Two weekends ago, I was in Cebu for the signing of a Settlement Agreement with a Cebuano borrower. He gave Adrian and I a P5.5Million Manager's check and in return I handed over to him his yellowing owner's original duplicate copy of a Land Title located in the reclamation area. He was so happy he gave Adrian and I free use of any spa services at Grand Royal Spa for the rest of the year, a spa business that he runs with his son. Sayang, I'm not sure if I'd ever get to use it as I don't know when I'll be in Cebu again. But it was a nice offer from Mr. Siao.
Anyway, what I really want to write about is my decision to finally take up diving. See, after the business side was concluded in Cebu, I met up with Tagaytay Buddy who mentioned to me that his Dive Group will be heading out to Pandanon Island on Sunday and that if I wanted to come. I wasnt prepared to get wet on this Cebu trip, so suffice to say that I have no proper attire for this invite, but I haven't heard of Pandanon Island and I may never have the chance to see it if I pass it up, so I said yes.
The Island lies between Mactan and Bohol, a strip of white sand and really excellent for sunbathing. Don't expect a resort type of place as its good for stopovers between Island trips. Quaint nipa huts serves as shelter under the scorching sun. Of course, this was a diving excursion and enroute to Pandanon, T.B. and the rest suited and geared up and dove in an area called Tulingon (?) Tinggol (?) Tubigon (?)... gee, I forget, and since I don't dive, I stayed with the boat. The group had 2 dives that day and I stayed in the boat. It really didn't bother me too much about being the odd one out although of course, corny naman coz what the hell am I doing in a dive boat, in a dive site in the company of divers, and not knowing how to dive, right?
Learning to dive has always been at the back of my head and I told myself I'd take time to learn it. As to when, I still didn't know at the time. But shortly after this Cebu weekend, I was advised by the office that I had 18 vacation credits to use and while in the middle of figuring out what I should do with those 18 days, Tonio S. showed up in the office (our systems furniture consultant), peeked at what I was doing and said, 'hey Ton, learn to dive nalang." Then he was calling na his PADI instructor, briefly spoke to him about me and then handed to me his cellphone.
And so here I am, about to learn to dive. I'm getting good vibes from my Instructor. More about who he is will see print as I go through with this learning session. I'll be taking the class alone and he says he will give me a thorough manual and confined water courses before he brings me to Subic and Anilao with a group. I'm really looking forward to that.
Anyway, that's what's new now. I did say I was going to learn how to dive before I reach 40. Guess I'm two years ahead of that statement. Hehe!
Here's to learning something new!