Philippines

[reppy007]

We had plenty of philippino guys that I met while in the army,even some from Guam......pretty cool folks.I wish them luck.

[reppy007]

Reply, I'm a diver from way back. Pakistan has been a bit draining. Thailand is 4.5 hours by air from PK. This was my third trip to Thailand for diving this year. That said, the Philippines is also a diving Mecca... But it is a 12 hour trip from Pakistan including layover. 5 hours from Thailand. Both locations have great diving (the PI has more locations to dive) but my favorite dive master is in Thailand and it's a quicker trip.

Today was rough. We got into the territory of three cooperatives that were hit pretty hard by the storm. The national transmission company was hit pretty hard to. Over 300 138kv towers down... Two of the three co-ops lost 90 to 95% of their poles. The other lost about 75%. All three are working hard to get wire back in the air. Two have connected load to some small generation in their territory. The last has to wait for the national grid to come online.

Tomorrow we head for to Cebu. From there we wil go to the famous Tacloban. I'll try to reduce some of the photos and get them posted.

Take care, rwd.....

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...rld&id=9331279

[reppy007]

Why NOT ASK.......ok,Im asking....hey RWD....WhY would anyone want to freedive that deep?Isnt there enough records to be broken above the water? And finally,how can the human body handle all that pressure.....I used to go 16 feet underwater and my eardrums were about to explode...........explain please.

[reppy007]

Rwd..did u see the link?

[RWD]

Reppy, I dive Scuba. I know some free divers but none of them do depth. In some places spear fishing is restricted to free divers. I dive for pleasure. I had read about the death on the scuba site I visit. I simply don't understand why folks want to dive for depth. But then, few people understand why I do what I do so I'll watch from afar and shake my head.

Your ears hurt due to unequal pressure. Air compresses water does not. The weight of the water compresses the air in our sinuses bending our eardrums in. We need to equalize the pressure. Depending on the person and circumstances, equalizing is easy. Pinch your nose close your mouth and blow. You've likely done that while decending on an airplane or into a valley from the mountains. As divers we do that every few feet as we decend.

The weight of air is one atmoshpere at sea level. As we decend into water the weight if the water is equal to another atmosphere at about 30 feet. My deepest dive was about 120 feet or 5 atmospheres. I do not like deep diving as there is a lot less to see at depth and you lose colors from the spectrum. (Frequencies of light) most of my dives are at 30 to 60 feet. Most of the real sea life and things to see are in the 0 to 60 foot range. Deeper dives my be to see wrecks or special formations.

On the road to Cebu this morning. iPad has a SIM card so I can check online where we have cell. Take care all!

Rwd

[reppy007]

Thanks RWD...well wishes from us all be careful and when we all sit down for the thanksgiving meals I hope we can take a moment to remember that there are others that do not have the simple meals that we have,and those that have lost their homes,family and such.So guys think about that angle....and be happy that you can at least be thankful.

[RWD]

In the Cebu airport. Met/passed a group of Cannadian military. Chatted a bit. They are on their was to Roxas (pronounced Rohas) to set up shop for medical and other relief. Go Canada!

Rwd

[RWD]

The northern portion of three islands got hit pretty bad. Iloilo, Cebu and Leyte. In those regions 95% of the distribution lines were wiped out. Leyte is the island where the town of Tacloban is located. It was pretty much turned to rubble. Three of to cooperatives on the island also had substation damage. Some minor and some broken bushings on the power transformers. Even if they get things put back together, the issue remains with the transmission lines. There are thermal power-plants on Leyte. They are offline, some due to damage and others because there are no transmission lines or distribution to serve. It's going to be a mess for some time. The Philippino people are awesome. They have left the victim stage and are now survivors putting their lives back together. Crews from all over the Philippines are helping the damaged cooperatives. Some of the IOUs have sent crews as well. These crews are at no cost to the damaged utilities. sent free of charge wages paid by the sending utility. They have banded together knowing it could have been their own utilities and perhaps will be theirs next time. Awesome folks! Prayers go out to them and theirs.

[Old Line Dog]

In the Cebu airport. Met/passed a group of Cannadian military. Chatted a bit. They are on their was to Roxas (pronounced Rohas) to set up shop for medical and other relief. Go Canada!

Rwd

You're an incredible person Bob. God Bless you.

So...are you out of Pakistan for good? Did I miss Post?

I sure hope you are out of Pakistan...for Good. Take care of yourself Bob, and God Bless you, and the humanitarian work you do. You're incredible.

[RWD]

O.L.D..... I wish you had missed the post. Nope I am back in Pakistan. I was there to do the initial survey on what we could do to help. Lots to do but it needs to be organized so it helps not overlaps. The Filipino people are awesome folks. They are true survivors. Much like our folks in the 17 and 1800s. Those that died ... well they died... The rest of them are picking up the pieces and moving forward... Awesome folks... no victims... Take care,

RWD