Benj Espina

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I took this shot with my Samsung Note 2′s camera when we were about a kilometer or so away from the site of the salvage operations. We were diving off the M/Y Oceana Maria at the Black Rock dive site during out last day at Tubbataha. The left-most structure right next to the crane is the USS Guardian. It is being taken off the reef piece by piece after being declared a “total loss” by the US Navy. Recent reports have suggested that the USS Guardian will be completely removed from the reef in the next few days.

I was furious when it was reported in the news that the USS Guardian (a vessel that was a naval minesweeper) ran aground at the Tubbataha Reef – a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the destination of just about every Filipino diver. Faulty maps were said to be the cause of the accident but the location of the reefs are no secret to anyone. The Sulu Sea is plied by many commercial vessels and the Tubbataha Reefs are specks of shoals in the vast deep sea. Any modern ship should’ve had the technology to detect the depth of the waters they were in and certainly, the ship of the self-proclaimed “greatest nation in the world” should have been immune to a stupid mistake like this.

As a Filipino, I was very upset that an American military ship can easily pass through our waters, destroy our natural resources and not immediate face sanctions. It was upsetting to see how the Philippines pulled back and just played this cool instead of really highlighting the graveness of the event. This accident compromised one of the most important breeding grounds of many local species of fish and marine animals and could have very long-lasting environmental repercussions.

Edit: As of March 30, 2013, the US Navy declared the salvage operations to have been finished.

TweetIf this video by Jun Lao (Paparazsea) doesn’t make you want to get you into diving, nothing will. I just came back from a really awesome trip about the Oceana Maria and it was a very good first liveaboard experience for me.

As far as local diving is concerned, exploring the waters of the Tubbataha National Park is the goal of every Filipino diver. Its location deep in the heart of the Sulu Sea makes going to this natural wonder quite a challenge – all dives in Tubbataha are to be done via live-aboards since the nearest major port of Puerto Princesa City (Palawan) is more than half a day away by boat.

We took a week long expedition that had stops in Apo Reef (Occidental Mindoro), Busanga Island (Palawan), Quiminatin (Cuyo Islands, Palawan), Tubbataha Reef and Puerto Princesa. I will be posting more about this trip in the coming days.  Enjoy the video!