Diving With Jose

28/02/2026

Back in November 2024 I took a drysuit course with . Was a very humbling experience! It felt like my 1 Star Diver course all over again having to relearn buoyancy and managing two air bubbles. Learning to put on and take off a drysuit - talc powder, beeswax, which arm in or out first, how not to stress the zipper - was also quite something to digest and I'm very glad I didn't have to learn all of this at the beginning of my diving journey.

The immediate issue for me under water was not venting air from my drysuit quickly enough, but the underlying issue I had was a lack of awareness of the air bubble I'm managing in my suit. During the course I was taught to inflate my drysuit for buoyancy, and when one is overweighted this can result in a larger bubble getting stuck in my legs. Getting rid of this requires doing a sommersault-type of maneuver, which I did once as part of an exercise and once more when I was hopelessly floating away to the surface for real.

Since then I've learned from other divers to keep the minimal amount of air in my suit and use my bcd for buoyancy, and this is a lot more comfortable for me personally - less shifts in buoyancy, less likelihood of floaty legs, and more controlled inflation and deflation. The B in BCD stands for buoyancy, after all. At the same time many divers point out that by keeping the minimal amount lf weight on, inflating your drysuit to the level of comfort should serve enough to keep you buoyant in the first place.

I was and am very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn something new after diving in warm waters exclusively til then.

17/08/2025

Congratulations to our newly certified divers who advanced their training! While I was teaching rescue, search recovery, and dive leading skills, my 2-star/3-star students were teaching me how to take 0.5 selfies.

The journey to 2-Star had begun for as long as 6 years ago for some of these guys, and it makes me proud to see their growth over this whole time. Some of them I certified as 1-Star too. So grateful for their continued commitment, their grit, and trust!

So grateful as well for the support of our dive operator Mang Jimmy at The Sea House at San Jose. We've been diving with his boats ever since, and we've seen his operations advance from dive boats only, to a fully-equipped dive resort with compressor equipment and restaurant. Mang Jimmy has always got our back ✨

23/05/2024

Congratulations to Arielle, Elijah, Raia, Dr. Rhenish, and Rodd for successfully passing their Two-Star Diver course! They have undergone gruelling training from kilometer tows, ocean bail-outs, and rescue lifts to my endless lectures and a fill-in-the-blanks exam with essay questions ✨😉

You have all grown so much since our first 2-Star training sessions last year, and I am proud to call you my trainees, and my buddies. You have fulfilled the standards that our beloved mentor Sir Dic held us up to years ago, and so his training and his spirit lives on.

Here's to more dives! 💦
-Jose

(Thanks also to our official photographer Tams)

19/01/2024

19/01/2024

We saw a thresher jump out of the water!! This was the third out of three.

French Kiss Divers Malapascua

18/10/2022

I love diving wrecks -- both shipwrecks and resort-wrecks :D

Footage was taken at Dari Laut last September during a fun dive.

#дайвинг ́e

17/10/2022

Here are some photos of my group this October. We dove at Dive n Trek, Ligpo, Twin Rocks, and Arthur's Rock! It was at Twin Rock's that we saw a turtle 🐢

This was with Mike, Sandy, Ely, Anthony, Greg, and Owen. We had a great time! :D

#дайвинг ́e

16/10/2022

Congratulations to our newly certified 1-Star Diver Noemi! Welcome to the PAUA family ✨🥳 Fun fact, she is the first among my friends from the UP College of Music who has pursued a scuba certification with us -- I even sang as a baritone in her graduation recital :D

At least 3 years had passed since we'd last seen each other, and it's my first time to see her since she'd gotten back from her Master's studies in the states for Choral (Coral? 🤔) Conducting.

Am looking forward to hearing from your future diving adventures, and hoping to be a part of them! 🐡

#дайвинг ́e

15/10/2022

This was the first time I'd ever seen a frogfish in real life, and in the most unexpected of circumstances. I was just about as thrilled as I was confused. All this time I'd been searching for them in nooks and crannies of rock formations, and we saw this one here just taking a vacation. Seems like he got a break from the quarantine life too 😂

Apparently frog fish can also change colour, but the change takes place over days, or even weeks!

#дайвинг ́e

14/10/2022

Pufferfish! 🐡 When agitated, these guys balloon by swallowing large quantities of water as a defensive measure. They are of the Tetraodontidae family and are structurally similar to the porcupinefish. Wild pufferfish are poisonous, but captive-grown pufferfish are not: This is due to the fact that pufferfish accumulate their toxins by eating certain types of poisonous shellfish found in the wild. In Anilao they can be seen all over, and this here is at the Steps dive sit in front of Amor Laut.

#дайвинг ́e