the Agutayan Island sanctuary...so named because of its cucumber-like shape. It is an echinoderm with elongated body and leathery skin. I think this one delicately raised at Agutayan is a beige-sea-cucumber which is expelling a sticky foam as a defensive action. They eat plankton and decaying organic matter on the sea floor and also sift through the sediments and position themselves in the current to catch food that flows by with their open tentacles. The common name of sea cucumber is "balat" which was once abundant in the seashores of Opol and El Salvador. My wife who hails from Surigao del Norte often tells my sons that "bayat", yes, "bayat" , the surigaonon way of changing the L to Y, is abundantly picked for food which is a delicacy in their province. Some varieties are said to have healing properties and also endowed with aphrodisiac powers. My son Ronald at the Bolinao Marine Research is involved in a research of sea cucumbers and sea urchins of which kind, I do not know, but surely one which would put back a population of sea cucumbers in a sustainable way. As for the dry land kind of cucumber, widely cultivated vine plant of the gourd family which includes the squash. Its fruit is roughly cylindrical, elongated with tapered end. When it is still unripe green form is eaten fresh. Having an enclosed seed and developing from a flower, it is classified as a fruit and in culinary term only it is classified as vegetable.. I guess, no problem there. It is a beauty aid for many!!!

I AM OK, ARE YOU OK ? SIGNAL

"I am OK" signal by rexel...Often times we see this hand signal from a diver.. indicating he is okay, or is asking his dive buddy if he is okay. Circle with thumb and index finger, while keeping middle finger straight. a variation of this is forming a large circle with both hands above the head while underwater or one hand forming a circle touching the head while floating as this can be difficult to see the hand ok sign from a distance. In a night dive or cave diving where visibility is difficult, flashlight signal is used by drawing a circle on the ground or to illuminate your hand signal. Another way of signaling, when one diver is connected with a rope with a dive buddy in a low visibility situation, is to pull the rope once to indicate you are okay or ask if he is okay.. two pulls indicates stay put or stationary. This rope signal is also used for the rope tendered to a boatman above.

In my first few dives I got confused with this ok signal with the thumb up sign we usually do in tierra firma.. .the thumb up sign, a gesture of closed fist held with the thumb extended upward, is generally an approval gesture. In china, it is a "you number one " sign or after a meal, it is an approval of a delicious dishes eaten. In basketball, a double thumbs up is a jump-ball!!! In SCUBA diving, thumb up sign is a signal to go up.. So now I know, I dont use the thumb up sign to mean I am ok anymore because the last time I did that, my dive buddy abruptly went up to surface.

Pinoy Diver, Pinay Diver too.

Picture grabbed from Ms. Dindin Fortich Bollozos's Friendster... I believe she is the one diving here with her female student, also, she has a twin sister diver at UP MSI Bolinao Marine Laboratory...As I am featuring here in my blog my dive blogs and my two sons', I will also include pinay divers who are increasingly into this pre-dominantly macho image sports or adventure. In fact, the students now enrolled in Marine Biology courses are increasingly female and the ratio when my 2nd son Ronald graduated was 3 to 3. During my time,only male graduates and we only have stag parties during field trips. Although I did not graduate as a marine biologist, I retained fellowship with many of my marine biology classmates, who were also Crusader Magazines staffers, namely,Dr. Ronaldo Ferraris, based now in New Jersey, Bong Tiro, based in Canada, Nestor Musni, Nestor Abanil.. They were the ones we assisted during their field work along shores of Laguindingan , El Salvador which the school has its marine station before, Opol up to Bulua and Punta Gorda in Jasaan where we always did our skin diving.. we still did not have scuba gears back then, only fr. bolinas used to do scuba with a primitive gear but it looked sophisticated back then. Arnil Emata,younger than me, a PhD consultant with BFAR, Tomas Young, a chinoy cebuano who was the maintenance man for our aquarium in the lab and pond in front of the science building, Alvin Mangubat, now state-side were backliners of the marines during those days, I cannot remember our female classmates if there were any.. Rachel Polistico, also a diver now, I think was political science major back then, I dont know if she second coursed marine bio...Dean Dawang was a top student in chemistry, is also a pinay diver. Almost all the biology teachers at Xavier Universtity now, are divers, and are mostly females, except for Mr. Fra-and Quimpo , who is an Advanced Open Water Diver.
As I have mentioned, increasingly, female divers are on the rise, or I should say, are underwater, expect more of my blogs with pinay divers...I will feature pinay divers more often,. up next will be the pinay diver who discovered a new specie in Israel..I have to ask permission first...

Divers-Down Flag

WARNING!!! Divers down under the sea!!!...It is a must to prominently display this flag in the area where the diving occurs and on the dive boat's highest point which is not obstructed of visibility. This is to warn other vessels in the area to stay clear at least 300 feet away for the safety of the divers which at anytime may surface.

In the Philippines, often times we see this flag printed on t-shirts, hats and stickers on cars and car plates. it might be a dive enthusiast wearing the t-shirt or driving the car, but no diving activity on dry land!!!

Pinoy Idol, Pinoy Diver?

Pinoy Idol kicks off here at Cagayan de Oro SM mall...Hundreds of Cagayanons flocked at the activity center to register for audition. As of my last picture taken it is already at number 1309, maybe the numbering started at 1000... Well, I got curious today of so many teenagers and twenty-agers at the mall, and many of them attired to the max!!!. The Philippine Idol of GMA diay.. not the ABC version, which run in 2006.. This time, GMA got the franchise from FreemantleMedia of American Idol. Raymond Gutierrez is the host and the format for this will be country-wide, and the next stop is in Batangas on January 24.... As to the question, is Pinoy Idol, a Diver? Maybe, maybe not.. the looks of it, many are not.. definitely, when they become the Pinoy Idol, they will have time and the money to learn to dive.. Heres one definitely a Pinoy Diver GMA 7 has, in the person of Romi Garduce, of Born To Be Wild, Wednesday night program...he has scaled the the highest mountain and maybe he could make a new record in the Philippine Seas!!!

Selecting a Mask for Diving

My second son, Ronald... In selecting a proper mask for diving, a big consideration should be on its proper fit on your face for a good seal.. although divers are trained to put away the water inside the mask underwater, it is time consuming and put a strain to the eyes. In trying out a mask, push the mask firmly onto your face, if it remains there unsupported, then it is a good seal. Also, field of vision and comfort are essential for a fun sight-seeing underwater!!!

Mask fogging is one problem that can be prevented by smearing the inside face of the mask with tooth paste then rinse it in the water. Others do it by smearing it with their own spit. One time during our dive at Duka Bay, our dive guide use papaya leaves to smear the masks and I also tried.. it worked perfectly. I dont worry anymore if I forget to bring tooth paste during a dive, Papaya trees are everywhere in the Philippines.

Agutayan Island Tower, Low Tide

This photo of Agutayan island tower, grabbed from Ms. Piepie Roa, a marine bio senior at Xavier University, is now in ruins after a November 2007 storm hit the island.. nearby is a sanctuary of giant clams and artificial coral reef planted a few years back..Twice I was able to dive there with Ding Cabrera and my second son Ronald who is now with UP MSI Bolinao Marine Laboratory in Pangasinan..

The Local government of Jasaan in charge of the island is making efforts to restore the tower which is needed to ease the maintenance and monitoring of the sanctuary.

Safety Stop For a Fun Dive

Safety Stop is a must for a safe and fun dive... also a time for a pose... too often we see in the movies, especially action movies, divers just jump and in seconds, they are under water, without seeing them do the safety stop for equalization...they must have pop their ears everytime!!! well, it's only in the movies, they are not real.

Congratulations is in order for Dive Instructor Mario Jugador for opening his own dive shop in Cagayan de Oro City... He is the dive instructor of my son, Rexel. one time we went diving in Mantigue Island with my instructor Renoi Abrea on Diving Adventure with a bunch of Manila medical doctors. it was a perfect leisurely 120 feet dive..