Scuba Diving in Boracay, Free Willy Style... The Mexican-American, French and Filipino Connection
Visiting just for the weekend, we needed to maximize every minute of our stay on the world renowned Boracay Island with its beautiful people, turquoise blue waters and powdery fine white sands where many tales of wonderful experiences and adventures have been written. However, it’s a different type of adventure that we have in mind and it is a visit, or a courtesy call, if you may, to the other beautiful world beneath the surface of Boracay’s glorious waters. We wanted not just to simply get wet but to get up close and personal… we wanted to go scuba diving.
Now, for those who scuba dive and have seen what Boracay has to offer, well there’s a dizzying array of places you can go that caters to your underwater adrenaline fix.
From ultra luxe resort-owned establishments to big independent operations and some mom-and-pop kind of a shop; if scuba diving is your cup of tea, then Boracay’s dive shops and dive sights will no doubt keep your cup overflowing.
However, we have a slight crease on an almost perfect laid out plan. Hector, although a tri-athlete who participates in tough competitions like the Iron Man races and who takes to the water like a fish, isn’t a certified SCUBA diver yet. So, we decided to look for a place that can take care of him in a personal and one-on-one capacity.
Enter a cozy and homey hole-in-the-wall dive shack named Free Willy Diving. Well Willy and his über friendly staff, no-- call it family, took care of us like we were already a part of them. We felt at home the instant we walked into their reception area.
The instructors are already out for their regularly scheduled afternoon dives but that didn’t stop them from making sure Hector can go and discover nature’s unparalleled beauty beneath the waves that only scuba diving can offer. The owner, Willy, a Frenchman, took upon himself to personally administer the Discover Scuba Diving orientation and instructions to Hector.
After a video presentation, Willy’s personal one-on-one instructions, brief beachside demonstration and assessments of important basic diving skills, we found ourselves headed to our first underwater exploration of one of the dozens of dive sites surrounding Boracay. Willy selected two dive sites for us that afternoon that would be suitable for Hectors’ first underwater foray but which he promised will not be lacking on excitement.
A backward roll entry unto the water and we finally got our fins wet. Willy signals a thumbs down signal for descent, a reply from us with eager OK hand signals and we found ourselves floating down unto a whole new world and ready to explore out very first Boracay reef system. Our eyes bulged wide at the amazing wonders that greeted us, even the regulator stuck in Hectors’ mouth can’t hide the ear to ear grin he has on his face. We were all awestruck as a multitude of fishes in brilliant and flashy colors swarmed around us. He was inundated and literally covered with fishes as if they know he’s got some treats for them. It seems the fishes have blood hound senses too as they instinctively hover around you waiting for the tasty meal stashed in our pockets. The fishes are not shy and they literally brush and push against your face and unabashedly eat out of your hands. Some even playfully nibble on your fingers mistaking it for a piece of bread but immediately recognize their folly and find their mark. No matter where you go, the army of fishes follows. Now I know how the Pied Piper of Hamlin must have felt as he was followed around by a swarm of furry pests. I’m sure though, that our experience is a hundred times much pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable.
After the wall of fish had gotten over their excitement of seeing us, they start to go back to their normal routines and the underwater realm unfolds before our eyes. The vistas that Mother Nature presented to us are truly wonderful and utterly indescribable. Visibilities akin to clear drinking water afforded us a front seat view of the wonders only nature can create. The soft and hard corals, the sponges, the ferns, the vegetation, and the marine life is an explosion of colors that even “Crayola” will run out of crayons to depict each and every hue, shade, and brilliance of the colors that is painted on this underwater canvas.
Each corner you take and any direction you look at, you’ll be greeted with something that you haven’t seen or done before like being greeted by a seemingly meek and shy porcupine puffer fish I nicknamed “Puffy Puppy” whose big eyes and coy puppy-like demeanor is cautious at first but soon is out and about, blissfully playing a game of TAG with you. Leaping and bounding joyfully, he leads you on a chase through the reefs. A few seconds of chasing and playing catch up with him… Tag you’re it! Surprised of having been tagged, puffy puppy goes PUFF! Now it’s the cute little pups’ turn to do the chasing, after he deflates to normal size of course.
If you think a game of tag is too exhausting, try hide and seek and you’ll find that many underwater creatures are a master of blending in. Hiding out in the open for them is just as good as being totally concealed from plain sight. On another coral head you can try another game, a stare down called “who blinks first loses” with a striped moray eel whose sinister stare is definitely far worse than its bite. Or you can just simply fool around with a brightly colored clownfish.
You can test your buoyancy skills hugging closely the reef floor and stealthily creeping as close as you can get to a party of blue spotted stingrays having their afternoon siesta.
Then again, one can simply be just a passive observer floating blissfully along the reef. An experience that I can only describe as flying free, weightlessly and unencumbered as life is played before you in this entirely new, unique, colorful, and beautiful underwater world where a spectacular star or two is never out of reach.
Three hours and two dives later, we are now on the boat headed back to the shore and one would expect a lively and animated discussion of the wonderful underwater experience we just had but all you can see are quiet and contented smiles and glittering eyes having witnessed the magnificence, beauty, and bounty of nature.
Willy did mention something before the dive about the site being suitable but not lacking in excitement. I guess that is an understatement as it is not just suitable but perfect, and it is bursting to the seams with excitement. To top it off, a glorious blue and gold sunset made our day’s adventure simply unforgettable.
So what connects the Mexican-American first timer to the islands, the Frenchman who was once a first timer but now call the islands home and the Filipino who has an on-again off-again love affair with the islands? The answer is apparent -- Boracay and love for scuba diving has created a bond of mutual respect and admiration that transcends skill, race, age, creed, even stature in life, and most of all, a yearning that hopefully the next generation will still have the privilege of seeing the things we were blessed to have witnessed.
Travel Notes:
Domestic carriers have regular flights to Kalibo and Caticlan, the gateways to the island of Boracay. From Kalibo, travelers still need to travel by land for two hours to reach Caticlan where a ferry will take them to the island. Direct flights to Caticlan saves precious time that can be well spent in the waters and shores of the paradise island of Boracay.
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