Everyone Goes to Jim’s 1

by Jewel Punzalan Allen
Travel piece on Sea Dive Resort for Filipinas Magazine, July 2007

“I ride 160 kilometers on a motorcycle. It’s a gorgeous ride. I stop at Bintuan for a Coca-Cola, or mami soup at a sari-sari store for 25 pesos. The people love to talk. They aren’t trying to solve the world’s problems. And,have you noticed? Filipinas are the most beautiful in the world.” – Jim Goll, Sea Dive Resort owner

photo courtesy of Sea Dive Resort

CORON, Palawan, Philippines – The small boat barely reaches the dock when a man hops out to steady it. A dozen children follow suit, smiling and chattering. It reminds me of a scene in Finding Nemo when a Mr. Ray takes his school of fish on a field trip.

In this case, Mr. Ray is Jim Goll, the American expatriate owner of Busuanga Sea Dive Resort. I lean over the railing of his open-air restaurant, introduce myself, and request an interview. “Give me thirty minutes,” he says, brandishing a snorkeling mask. “I should have everything taken care of.”

I wait at a table facing the sea and put up my feet. My soccer-mom responsibilities back home in the Utah desert are forgotten as I soak in the atmosphere. Tour boats, bigger and fancier than Jim’s are docking for the evening. In the distance, I make out several islands and wonder if, in all that lush foliage, humans live there. A cool breeze soothes me into contentment I haven’t experienced in a long time.

True to his word, Jim returns a half hour later, banters with the wait staff who call him “Bossing” and offers me a drink. Like his boat, Jim comes across unpretentious in a plain white shirt, faded swim trunks and flip-flops. For a man in his early seventies, he looks fit. His eyes glint almost silver, their expression intense.

“It’s the last day of school,” he says of his boat expedition. The dozen children are students of a private school he and his wife Jenny operate. They have anywhere from 10 to 19 students in grades two to five. Laughing, he sings, “No more teachers, dirty looks…”

From cattle to Coron

How did a veterinarian from Washington State, USA, end up running a school and a popular dive resort in the Philippines?

In February 1993, Jim got a knock on his door that would change his life. The man at this doorstep said, “I understand you wish to serve on the Peace Corps.” A friend, it turned out, had put Jim’s name in for the volunteer program.

Jim was facing a crossroads, having just been divorced, and with his father’s death. The Peace Corps rep’s next words clinched the deal: “You’ve got so much. Don’t you want to give back to those that don’t?”

After selling his cattle ranch and filing his taxes on April 15, 1993, Jim left for the Philippines. He was assigned to Palawan for two years, but three years later, he was still there, working to eradicate hog cholera, which claimed 80 percent of the pig population every year.

“I begged, borrowed and bought vaccine,” he says, “and went house to house. Two and a half years later, we had eradicated the epidemic.”

When he went to Dumaguete to consult with a veterinarian, he met a Filipina who would become his wife. He recalls sitting in a restaurant and seeing Jenny’s “mass of hair and beautiful smile.” He courted her the old-fashioned way, with “no holding hands” and a voyage to test his will: 26 hours from Coron to Manila, 31 hours from Manila to Dumaguete, and six hours to Siquijor.

World -class resort

They settled in Coron and Jim found himself anxious to have something to do. He bought the property where Sea Dive sits today and build the resort from scratch. He started with a dive shop, to capitalize on the area’s world-famous wrecks, then branched out into lodging, boats, restaurant, and bar.

At every step of the construction, he met resistance from local contractors who didn’t know what to make of the American client with the strange ideas. When he wanted an open-air restaurant, he was told, “the wind will come through.” He wanted to pour cement, but the time of year was deemed “too cold”. Fortunately, his tastes prevailed, resulting in his beautiful, 32-room seaside resort. He carefully considered every detail, from the sturdy chairs built of Culion narra to the ipil floor, which is waxed and polished without fail.

About 70 percent of his clientele consists of divers from all over the world, who learn of his resort through word-of-mouth.

“Do you see that gentleman in the white shirt?” Jim asks me. “He’s from Hamburg (Germany) and comes back all the time. Foreigners say, ‘I met John Smith and he told me this is a good place.'”

As his endeavors paid off, he paid back to his newfound community, starting with his staff of locals, whom he helps with college tuition. He flies surgeons in from Manila and volunteers his boats and time in Coast Guard search and rescue operations.

His love for the Busuanga area and its people is evident as he shares the best way to experience the island.

“I no longer drive (a car),” he says. “I ride 160 kilometers on a motorcycle. It’s a gorgeous ride. I stop at Bintuan for a Coca-Cola, or mami soup at a sari-sari store for 25 pesos. The people love to talk. They aren’t trying to solve the world’s problems. And, have you noticed? Filipinas are the most beautiful in the world.”

Click HERE for Sea Dive’s Chili Peper Crab recipe

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