Scuba divers like to joke that, after a long time out of the water, our bodies crave the nitrogen that enters the system after some time at depth. COVID-19 has certainly kept many of us out of the ocean for a long time—too long. My last dive was in September 2019, on an overseas trip to see sharks in Fiji, although that was an experience to last me a while. My mother’s illness and eventual death in early 2020, just a couple of weeks before lockdown, and the quarantine that followed made diving impossible. Thus, when diver friends scheduled a weekend in Bauan, Batangas, on Nov. 21-22, I had my poor, dusty equipment cleaned in anticipation.

Honasan, A. B. (2020, December 6). A socially distanced scuba diving weekend in Batangas. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. D1.