For this school holiday, I travelled to Siquijor with my mum and my instructor Bingbo. Siquijor is a small island in the Philippines, and I learned something amazing — the Philippines has over 7,000 islands! Out of all those islands, we picked this little one to explore.

We stayed for three whole weeks, and I did so much diving that every day felt like an underwater adventure. On one dive, I was lucky to spot more than 10 turtles swimming calmly around me. Some were eating sea grass, some were gliding gracefully through the water — it felt like they were exploring with me.

One of the coolest things I saw was a giant fan coral — it was almost as big as me! It looked like a huge red tree underwater, waving gently in the current.

On two of my dives, I spotted a garden eel for the first time! It was shy and tiny, peeking out from its sandy hole in the reef. It was amazing to see a creature that hides so carefully and only pops up a little bit at a time.

Every dive in Siquijor also had lots of Nemo fishes hiding in anemones and lionfish swimming slowly with their beautiful spiky fins. I saw them on almost every single dive. It felt like Siquijor’s underwater world never ran out of surprises.

Spending three weeks diving around this island made me feel so happy and peaceful. It was like living inside an aquarium full of life, colours, and amazing sea creatures.