From our charming room at the Batanes Dive Resort located next to the turquoise sea of the Philippine Sea, you would think we were on the film set of a tropical paradise perched above immaculate froth. My gaze did not just comb the windswept verdant fields, the dramatic mountain range that seems to puncture the clouds and the nostalgic lighthouses set atop hills like sentinels but also the romantic watery channels that beckon as well. I wondered what kind of marine life pervaded in the waters, what kind of eclectic corals thrived in seemingly unexplored territory, and which denizens of the deep patrolled the depths of the sea oblivious to the knowledge of man?

Dayrit, C. S. (2014, March 9). Batanes: New secrets revealed. The Philippine Star, p. K-2.