Thursday, September 30, 2010

Barracuda Lake

Diving wasn't part of our first visit of Coron itinerary (how awfully sad to be in the best dive sites in this side of P.I. and just stayed on the surface) but we insisted of including Barracuda Lake in our island tour even for the sake of sight seeing. To enter the lake, the boat had to pass more towering limestones nestling on top of the sea.



The dock couldn't accommodate boat this big so the passengers ( definitely divers, it's a Sea Dive's boat) may swim up to the dock or transfer by a small boat like ours.









This was the entrance of the lake. A nipa hut purposed as a guard house where the Tagbanua locals stayed and to whom entrance fees were paid . That yellow boat outside was ours.








Narrow wooden bridges and stairs that we had to walk on to reach the lake.








Imagine how dangerous it could be when an earthquake suddenly occur at this point ..over our heads and beside our elbows were countless jigsaw puzzled lime stones that were unusually on top of each other. As if ready to fall on us , any minute the volcano got irritated.



Almost there . . .







Welcome to Barracuda Lake, a haven for divers. The lake is also famous for its thermocline layers ( water temperature changes by the layer) and a cave under. Ofcourse its another claim to fame are the barracudas who are said to be residents of the lake. I had a small chat with a diver and gladly he showed me his photos he had freshly taken under the lake.




From his photos, I saw that under scenes were quite similar to the surface_ there were also fascinating rock formations of limestones. He got a photo of one barracuda but looked so small than what I would have expected to see.Thermocline was visible through the texture of water in his pictures. He was bubbling to share how on one point he felt being boiled then on another layer was chilling cold. He was using an Olympus (?) cam and he said not working so well at the deeper/darker areas which explained his dark photos. Overall he said, Barracuda lake is one of the best dive sites on earth.









Well, I say even us ( bystanders/sight seers) couldn't agree that this lake got its own identity and unique charm even on the surface.




Much that we would like to linger on, the boat was waiting for another island. Hope to see the barracudas on our return here.

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