We arrived in Pandan island, just off the coast from Sablayan town on the west side of Mindoro three days ago. It's a private island owned by two Frenchmen with a dive shop run by a Czech man. We had been told there were mooring balls for a yacht to pick up but this was misleading. There are two mooring balls for the resorts two dive boats. We anchored on a sand plateau on the south east side of the island. Pandan is also a marine sanctuary with coral gardens and walls to dive.
On our first afternoon here we went ashore to say hello and ask about where to dive. Generously they indicated their best spots and were OK with us to take our dinghy and do our own thing. Their only stipulation was absolutely no anchoring so we'd be towing the dinghy as we swam. We've done it before and have a long line which reaches 30m.
Between our visit and returning for dinner I went for a snorkel swim off the boat and found half a dozen large green turtles grazing on the sea grass in 4m. I'd duck down for a closer look and they'd carry on eating quite unconcerned. There were blue spotted rays grazing too.
On the following days we did five dives around the island beginning one where we finished the last. The coral gardens are pretty and more turtles to see, many schools of fish and some fully mature sweet lips and grouper. When much of the sea has been over fished it's heartening to see numbers and adults.
Tomorrow we're sailing south to Busuanga island 50 miles away passing Apo reef on the way. In good weather conditions we would have made an overnight stop at Apo and dive but the forecast is showing a tropical storm developing in the Pacific and heading this way. If it strengthens to a typhoon we need to be tucked into a safe hole. It's no time to linger, onwards to sanctuary.
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