Snorkeling day with the whale sharks in Donsol, Philippines

Whale shark - the biggest fish in the world. All the bigger creatures in the oceans are mammals. That´s the fact. I have swum and snorkeled with whale shark 4-5 time before in Philippines near Puerto Princesa in Palawan. Those days were very special. There are also some other places in Philippines where it´s possible to see whale sharks. The most famous one is Donsol near Legazpi City. Anyway like this map shows it´s possible to see whale sharks almost everywhere in the Philippines, if you are lucky.

Easiest way to go Donsol is to take a flight to Legazpi from Manila or Cebu. After flight by van or bus to Dolsol. Travel time is about 1h 20min. 

We went to Donsol on Friday 25th of March and our hotel was Vitton Beach Resort. Already on the hotel it was easy to see whale sharks are big thing in Donsol. 

Just in the neighbor of Vitton is Donsol tourist information center. That´s also the place where the whale shark trips have to book. There are three trips every day and each trip is three hours. First trip for everybody is 885PHP/16,90€. Next trips are 585PHP/11,10€. On the first trip everybody have pay permit for the area and that´s the reason why first trip is more expensive. Permit is valid about 1 week. We booked the trip for the next day.

I heard already before our trip to Donsol, that there has not been so many whale shark on this year. There has been several days that people haven´t seen any whale shark. Here you can check the calendar markings for January, February and March 2013. March and April is usually the peak season for the whale sharks in Donsol. 

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

Our boat trip was on Saturday 26th of March. Morning was perfect. Blue sky and no wind. Sea was also very calm. We came to the tourist information center just little bit before 7am. Every boat take max 6 customers. In our boat was me and my girl friend, our friend Peter from Japan, couple from Germany and one guy from Spain. Everything was ready about 7:30am and jumped to the boat.

One of the best point in Donsol is that there is no need to ride on the boat first hour or two. Boats are immediately on the same area where the whale shark are also. Starting from the first minutes.

We joked with Peter that we will see whale shark in Saturday. Question is only how many and how long we have to wait the first one. 15min or even 30min. In fact our last evening plan worked very well. We were on the boat only about 20min was the first alert. Quickly mask, snorkel, fins and camera ready and then we sat on the edge of the boat. Then our boat man just rode us to correct place and our guide said: Everybody ready…? Yes! Jump NOW!!

Very soon we saw our giant underwater friend.

This whale shark was about 8m long. 

Huge pectoral fin.

Finally I was three times on the water and every time I could swim long time just beside the whale shark. Visibility in Donsol is usually not the best possible. Also in this time it was only few meter and it was impossible to take as good photos I wanted. Compared to Palawan there is huge difference in visibility.

Anyway it was great to see those majestic creatures again. It´s always something very special to see whale sharks close.

Regards from Manila,

Mika

Diving day on the WWII wrecks in Coron, Philippines

I had a holiday on Coron, which is also wreck capital in Philippines. There are many Japanese WWII wrecks. I dived on three of those: East Tangat Wreck, Olympia Maru and Morazan Maru. Here is something from the diving day.


Dive #: 234
Date: 16.2.2013
Place: Philippines, Coron, East Tangat Wreck
Depth: 19,5m Average: 12,8m
Dive time: 37min
Visibility: 5-8m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air)  Wetsuit: Short 3mm  Weight: 5Kg
Other: Torch  Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite Housing

Dive Center: Coral Aqua Diving
Price: 3000PHP/55,80€ including 3 dives, all the equipments, boat ride and lunch

Our first wreck was East Tangat Wreck. Originally the ship was Japanese submarine hunter. Wreck is about 40m long and highest point is only somewhere in the 3m and bottom is near 20m.

Coming to the wreck.

Bridge.

Somewhere inside the wreck.

School of striped catfishes on the wreck.

Dive #: 235
Date: 16.2.2013
Place: Philippines, Coron, Olympia Maru 
Depth: 29,5m  Average: 19,5m
Dive time: 34min
Visibility: 5-8m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air)  Wetsuit: Short 3mm  Weight: 5Kg
Other: Torch  Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite Housing

Our second wreck was Olympia Maru. It was Japanese army auxiliary supply ship. It lies in the upright position on the bottom. Wreck is about 128m long. Deck is somewhere in 20m and the bottom is in 30m. 

First view when going down.

 Some structures.

We dived long way inside the wreck. Here somewhere in the cargo space. From this photo is also easy to see what happens when you use fins on the traditional way. Dust rises from the bottom and that´s not good for the visibility inside the wreck.

Under the hatch.

Some holes in the wreck.

Something mystical.

Are you still there? Some places were very dark and divers showed light for others when had to go through the some narrow places.

Another hatch above the diver.

Ladder.

  More hatches.

Nemo on the wreck.

Dive #: 236
Date: 16.2.2013
Place: Philippines, Coron, Morazan Maru 
Depth: 25,9m  Average: 17,3m
Dive time: 38min
Visibility: 5-8m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air)  Wetsuit: Short 3mm  Weight: 5Kg
Other: Torch  Camera: Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite Housing 

Our third and last wreck was Morazan Maru. Wreck is on the side on the bottom. It´s about 12m below the surface and bottom is somewhere in 26m. 

We dived long way inside the Morazan Maru. In this kind of wrecks you must have torch. 

This was the narrowest place on the day. Steel bar above and under and you will feel the both of them. 

After that there was more space to dive again.

Somewhere inside.

Earth bubbling? No, I'm on the top of the wreck and there are some divers inside and bubbles comes from the small holes.

Giant puffer.

Corals on the wreck.

Back to the surface.

It was very interesting diving day. Some chinese guys on the group used lots of air and that´s why our all the dives were quite short. Also the torch which I got from the dive shop was bad. Together with the poor visibility it was difficult to take good photos. Anyway I really enjoyed the diving on the wrecks. If you like wrecks, you will like diving in Coron for sure.

Here more information about Coron wrecks and dive centers:

Coron Wrecks
Divecal
Dive Link
Rock Steady Dive Center
Sea Dive Resort

After last dive back to the boat. Boat ride from the last dive spot to Coron Town took about one and half hours. I feel good! 

This was also first diving day with my new camera Canon G15 and Ikelite housing. Now I tried few different settings for the camera. Poor visibility and low light condition were also quite different compared for the normal reef dives. So difficult to say yet, which are the best overal settings for the camera. Now I used mainly P and C1 (custom). 

If you have Canon G15 I'm interested to know what kind of settings you use for different diving conditions? Just comment for this story or you can send me also email.

Have a safe dives!

Cheers,

Mika

Canon PowerShot G15 + Ikelite Housing

I have had for a while on my mind to buy a new pocket camera and housing for it. My latest pocket camera has been Canon Ixus 120 IS and Canon´s own housing since May 2010. Anyway especially during last few months there has been every now and then some function errors. Last time I dived in Mactan area near Cebu City, Philippines. On the first dive I tried to take a pictures and I got only white screens in my camera. The same happened also in the evening without housing. After that it was easy to decide now it´s time to move on. I have used camera on diving almost from the beginning when I started to dive in 2002, so I just don´t want to go water without camera. Camera just belongs to my diving equipments.

I had in my mind mainly Canon´s PowerShot G1X and G15. I really wanted as good picture quality as possible from the pocket camera. I have also Canon EOS 60D, but the housings for DSLRs are unfortunately totally out of my budget. Good point in G1X ofcource is big frame and in all the test have been mentioned "DSLR picture quality".  That sounded very impressive and I was already ready to buy one. Unfortunatelly there was also in every test mentioned G1X doesn't focus accurately and the autofocus is very slow. These two drawbacks were always good points in G15 tests and that´s why I finally end up to G15. This was really difficult decision, because I really wanted bigger frame than what G15 has. Without those two points my new camera would be for sure G1X. Like somewhere was mentioned the best combination would be the the best parts from G1X and G15. Cash price for G15 in Philippines was finally 25,000PHP/465€ including case (not uw), 4GB memory card and 3 years warranty.

Here it is.

Buying a housing was not so easy. Canon Philippines doesn´t import the own housing to the country for some unknown reason at all. Before I have used Canon´s housing in Ixus and also in my previous PowerShot S50. Then I checked Ikelite´s webpage and I found the company in Manila, which import Ikelite´s the housing for G15. Cash price for the housing was 29,000PHP/539€. That´s more than double compared to Canon´s housings in Finland, where I come from. Compared to US or some other countries the difference can be even bigger. Ikelite´s housing is very massive compared to Canon´s housings. The empty wait only is 1,8Kg!

Here is the housing opened.

There are lots of differences between Canon´s and Ikelite´s housings. One great thing in Ikelite´s housing has hot shoe for external strobe. That´s also one reason for the big price difference. You can easily to expand your Ikelite´s system with external strobes, video lights, fisheye or wide angel lenses, filters, etc. Easily the only limiter is your/my wallet. External strobe and wide angle would be so cool. In picture the adapter for the external strobe in the right corner in the up. Maybe some day. Another big difference is the waterproof. Canon´s G15 housing is waterproof for 40m, but Ikelite´s is for 60m. Ofcource 40m is enough for most of us, if you are not technical diver.

If there is a big size difference between Ixus and G15, there is also huge size difference between Canon´s and Ikelite´s housings. Old and new one.

I have a swimming pool outside of my condominium in Manila, so I did the first water test for the housing in the pool. Housing half under water. Water still outside…? Yes, it is.

Iceman from Finland in a pool in Philippines. So that´s me.

Lyn as an underwater model.

First water test was successful. It was just easy to see I need some practice to use Ikelite´s housing after two different Canon´s housing. The button technic is so different between those two brands. Now just have to wait for the next diving trips and for the real under water test.

Do you use Canon G15 for diving? What are your favorite uw settings in G15? Just comment for this story or send me an email. 

Have a safe dives!

Cheers,

Mika 

Diving day in Mactan area in Cebu, Philippines

I had a diving day with the friends in Mactan Island area near Cebu. We did a three dives. Divers: Mikko H., Mikko R., and Petri, who was also our dive guide/instructor.

Dive #: 231

Date: 5.1.2013

Place: Philippines, Cebu, Mactan, Hilutungan

Depth: 21,6m Average: 10,9m

Dive time: 43min

Visibility: 20m

Sea Temperature: +29C

Equipment

Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: No wetsuit, shorts + sleeveless Weight: 5Kg

Dive Center: Scuba Haven

Price: Special price for the friends (3 dives)

Diving gears to the boat and to the sea. From the left: Mikko R., Mikko H., Petri and me on the back.

Our first dive spot was Hilutungan Island.

There was a lot of spade fishes. Some of them are very curious and come very close.

Fishes and corals on the wall. 

Petri taking some photos. 

Diaconal banded sweetlips.

That´s me on the wall.

During the first dive we saw also titan triggers, anemones and a lot of different reef fishes.

Dive #: 232
Date: 5.1.2013
Place: Philippines, Cebu, Mactan, Nalusuan Island
Depth: 17,6m Average: 9,4m
Dive time: 57min
Visibility: 20-25m
Sea Temperature: +29C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: No wetsuit, shorts + sleeveless Weight: 5Kg

Our second dive spot was Nalusuan Resort Island. We jumped to water near the pier.

There was a lot of black spotted snappers under the pier building. 

 School of black spoted snappers near the pier.

Blue-spotted stingray. If you look closer you can see this one was lost her tail.

 Corals.

Big grouper on the cleaning station mouth open.

 Blue-spotted stingray with the blue-streak cleaner wrasses.

"Nemos" or Clark´s anemones posing. 

Same "Nemos" again. 

More stingrays.

Second dive was quite shallow, but also quite interesting. Especially under the pier we saw so many fishes. Also later on the dive it was create to see  many stingrays. 

Dive #: 233
Date: 5.1.2013
Place: Philippines, Cebu, Mactan, Olango Island, Talima
Depth: 21,3m Average: 14,6m
Dive time: 44min
Visibility: 15-20m
Sea Temperature: +29C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: No wetsuit, shorts + sleeveless Weight: 5Kg

Our third and last dive spot was Talima. In practice it means deep walls, wooden wreck and lots of fish.

Here Petri diving on the wall.

Wooden wreck has already seen the best days. 

Wreck closer.

There are always a lot of fishes near the wreck. Here diaconal banded sweetlips. 

One sweetlips closer.

Fan coral and barrel sponge.

White eye moray eel ready to attack.

I was taking photo from some coral and suddenly I saw somebody is stearing me very close. It was this guy.

I have dived ones before in Talima about 6 months ago. There are always so many fishes especially near the wreck. 

It was great to dive in Cebu area again especially with the good friends. There are always lots of manine life. If you want to dive near Mactan just contact to Petri.

Regards,

Mika

Manila