Occ. Mindoro: Apo Reef!

This is the ultimate reason why I insisted on going to Sablayan instead of staying in San Jose but the trip to Apo Reef almost got cancelled because of 2 sneaky travel agency staff that stole (yes, STOLE!) the boat that would take us there.  BUT I will write about that incident next time because this is after all the Apo Reef trip that we’ve planned for so long.

Apo Reef is said to be the largest atoll-like reef in Asia, the second largest in the world next only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.  It’s not just one reef but is actually a number of reef systems spread out over more than 155,000 hectares.  Now, I understand why Sablayan is the largest municipality in the Philippines. J  I have no idea what “atoll-like” means so I checked it out and this is what I found…“Atoll means an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon.”

It’s in the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention where it’s described to have 3 main islands:  Apo Island, Apo Menor and Cayos del Bajo.  Apo Island is about 22 hectares in size and it’s where the rangers of the Apo National Park set-up station.  That’s also where we paid our dues for snorkeling.  There’s a lighthouse that stands at about 115 feet, which also happens to be the only landmark visible as we approached the island. 

There’s a toilet and manual water pump behind the ranger station but there’s no fresh-water.  The park rangers were nice enough to let us cook rice for lunch in their make-shift kitchen.  While having lunch, their patrol boat arrived and was tugging a much smaller boat.  Apparently, the fisherman who owns the small boat was caught poaching sea cucumbers.  Since the reef is a protected area, the park rangers warned him to stop but he insisted so they had to fire warning shots…when the fisherman didn’t budge, the patrol team had to tug his boat to Apo Island to document the incident.

Well, after bits of chismis with the park rangers, we boarded the boat and asked the captain to take us to the good snorkeling sites…and he did.  However, I can still remember the fear that I saw in his eyes when he learned that none of us knew how to swim.  And to make things worse, we were already scattered out in the open sea before he could even react.  In retrospect, I understand why he got worried, I remember enjoying the beautiful corals with lots of fish and then suddenly…darkness…which meant that I was in very deep and dangerous water.  Oh my goodness, why did I forget about the huge shark that we saw on the way to Apo Reef???  I think I enjoyed the 15 dolphins that we saw so I forgot the one with the huge dorsal fin!

If we had more time to spend in the water, I’m sure we’d be like prunes…you know, wrinkled due to prolonged stay in the water. J  That brief encounter with Apo Reef’s marine life still bring shivers up to my spine.  I play all the scenes I’ve seen over there repeatedly in my head for fear that I’d forget. And I definitely don’t want to forget!  I saw sharks, turtles, huge fish, several schools of different kinds, colors, sizes of fish and lots of beautiful hard and soft corals.  I was amazed by the huge coral walls that suddenly drops and then disappears…which means that that area is pretty darn deep.

I am going back to Apo Reef and I’m going to take my sweet time to marvel at the very diverse marine life…even if it means becoming a prune. J

Note:  Apo Island of Apo Reef, Occidental Mindoro is not to be confused with Apo Island in Dauin, Negros Oriental.  Though, I must admit that I really got confused during the planning stage of this trip…especially since we just got back from a snorkeling trip in Dauin. J