Hi Jigo,
My name is Mark and I am one of the owners of the Philippine Siren and work in the sales department. Someone drew my attention to this post and I thought it prudent to post a reply on Worldwide Dive and Sail's behalf. Unfortunately the news article is indeed full of untruths and I believe politically/financially motivated. The Philippine Siren did not drive into coral at all but her mooring pulled free and damaged some coral. As this saga is still ongoing I can't say too much but here is the official statement we have released.....
"On Friday the 25th of June the SY Philippine Siren was visiting Apo Island as part of its South Visayas itinerary. The ship was on a mooring that was supposed to be strong enough for that type of vessel and was assigned to her by the local authorities.
Unfortunately, sudden heavy seas moved the ship together with the mooring and anchoring rock, pulling the anchoring rock over a part of the reef, damaging a section of Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis).
We are saddened by this event and are currently working with the authorities on how to proceed so that this type of damage does not occur again.
As divers, we are dedicated to protecting the reef as well as sharing the underwater beauty of the Philippines with divers from around the world."
My wife and I were divers on board the Philippines Siren when this incident occurred. When we arrived at Apo island on the morning of the day in question, the boat was assigned a mooring which turned out to be the most exposed, should the wind be blowing from the south.
After two dives, we were enjoying a surface interval aboard the boat, when a sudden localized weather system blew in, with winds that quickly whipped up to over 20 knots, heavy rain, and building seas to the range of about two meters. As the boat began to pitch on the mooring, the captain and crew were very attentive to the state of this exposed mooring, slowly running the engine with forward gear engaged, to relieve strain on the mooring line. This was performed in a seamanlike manner, in my opinion, (I have spent more than 50 years in boats of various sizes).
It is not entirely clear to me whether the load on the mooring from a boat of our size was too great, whether we should have been assigned a more sheltered mooring (hard to say), whether the mooring line snapped, or whether we actually dragged the mooring block, but we ultimately did disengage from the mooring, and, in the midst of the storm, motored straight out from Apo Island, into the open channel, where we steamed back and forth for at least an hour, until the weather system blew through, after which we circled back to the lee side of the island, with the P. Siren remaining live, while we completed our third and fourth dives, before motoring off to our next destination. These maneuvers again were carried out with expert seamanship by our captain and crew, who should be credited with recognizing the danger of dragging onto a lee shore, as a consequence of being tethered to an unstable mooring, and freeing from it, to seek the safety of open water.
It is important to note that at no time did the boat contact the reef. If there was any damage to the coral, as Mark suggests, it would have been from the mooring dragging prior to our boat disengaging from it.
Several days later, on the last full day of our trip, our cruise director was summoned from the boat, to attend a hearing regarding this incident. He reported to me afterward that the meeting was very cordial, and that all parties were in accord as to the facts, as I have related. He was subsequently very distressed to see the malicious untruths that have been published in the Philippine press regarding this incident. I share his concern that the reputation of Worldwide Dive and Sail, and its excellent crew has been impugned by whatever entity has inititated these confabulations.
One wonders as to their motivation, and whether this is an acceptable way of doing business in this region of the world.
Sherwood Smith
