An underwater world of wonder

About three hours south of Manila, in a province called Batangas, I went on my first scuba dives this weekend. We dove three times on Saturday and one on Sunday, and, like the druggie who only needs one try to get hooked, I suspect the next two years will include quite a few trips to the myriad alluring dive spots in the Philippines.

Having read much about this country, the one activity that stands out in just about every account is that the diving is world-class. Most of the 7,000-odd islands are surrounded by coral reefs, and for fish the tropical water is like nectar to a hummingbird. Friends have been diving with whale sharks and manta rays, in Japanese warships and underwater caves. My first trip included none of this, but the reef off the coast near Anilao gave enough of a taste of the color and life that the submarine world has to offer that I'm sure I'll be back.

Coming into it, I was a little nervous - yes, I know how to swim, but the ocean is not a pool, and there's a big difference between the surface and 60 feet below. I was struck as we went down the side of the reef with just how far down it went - it's easy to forget from the shore just how vast the ocean is; when you're descending the reef and it goes down farther than you can see, it's a reminder of just how small you really are. At the same time, buoyed by a vest of air to balance out the weights around my waist, wearing a pair of fins and a mask that shockingly neither fell off nor leaked in over two hours of diving, it felt shockingly easy to move underwater. I always found snorkeling pleasant but tiring; it's not easy to dive down and hold your breath to see things only seven feet underwater, then come up and blast the water out of your snorkel before getting a breath of fresh air. With a scuba tank, all you have to do is breathe.

Perhaps the most surprising thing was the pure clarity of the water. Raised on water in Galveston, this is not something to which I'm accustomed. Even Goa, perhaps more lush and green on the coast, is too polluted in the water to offer the perfect clarity of Philippine seas. Yes, I think I'll be back for more.