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| bangkkas on the beach |
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| Calammangan beach |
Our
stop in Palompon was only an for one night. This morning we carried
on the small island of Calamangan for a potential dive on the way to
Malapascua.
Three
people live in a rickety hut but hundreds of tourists arrive each day
by banggka boats from Malpascua to snorkel, dive and have lunch.
This is what we had hoped to do but our research had indicated not to
be too excited. Much of the reef, like much of the Philippine reefs
have suffered from dynamite fishing. We spoke to the boat handlers
and dive guides and the divers to get a feel for what to expect and
the reaction was muted, 'this section of the wall is OK', 'there are
some fish here', 'there's a barrel sponge'. It's tragic. I
snorkelled over the barren wasteland of what might have been a
vibrant reef, the coral is dead and fish sightings scarce.
We
gave diving a pass and continued on to Malspascua fifteen miles
north.
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