“OUR PASSION FOR THE SEAS BROUGHT US TOGETHER AND TODAY WE SPEND A BIG PART OF OUR TIME NEAR, ON, OR IN THE WATER. OUR MISSION IS TO CAPTURE THE BEAUTY OF THE DEPTHS AND RAISE AWARENESS ON GROWING ISSUES OF THE OCEAN.”
Our passion for the seas brought us together and today we spend a big part of our time near, on, or in the water. Our mission is to capture the beauty of the depths and raise awareness on growing issues of the ocean.
I grew up in a dive shop in the Philippines and I’ve been around divers ever since. I was lucky to start scuba very early and this sparked my fascination with everything beneath the waves. There was always dive magazines and training material with amazing photography lying around and this captivated me. My first memories were of the beach, and that cast the spell. Years later, I saved up to enough for a used digital camera that came with a plastic underwater housing. Although already dated at the time, I learned so much about creatures and light in the water with that tiny point and shoot. Currently, I serve the industry as a member of the board of trustees for the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving.
Even before I met Bo, I had heard about him and his photography. I was curious to meet this ocean-loving man. I was working as a dive guide for a luxury live-aboard in Palau at that time. Bo came on board to document our dives. Early on he was sharing his knowledge with me. He taught me things about fish behaviour, how to approach sharks, how to read the currents and the deeper importance of coral. Every week he put together a video from our dives and I loved watching his work. It was like he was one with the ocean. Beautiful to see.
I did my very first dive when I was fifteen years old. Five years later I came back to the same place and started to work as a divemaster. I found a passion I didn’t know I had. My love for marine life and the need for conservation grew fast. I was absorbing information from more experienced divers and documentaries about the sea, and I wanted to do my part. So when I met Bo, who grew up in a family of divers, my questions never ended. Luckily he didn’t seem to mind my
curiosity and years later we are living on a beach in the tropical island of Cebu, where I write stories of the seas for a Scandinavian dive magazine.
We are convinced that every dive counts. We collect debris, discarded fishing gear or simply checking in on the reef. Always documenting our adventures with our cameras. There are so many fast-growing issues in the ocean right now, and we want to do what we can to help. At night we see the local fishermen trying to catch fish on the house reef. A catch that is getting smaller and smaller, barely enough to feed their families with. Right now there are no effective alternative programs for the local fisherfolk. The Philippine islands are rich in underwater resources, it is the apex of the coral triangle but yet to most of the people who live by the sea it seems inadequate. As citizens of the planet, we see it as our duty to help instigate positive change. Currently, we are developing ways to find sustainable livelihood options for coastal communities.
Bo and I believe in the saying, “We protect what we love” and as storytellers, we are trying to spread awareness to people all around the globe. Our hope is if we show beauty and share our knowledge, more people will fall in love with the ocean. Fortunately, we live in a time when social media is an efficient way to reach out and we make it a point to post our content as often as we can. A never-ending mission that we love to do together. The underwater world is our passion as well as our calling. Our life is centred around the ocean and we couldn’t think of anything more important than advocating for it.
