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PGMA scours underwater Balicasag garden, forest

Written by Misael on 23 May 2008

TACKLING heated deliberations on power and mediating the controversial spat between Manila Electric Company and state-run insurance system deserve cooling moments and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo precisely did just that, few minutes after her Bohol Cabinet meeting May 20.

“She was excited, even with limited visibility due to the fast sunset. By the looks of it, she is coming back,” a resort staff revealed as the president briefly came to the island after the dive.

Balicasag Resort resident manager Maria Elena Go said the president was excited when she narrated her experience even with limited visibility.

After the Cabinet meeting, the president, accompanied by Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and navy divers immediately motored to Alona Beach in Panglao, about two hours later than scheduled to hop to Balicasag Island.

Squeezing into a black wet-suit and putting on a transparent plastic mask, on the diveboat before transferring to the flat boat in front of the resort, she momentarily left the world of politics for the underwater wonders of the famous dive-island in Panglao.

Earlier, Representative Edgar Chatto, in a radio interview told listeners that the president wants to see for herself why Japanese divers rate Balicasag as the third most beautiful dive site in the world.

Go, in an interview confessed she was worried about the delay for it was almost dark and visibility is reduced.

For lack of time, the dive briefing, which was set at 2:00 pm in the resort happened 2 hours later, and on the boat instead.

An entourage of Navy divers and underwater photographers documenting the event accompanied the president and Secretary Yap as both descended into the famed Royal Garden.

Immersing themselves first on the north side of the island, the dive point of interest are thick corals that form a kaleidoscopic multi-colored reef teeming with tropical fish. The site, simply named the Royal Garden, is also what most divers refer to the entire marine ecosystem of Balicasag.

From there, the President and her party of divers proceeded to the thrill of swimming though the black coral forest or simply Black Forest, Balicasag resident dive master said.

The dive, he said offers a rare opportunity of swimming through black coral that teems at surpsingly shallow 30 meter depths. Black corals are seldom found above 50 meters.

Speculations bare that the island’s shadow combined with the coolness and nutrients provided by currents and upwellings “deceive” the coral into thinking it’s at greater depth.

Apart from the black corals, schools of tropical fish-such as moorfish idols, batfish and lionfish – along with assorted nudibranches, including Spanish dancers are there, Balicasag website states.

Other Balicasag points of interest, which the President’s party missed are the Cathedral Wall, Divers’ Haven, Turtle Point and the Marine Sanctuary dives, all ringing the 25 hectare island off Panglao.

After an hour of diving exploration, the divers dropped by the island for light snacks of fried banana and pancit while the President indulged in rare photo opportunities for the community. (rachiu/PIA)

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