Anilao Ride-and-Dive Escapade

I move in multiple circles for work and play. But for diving, my default group lately is composed of women, all untethered (by, say, raising a young family) as of yet and so relatively easy to round up for adventure. Lilliane, Zara and Vangie are in the family business; Beth and I are agency "slaves." But frequently enough, we find ourselves shedding weekday identities and heading for a dive site somewhere, geared and suited up for underwater escape. Sometimes, we get a little help on the thing that we are driven to do anyway. This time, Ford Philippines lent us a vehicle for the weekend, one that goes by the tagline "...as adventurous as you want to be." Escape, it's called. We couldn't have named it better ourselves.
But first, some Friday-night city driving for the girls to get a feel of how the vehicle responds to the road and to their handling. Me, I bring in the passenger perspective. There's always one in every "family" anyway -- the one who, based away from kin, redirects resources to living space instead of a car; the one who can't imagine slugging it out on our kind of a highway amid the bully-like buses. Mobility comes by way of strategic location (in the heart of the city, as my real estate agent would quote from the brochure), by way of cabs and the MRT and, yes, of friends who drive my way. I would call it a nice benefit to have girlfriends who drive fast and safe. Not once in our many trips to and from Anilao did I ever fear for my life. And the one time I felt like a turtle would be faster than the vehicle, a boy was behind the wheel.
With Ford Philippines having already fueled up its Escape, we do the same for ourselves. In fact, the bonds from diving have extended to (now and then, and with a larger circle of girlfriends) sampling the offerings of a restaurant new to us. That's very Filipino, pairing up our passions with food. We're still working on being able to properly relay in writing why exactly we like the taste of something apart from just photographing empty dishes as proof. Good stuff deserves the right description after all.

Who doesn't like paella? Comfort food hits the spot as we plan the coming weekend: overnight at Anilao resort Planet Dive as we wait for more friends (even more of a comfort) to join us for next day's dives at the sites Beatrice, Mainit and Twin Rocks. Some of these friends joining us we only just met from a few dives before. The community is welcoming that way, seemingly bound by an understanding of the joys and risks of an activity that isn't convenient at all (waking up before light, traveling a few hours, struggling with wetsuit tightness, setting up then cleaning up gear, troubleshooting underwater sometimes). It must really be love then.
We pile up on the back (Ford Escape sits five), ready to part with the city awhile for more natural scenery. My Mindanao childhood, in particular, is one of lowland forests and coast lines. Now I live in a business district. No wonder I need to regularly get away from the concrete city like a parched man.

Anilao gave us mostly drift dives that day. Anchored by our hooks, we flew like kites. Hook-and-release, fly awhile, repeat. Albino frogfish, a "yawning" octopus, circles of jacks -- a million and one reasons make diving in our waters special.

The day also proved to be one for test-diving new gear (from camera light to video equipment) especially bought for a Tubbataha liveaboard that the girls were booked to leave for barely a week after. A phrase often heard from diving friends: "This is my last dive-related purchase for the year." It never is :)

New roles were tested too: critter spotter, three-way buddying, video handler. We're flexible that way.

We almost always take over the deck of Planet Dive. We like sunning ourselves in between dunking. Cublicle land coudn't be any farther.
With this group, escapes are perpetually being planned. Get on a banca, plane, van. Whine, laugh, feast. Get lost, get found. Return to find everything just a bit different. Give thanks.

Sunday late afternoons are always a little bittersweet. We are grateful for the shared place and time even as we already feel the tug of Monday. But as the youngest of us all say: it's the work that makes the diving possible. So until the day when our passion for the outdoors pays for itself, we squeeze in the periodic escapes, all the more precious for the can't-be-helped intervals.