In a new vlog, Jessy Mendiola opens up about her love for diving. She fell for the sport when a friend introduced her to it and she immediately saw a huge sea turtle on her first dive. Now, Jessy is an advanced open water diver and is getting into underwater photography, too.
Jessy’s favorite diving site is the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, which she describes as “untouched” and “buhay na buhay.” A typical diving day at Tubbataha goes like this: light breakfast at 4 or 5 a.m., dive till 8 or 9 a.m., heavy breakfast on the boat, dive until noon, eat lunch on the boat, dive again, have an afternoon snack, and then dive again.
One time, they decided to sit out the fourth dive, which was when their fellow divers spotted a whale shark. Jessy was “sobrang sad na medyo inis” that they missed out. But the next day, they spotted two whale sharks on the very first dive. “Naiyak ako,” said Jessy. “Lumapit siya, tipong ikaw na iiwas kasi isang bus at kalahati laki niya.” It’s the reason why she got a whale shark tattoo, which covered up her old mermaid tattoo.
Jessy never thought that she would learn to dive since she was afraid of the water as a kid. For those who are interested, she suggested taking lessons and continuously diving to build muscle memory.
The actress also praised the local marine life and pushed for its conservation. “Sana mas pahalagahan pa natin kung anong mayroon tayo.”
Follow Dyan on Instagram.