WORTH THE INVESTMENT

From the seaside town of Coron, we chose a package offered by the Dugong Dive Center, booking a doubledecked vessel brimming with both tanks and spotters. Though a bit pricey at about seven grand a head, the fact that we got to tick dugongs off our “lifer list” with style and comfort made the investment worthwhile. Plus the food was top-notch.

It took us three hours to sail from Coron to Calauit Island, famed for its imported African animals like Giraffes and Impalas (more on them in a future story). Our spotter took 40 minutes to swim around and find a quietlygrazing dugong, before signalling us to follow.

We lucked out and encountered Aban, a three meter long male who is particularly friendly to divers. Having been photographed by many divers over the past decade, he’s probably the country’s most friendly, famous, and interesting dugong.

Encountering a sea cow isn’t like seeing a whale, which robs you of breath because of sheer size, nor a shark that inspires more than just a hint of fear. A dugong is huge but friendly, just like a mermaid Hodor.

We kept a healthy distance from Aban as he crunched gleefully on Halophila ovalis, which unlike most types of seagrass, has small round leaves instead of flowing grass blades. Dugongs eat up to 40 kilogrammes a day, keeping hectares of seagrass pruned and productive. My photographer buddy Danny Ocampo and I actually had to move around as Aban was curious enough to swim towards us a few times, checking us out. It wasn’t scary, but we wanted to respect minimum distance guidelines at all times. After 30 minutes, we finned up. Incredibly, Aban did too! He circled us on the surface, close enough to touch (I’m proud no one did). We wished him luck as he gently disappeared into Calauit Island’s turquoise waters.

Though dugongs are protected by law nationwide, they still get accidentally entangled in fishing gear and drown. The once-vast seagrass meadows they depend on for food are being destroyed by coastal reclamation and pollution. By protecting not just dugongs – but the seagrass meadows that support them – tomorrow’s Pinoys might too get a chance to come face to face with the real mermaids of the sea.

To book your dugong adventure, contact the Dugong Dive Center’s Dirk Fahrenbach at info@dugongdivecenter.com.