Diving with turtles in Balicasag Island, Philippines

I was long weekend with my girl friend in Panglao Island here in Philippines. Two days before the trip my friend Jari from Finland told me he comes to visit short trip in Philippines. Jari came with us also to Panglao and I did two dives with him in Balicasag Island. 

Dive #: 245
Date: 8.3.2014
Place: Philippines, Balicasag Island, Black Forest
Depth: 20,1m Average: 13,4m
Dive time: 55min
Visibility: 30m
Sea temperature: +28C

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

Dive Center: Baywatch Diving

Price: 2200PHP/35,40€/2 dives

We booked the dives from Baywatch Diving in Alona Beach. There was only 3 divers in our group: Jari, me and our German guide Timo.

Boat trip from Alona Beach in Panglao Island to Balicasag takes about 45min. When we came to Balicasag area we saw already two turtles in the water. Sea in Balicasag looks great.

Then it was time to jump to the water.

Very soon we saw first turtle.

This guy was big one.

Then to swim.

Big and curious trumpet fish.

Big group of small striped cat fishes. 

Small moray eel in the hole.

Nemos are always cute. 

Nemo with turtle.

Turtle on the reef.

Garden eels.

First dive almost done. Jari and me in the safety stop.

Dive #: 246
Date: 8.3.2014
Place: Philippines, Balicasag Island, Fish Sanctuary

Depth: 21,6m Average: 13,4m
Dive time: 56min
Visibility: 20m
Sea temperature: +28C

Second dive spot was Fish Sanctuary, which was in practice wall.

There was lots of different size of fan corals on the wall.

Moray eel swimming.

Timo and Jari on the wall.

Same guys.

Turtle just leaving from the wall. 

Soon there came also another turtle.

It was great diving day. Balicasag itself is beautiful place and if you like turtle, you will love it. So do I! 

Regards from Manila,

Mika

Bunaken Island in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

North Sulawesi in Indonesia has amazing coral reefs and deep walls for all level of divers. Bunaken National Marine Park is great place for diving, but the area itself is also very beautiful. There are five volcanoes, beautiful islands and of course Manado City. From Bunaken Island you can find also Living Colours Diving Resort. Resort has own peaceful place with sandy beach near the mangrove. I was there in September 2007 and I will never forget it.
Easiest way to go to Bunaken is first to fly from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur to Manado and then take a boat to Bunaken Island. Boat trip from Manado to island takes about 45min. If you go to Living Colours Diving Resort they come to pick up you already from Manado airport.
Dive Resort is very relax place and owned by Finnish couple. Resort has nice villas on the top of the hill and there is also very good restaurant.
One thing which I especially remember from Bunaken dives are huge turtles. Many times turtles are sleeping on the wall. Blacktip reefshark are also common near the walls.
Banded seasnake.
School of fishes.
North Sulawesi is also well-known of muck diving. Different kind of nudibranches are very common.
Even nudibraches are smiling in Bunaken.
Near Manado City lies old Manado Wreck.
After dives in the evening Safety Stop Bar is THE center point in Living Colours.

People who has visited in Living Colours remember for sure the evenings. The master of ceremonies himself is bartender Freddy who is funny guy and good singer. Dive masters play guitars on the beach and Freddy sings and serves the cold drinks and everybody has good time.
I fully recommend to trip to Bunaken and Living Colour Dive Resort. It's not only diving, but the whole atmosphere and feeling. Great place indeed!!

Crystal Rock and Castle Rock, Komodo

Today I had a two divesin Komodo, Indonesia. First one was Crystal Rock and second Castle Rock.

Dive #: 197
Date: 15.3.2011
Place: Indonesia, Komodo, Crystal Rock
Depth: 28,3m Average depth: 15,2m
Visibility: 15-20m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: long 3mm Weight: 6Kg

Dive Center: Dive Komodo
Price: 30€/dive

Crystal Rock has very rich marina life. Turtle on the reef.
Big school of fusiliers.
Lobster on the top of the reef. Usually lobsters escape, but this one was just in one place.
There are big school of fish, whitetips, blacktips.
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Dive #: 198
Date: 15.3.2011
Place: Indonesia, Komodo, Castle Rock
Depth: 25,9m Average depth: 14,6m
Visibility: 15-20m
Sea Temperature: +27C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: long 3mm Weight: 6Kg

Here was also very much different kind of fishes like on the Crystal Rock. Also big one.
Nudibranches.
Whitetip reefsharks patroling.
Both dives were very good one. There was so much fishes everywhere.

King Cruiser wreck, Shark Point and Koh Dok Mai

More diving at Phuket. Three dives. King Cruiser wreck, Shark Point and Koh Dok Mai.

King Cruiser was used between Phuket and Phi Phi Islands as a ferry. It sank 1997 and there was 500 people onboard. Luckily nobody died. Wreck is 85 long and 25m width. Visibility is many times quite poor and there can be strong current. It's anyway very interesting place to dive.

Dive #: 187

Date: 24.2.2011
Place: Thailand, Phuket, King Cruiser wreck
Depth: 29m Average depth: 18,9m
Bottom time: 40min
Visibility: 5-8m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: short 3mm Weight: 5,4Kg

Dive Center: Chalong Sea Sport
Price: 3700THB/90,20€ + Equipment rental 500THB/12,20€

Total: 4200THB/102,40€ (3 dives)

Toilet.

Quite big turtle on the deck.

Bridge has already collapsed.

Deck.

Sea urchins, scorpionfishes, lot of small reef fishes. Visibility was also this time quite poor and the was some current. I like to dive anyway on King Cruiser. Interesting place!

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Dive #: 188

Date: 24.2.2011
Place: Thailand, Phuket, Shark Point
Depth: 21m Average depth: 13,7m
Bottom time: 53min
Visibility: 8-15m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: short 3mm Weight: 5,4Kg

Yellow seahorse.

A lot of small fishes.

Where is the diver?

Big fan corals, titan triggers, moray eel, nudibranches, very much reef fishes.

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Dive #: 189

Date: 24.2.2011

Place: Thailand, Phuket, Koh Dok Mai
Depth: 23,4m Average depth: 12,8m
Bottom time: 56min
Visibility: 6-10m
Sea Temperature: +28C

Equipment
Bottle: 12L/200bar (air) Wetsuit: short 3mm Weight: 4,5Kg

We dived to two small caves. Here is second one.

Two moray eels in the same places. Today we saw many morays here and there.

Beautiful nudibranch.

Giant pufferfish, yellow boxfish, Durban dancing shrimp, nudibranches.

Turtles at Similan Islands

Old story. Best place for diving in Thailand is Similan Islands. It's about 100km from Phuket to north west on Andaman Sea. Dive trips to Similan Islands are usually liveaboard. Typical is five nights on the boat and four diving days. Four dives a day so 16 dives on the trip. I have been on this kind of diving safari twice. Feb 2006 and Feb 2007.

Similan Islands is not good only for diving. It's also superp for snorkeling. One of the most beautiful place there is Donald Duck Bay. There you can climb up to the hill where opens great view to the bay. I visited there in 2006.

After view point we had still time to wait for the next dive. Our boat was on the bay and we saw turtle very near of our boat. People threw bananas to the turtle and turtle ate it. Some of us jumped to the water snorkeling with the turtle. Of course me too. Turtle wasn't shy at all. It just swam around us.

Maybe temptation of banana was too much and it came to eat it also from the hand. Turtles really like bananas. Here you can see little bit banana it's mouth.

It came many times very close. I didn't need to use zoom at all.

There was also smaller turtle, but it didn't come to close.

Great snorkeling session!

Mika