My Amazing Guide and Captain

Dive Guide Jhomel (L) and Captain Gilbert (R) direct the Anggar to another fabulous dive site.

Here are my amazing dive guide Jhomel and Captain Gilbert, aboard our boat Anggar. Jhomel was great at finding creatures of all kinds. He and Gilbert drove out to rescue me when I ended up in a current out in the channel, because I'd failed to calibrate my compass. Jhomel tapped my shoulder when my computer flashed that I'd reached the decompression limit. I literally trust my life to these fellows.

Dive guiding takes lots of skill and great eyesight, and it can be dangerous if clients go too deep for too long, or otherwise get into trouble. It's hard work, with at least 4 dives per day, usually for 70 minutes to 70 feet or more. The boat captain is responsible for the boat and the engine, the crew, and the passengers. They work from sunrise to after dusk, 7 days a week, during the 9 months of the diving season. Both guide and captain are well paid, Jhomel in particular. Anggar is an Indonesian word for a long, thin sword (a rapier in English), and Anggar is certainly long and thin (with twin outriggers). She carries captain, dive guide, 2 crewmen, and up to 5 divers. I could identify her underwater by her red hull and blue anchor ropes. Anilao is a world-famous site for underwater photographers, popular among photographers from mainland China in particular. Usually we were the only boat at our dive site, but it's not unusual to have 5 or 6 at one anchorage. In front of Jhomel and Gilbert are the 4 cameras on board today.