May 2011

Am feeling rather fragile after what began as a quiet night out to the Lighthouse, and ended this morning in a harrowing display of projectile vomit at 63 feet. I hold Gregg ultimately responsible for my current condition, which was partially influenced by the ridiculously amazing frozen Margaritas on offer at the Lighthouse restaurant on the waterfront.... and then the ridiculously amazing margaritas on offer around the corner at Swell Bar where Gianne works.

No matter how mouldy I may have felt, I am so glad I didn't miss the chance to dive the L.S.T. again. Where the middle of the ship has collapsed in on itself (totally stable, yea?), you can manage to swim up inside the wreck and make your way through the crew's quarters where there are still remains of the steel bed frames against the walls, bathrooms and electrical cables hanging from the ceiling. The exit is up a steep flight of stairs with only a few shards of natural light penetrating the roof and illuminating hallways. I honestly think it could be the location for an underwater horror movie. Creepy!

Out of the 72-odd photos I took on the LST today, only one came out well and I am a little proud of the ghost pipe fish I found, considering the state I was in. Please ignore the big smudge mark on the lens.

Mark is an Australian guy who has been diving with Vasco's for three of four days now. He has just bought a whiz-bang underwater camcorder and has promised on pain of death that he will share said photos and videos with me in the next day or two. I believe there is a rather flattering video of me convulsing, purging my reg and just generally epitomises how rotten I feel. He felt so sorry for me that when he, his partner Patricia and friends came to Vasco's for dinner tonight I was invited along to commiserate. The live band arrived; a family of four beautiful singers and musicians. A solid mango shake later and I was good to rock n roll. We spent the evening listening to a sweet mix of Bob Marley, Elvis, Shakira and the Eagles. Yes, they do requests too!

Today's date sparked a conversation like most dinners I've experienced here; discussions about 2012. Will it? Won't it end? Allegedly someone predicted the sky will fall tonight, at 6pm New York time. Here, that will make it 6am tomorrow. So with the apocalypse allegedly arriving in 7 hours, and another typhoon looming over the mountains, we wait around for the world to end. I will be seriously disappointed if I die with a hangover.

Learning to clean a reg has it's advantages; not just to the owners of a dive shop who can then employ you as a slave, but breathing through a freshly scrubbed reg is more like breathing silk. It makes diving feel like a completely new experience!

I may have already done this dive close to six or seven times but the L.C.U. still leaves me feeling inside out and back to front.

The 'Landing Craft Utility' lies on the sea bed of Triboa Bay on a queer angle of about 50 degrees. If you forget yourself whilst swimming across the deck, you may find yourself grazing a rust covered wall that came out of nowhere and disappearing into thick orange cloud which leaves you sideways with bubbles dragging up your mask.

It is absolutely alive with marine life, and upon entering the boiler room you become surrounded by tiny, curious tropical fish who don't seem to mind if you reach out and give them a stroke. A tiny pipe fish made his way along the ships hull and the obligatory lion fish got a big agro and flared up at me...

We ascended up the line to a family of fifteen or so baby squid in a streamline and glittering formation.

The visibility is always unreal.

This afternoon I went shopping with Rose to the Olongapo local market. From what I assumed would be a giant food market I found so much more. A treasure trove of souvenirs, mountains of colourful clothes and tourist t-shirts, bags upon bags of rice, amazing fresh banana fritters, thousands of pirate blu-ray DVDs (don't ask me about their quality!), garlands of jasmine flowers, piles of fresh and exotic fruit and an intoxicatingly pink store dedicated to Hello Kitty.

You can even have a handbag made out of a cane toad if it tickles your fancy.

I was most surprised by the local's attitude to my camera. I expected the familiar refusal or the Thai choral "One dollar!" and instead found the shiny, happy people leaping in front of my lens for a single opportunity to be caught on film.

We had some ridiculously good visibility and the photography went nuts! Yes, I went a bit overboard, BUT today the USS New York made me a very happy girl

I saw a cuttlefish! I great big purple, gorgeous cuttlefish who literally sat and posed for the camera. My Dad will remember me called them 'Bumpies' since I was a kid watching the cuttlefish bump their heads on the glass of their tank in the Merimbula Aquarium. I never thought I'd see one in the wild but Subic continues to throw up new surprises!

The star attraction among Subic's wrecks. The USS New York was a battle cruiser launched in the USA in 1891, but scuttled by US Marines in 1942, to prevent her falling into Japanese hands. The 120m-long hull lies on it's port side in 27m of water.

The USS New York has gone through some name changes over it's service life, beginning as the New York before changing to Saratoga and then as Rochester, was laid up at the Subic Bay naval base in 1933 to be cannibalised for spares.

This has been an unforgettable dive and is a little bit creepy. The fore and aft twin 8in main gun turrets remain intact and there is the opportunity for some remarkable swim-throughs on the starboard side corridors. Until today, the visibility has been limited to 4 or 5m which just adds to the atmosphere of diving here. To descend upon the New York and to see it in it's enormity emerging out of the murky gloom is a really remarkable experience.

Slightly more remarkable was the fare-welling of one of my beloved black fins, 60% of which now lies on the sea floor of Subic Bay.
I might needlessly add that Brian has taken to it with some poetic liberty and a kitchen knife.... it shall eventually be mounted in Vascos Restaurant with this plaque:

Natalie Osborn
(1989-2011)
Shark Attack

17 was an age that Brian considers one of the worst of his life.

1970 saw Brian on a boat with a bunch of older friends, headed for Northern Palm Island. After a couple of weeks, he was left on the island, alone, while the others went back to mainland Queensland to stock up on supplies.

Cyclone Ada stuck the Whitsunday Islands and wreaked havoc on the strait between Palm Island and mainland Australia. Brian was left on the island with nothing but his rifle and a spear gun tied together with a piece of goat skin, his camera wrapped in a plastic bag hidden behind a rock, a pair of shorts and the notion that his friends were dead.

After the cyclone, nothing remained of their camp. Fortunately he was able to keep a fire going.

While Brian was stuck on the island he survived by shooting three goats, and hunting leopard sharks at night.

It took three weeks before a ship passed nearby and Brian was able to let off a few rounds with the rifle to get their attention and get rescued. He arrived safely back on the mainland and when back in his home town, walked into the pub to find his 'friends' sitting at the bar. He asked them whether they'd considered looking for him. Their answer was that number one: They thought he was dead. Number two: They couldn't tell authorities for having to admit they'd left a minor behind. Number three: They couldn't afford to rent a boat.

That was that.

Brian swore as long as he lived he would NEVER step foot on an island again......

• **

Fast forward a decade or so....

• **

Brian moves to the Philippines; the largest collective of islands on Earth.

In my opinion, one of the best finds of Brian's career is actually the oldest. At an almost incomprehensible 5000 B.C. this earthenware bowl was discovered at the bottom of a lake in Palawan; what was allegedly an ancient camp site.

There was also evidence of cooking including these utensils that Gianne and I are inspecting below:

So it seems I have inherited a slice of Brian's treasure hunting finesse during my time at Vasco's.

This morning we took his young bloke Connar, and cousins Amanda and Justin; all undertaking their open water, to the site of some sunken barges close to Subic Airport.

It's a really shallow, easy dive and Brian sent us all out the find glass coke bottles which look amazing on the bar in Vasco's Restaurant.

Needless to say, we did actually find one or two coke bottles, but I did him one better....

Surfacing not wearing my mask, but sporting a pair of brand new, made in Italy, VERY real Ray Bans!!!

I'm pretty sure my find is valuable enough to rival some of the more rare and ancient pieces uncovered by Brian in the past.

Just before our second dive of the day, Connar requested I take some photos of him learning to dive with Jayson so he can take them to school for show and tell:

Pieces of the barges as we drifted across them:

Some beautiful marine life I saw along the way: