Jan's Philippines Marine Expedition Review
Added to website: 12 August 1999
Whale Shark
I was lucky enough to be one of the volunteers who snorkelled with a whale shark on the Tay Tay Bay conservation project - for whom Thursday May 13th 1999 will always and ever after be known as Whales Shark Day. Definitely in the right place at the right time for once.
No one will ever guarantee a whale shark sighting for you but Cagdano Island is the right place to be at any time. Well, if you have an interest in the marine environment and can repeat the mantra “This is an expedition, not a holiday” it is.
The Island
Six weeks on Cagdano with a great group of volunteers, staff and the hugely important team of locals, was a life changing experience, from the very first thrill at the sight of the island island (seriously gorgeous) to the different thrill at first sight of the accommodation (seriously basic). Interesting just how much you can learn to love a mattress and mosquito net, living out of a rucksack and life wrapped in the sarong and an old t-shirt!
Science Week
Science week, the introduction to all matters marine, was concentrated. Devised to produce competent surveyors in a hurry from our motley crew, lectures on fish, coral, and invert identification were interspersed with practice pointies (accompanied dives and snorkels with experienced volunteers), slide shows (the white board screen leaning precariously against a palm tree trunk) and anarchistic games of fish Pictionary.
Surveying
Then, after several practise surveys, we were finally released into the water with our 10m lines, science buoys and underwater slates to survey the reef surrounding neighbouring Deribongan Island and report on it’s physical characteristics, marine life and general state of health. We did see (and hear) the impacts of dynamite fishing and over-fishing in general, but there was still a fabulous diversity of life to note and enjoy. Then temperatures to take, water salinity to check and of course that troublesome fish with pink patches to identify.
Day to day life
Even the post-dive data inputting is fun when you are sitting in a hut with a view of the beach, but that was only one of the day’s possible tasks. Filling the flush buckets from the sea, digging holes for the new hut posts, stitching life jackets, and any number of opportunities to help out were balanced by time to escape to the beach, explore the island or just prop up a palm tree. An impressive skills base emerged - vols who were carpenters, artists, costume designers (vital for the Saturday night fancy dress party) or just good at washing up! And always at the end of the day, time to visit the beach and watch the sun go down in a blaze of glory or the stars twinkling just out of reach.
Conservation and Fun
Time on Cagdano will not be forgotten. We were lucky to meet the inspiring founders of the Philippines Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation and to hear first-hand reports on the importance of CCC’s work in the region. To have participated in and contributed to that work was very special. To have had such a fantastic time whilst doing so - and coming home slimmer, much fitter and blonde(!) - made it triply special!!
So, finally, if you have any room in your rucksack, Sun-in proved universally popular and some face paints would have been divine!
