Last night I sat down with Christian Garcia, known to our guests as Tan Tan, and asked him some questions about his diving life. Many of our quests will remember Tan Tan for his intimate knowledge of the wrecks and his ability to find some of the smallest macro life around.
Question. How long have you been diving? And how many dives do you have?
Tan Tan. 6 years, (Tan Tan shakes his head back and forth) I have no idea how many dives. Too many to count.
Q. What is your favorite dive site and why?
T. I love the Irako. Its more challenging. I have more fun there.
Q. What do you like best about your job as a PADI Divemaster and your life diving?
T. It’s a completely different world. Underwater, everything is just so peaceful and quiet.
Q. If you weren’t diving, what would you be doing?
T. I don’t know. I would want to be involved with an extreme sport of some kind. I really like adventure.
Q. What is your most memorable moment underwater?
T. I was guiding at Tubataha Marine Park. We had a 4 meter tiger shark swim up from behind the group. It passed within half a meter to me. That is something I will never forget.
Q. Now you are really great at finding small stuff for me and our guests. How do you do it?
T. I am just lucky. It is one of those things. If I tell people in the briefing I will show them something, I won’t be able to find it. If I don’t mention something it in the dive briefing than I just see it.
Q. If you could go on a dive vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
T. Anywhere with wrecks. Maybe Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon. I like diving, I love reefs, but I got addicted to wrecks.
I think many of our guests would agree with Tan Tan’s last statement. I would like to thank Tan Tan for taking a few minutes to talk to me, and for always finding nice macro life for me to photograph.
