Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Sky Dive and The Hill in Sabang, Philippines

Dive #: 258
Date: 7.11.2015
Place: Philippines, Mindoro, Sabang, Sky Dive
Depth: 25,3m Average: 14,6m
Dive time: 50min
Visibility: 20-25m
Sea temperature: +28C


Equipment

Bottle: 12L/220bar (air)  Wetsuit: Short 3mm  Weight: 5Kg
Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite´s housing  Computer: Suunto Stinger

Dive Center: South Sea Divers
Price: 2400PHP/43€/2 Dives

We had a weekend trip from Manila to Sabang in Mindoro, Philippines and I had two dives with South Sea Divers. Here is something what we saw on the dives. 

Tiny anemone crab.
Same crab.
Big puffer.
Small fish on the sandy bottom.
There was lot of small reef fishes in some places.
Feather corals.
School of Two spot sniper. 
Diver on the reef.
Fire clownfish.
Pipefish on the sandy bottom. 


Dive #: 259
Date: 7.11.2015
Place: Philippines, Mindoro, Sabang, The Hill
Depth: 18,2m Average: 13,7m
Dive time: 54min
Visibility: 12-18m
Sea temperature: +28C


Equipment

Bottle: 12L/210bar (air)  Wetsuit: Short 3mm  Weight: 5Kg
Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite´s housing  Computer: Suunto Stinger


Our second dive spot was The Hill. Before the dive we heard the place is good for muck diving and there should be lots of small staff. 

Striped catfishes hide between in the corals. 
Pistol shrimp keeping the nest clean and goby as a door man. 
Feather coral.
Seahorse on the bottom. 
Same seahorse.
Flabellina nudibranch.
Two nudis.
Same nudis.
Another kind of nudibranch.
Blue-spotted stingray hiding. 
When you go close enough this happens always.
Few trumpet fishes.
Fire clownfish. 
So I did two nice dives in Sabang area. Especially the second one was interesting, because the dive spot was new for me.

Regards from Manila,

Mika

Thursday, October 1, 2015

The Wall and Ribbon Eel in Puerto Princesa, Philippines

Dive #: 256
Date: 26.9.2015
Place: Philippines, Puerto Princesa, The Wall
Depth: 30,7m Average: 15,2m
Dive time: 55min
Visibility: 15-20m
Sea temperature: +30C


Equipment

Bottle: 12L/200bar (air)  Wetsuit: No wetsuit, only shorts and sleeveless  Weight: 5Kg
Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite´s housing  Computer: Suunto Stinger

Dive Center: Dive Puerto Princesa
Price: 3300PHP/63€/2 dives


I visited last weekend in Palawan and of course I had to go also diving. I went to dive with Romel, who is the owner of Dive Puerto Princesa. Romel is also PADI instructor. There was nobody else, so had two relax dives just a two of us. 

This was my first dive for 7 months, so even being on the boat felt so good. 
Romel had a special outfit on the first dive. 
Everything is ready and to the water.
In the beginning of the dive we saw many feather corals. 
Here is a black one.
Different kind of soft coral.
Romel and big fan coral.
More feather coral.
Red teeth triggerfish tries to hide.
Nudibranch.
Guard of the nest.
In the end of the dive we saw one turtle, but it was quite far and much deeper than we.


Dive #: 257
Date: 26.9.2015
Place: Philippines, Puerto Princesa, Ribbon Eel
Depth: 22,8m Average: 13,7m
Dive time: 56min
Visibility: 15m
Sea temperature: +30C


Equipment

Bottle: 12L/200bar (air)  Wetsuit: No wetsuit, only shorts and sleeveless  Weight: 5Kg
Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite´s housing  Computer: Suunto Stinger

In the beginning of the second dive we saw several nudibranchs.
There was also two blue-spotted stingrays, but I couldn´t go near to take any close-ups.
This white eye moray eel looks quite funny. 
Same guy.
Yellow margin moray eel hiding.
Lionfish on the top of brain coral.
Nudi couple.
Ready to escape.
Yellow head moray eel mouth open.
Same moray closer. 
It was so nice to dive after 7 months. Just too long break. It´s anyway so easy to go diving also here from Manila. Hopefully soon again.

Special thank to Romel!

Regards from Manila,
Mika

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

DRT Dive Expo Philippines 2015

Last weekend 11-13 of Sep 2015 was held international DRT Dive Expo Philippines 2015. DRT means Diving, Resort and Travel. The venue was in SM Megatrade Convention Center in Ortigas. I visited in DRT on Saturday.
One big group of the exhibitors were local dive shops. They were selling all kind of dive gears, camera equipments, dive trips, etc. In practice everything from the basic equipments to advanced tech diving and all levels of underwater photographers.
Another big group in the event were dive resorts. Most of the dive resorts were from Philippines, but also other countries like Indonesia and Thailand.

Almost immediately after I came to the exhibition hall I met coincidentally Finnish Saila, who was promoting Atmosphere Resort in Dumaguete. Apo Island is very well known diving place near Dumaguete and the resort have dive trips also to the island. Sea turtles are very common in Apo area.
I met also Finnish couple Pekka and Tiina in the Expo, who were promoting totally new dive resort in Tablas called First Buddy. They have already dive shop in Phuket Thailand, but they will open now new one to Tablas in Philippines. Grand opening will be 19th of Sep 2015, if I remember correctly.

Pekka told the area is new for diving and the reefs are still totally untouchable. They have also accommodation available. New places are always welcome and would be interested to visit.
For me the most interesting thing in DRT was the underwater photography seminars. This was the program for all 3 days.



First seminar on Saturday was Jerome Kim´s (South Korea) topic Romblon: The New Macro Heaven.
Jerome has specialized for UW macro photography and the shots were simply incredible. The creatures can be super small. The smallest are only 1-2mm long and can be partly transparent. This means it´s also very difficult to take photos. He told sometimes he had to use the whole one dive to get only one good shot of one creature.

He showed very cool pictures of tiny nudis, flatworms, etc.
More Jerome´s amazing UW macro photos in his gallery.

Amanda Cotton (USA) had totally different kind of seminar topic: Diving with Dinosaur - Encountering the American Crocodile.
Amanda told her project from Banco Chinchorro in Mexico, where they have studied the behavior of Amarican Crocodiles. The idea of diving or snorkeling with crocodiles sounds totally crazy, but according her presentation it can be possible.

The place in Mexico is very shallow and the water is crystal clear. The biggest crocodiles can be more than 4 meters, so the safety is very important.
Scott Gutsy Tuason (Philippines) was the next one and he told about Black Water Photography in his relax way.
Basic idea of the Black Water Photography is to go to the middle of open sea after sunset, where the sea is deep enough. First the lights will be set to the 20m long rope with the weight. The lights will create a light tunnel, which attracts the fishes and other creatures to near the rope. Gutsy told the best time for the Black Water Photography is starting around 10PM. At night there come lots of creatures from the depth, which never comes near the surface in the day time.

Gutsy´s photos are very impressive.
Some creatures are extremely rare to see.
Great UW photos around the Philippines.
Diver with Jacks in Tubbataha - Photographer: Alex Mustard (UK)
I met in the Expo also my dive buddy Romel from Puerto Princesa, Palawan. He is very experienced dive instructor and knows the Puerto Princesa dive spots very well. You can contact him via his web page Dive Puerto Princesa.
DRT was very good event and must visit for all who are interested about diving, snorkeling or just marine life. I really liked the seminars. Hopefully DRT it will be also next year 2016.

Regards from DRT Philippines,
Mika