Three mantis shrimp and two tuna hunting.
What a great night dive. Decorator crab. Watched two mandarin fish mate three times. The cutest little cuttlefish. 2 larger cuttlefish and tons of different crabs. 2 yellow pacific sea horses. A huge orange nudibranch. 1 bobtail squid, the size of a pea. Super cute.
Great macro site. 4 harlequin shrimp. Countless spotted anemone shrimp. 4 harlequin pipe horses. Tons of nudis. Plenty of filefish (about 6). Sadly, the site had just been dynamites and this is apparently quite common here. Plenty of needlefish carcasses lying about. 2 eels. Many different types of mantis fish.
Plenty of nudibranchs. 3 harlequin pipe horses. 1 eel. Orangutan crab.
At least 9 individual thresher shark sightings, 7 of which just circled and circled around, in plain view, very closely. Great stuff.
Wow. Nudi heaven! 2 huge black frogfish as well. Sadly, we heard 2 dynamite explosions nearby, during the dive.
2 pacific sea horses, tons of crabs and cuttlefish. 2 bobtail squid. Tons of different nudis. Sadly, no mandarins tonight.
This is definitely a quality macro site. Once again, 4 harlequin shrimp. 3 harlequin pipe horses. A harlequin sweetlips. 2 huge cleaner shrimp. All kinds of nudis, including a lettuce leaf. 2 black cowries. 2 different small scorpionfish. Several varieties of shrimp and mantis shrimp. A juvenile cuttlefish and three adults.
Blue ring octopus, tons of nice hermit crabs, with anemones on their shells. Some with huge conical shells as well.
Lovely wreck that promises great coral growth in the next decade. Sunk in typhoon Ruby, in the late '80s. 100m long interisland ferry with plenty of nooks to explore, but sadly very little fish life.
Beautiful pyramid shaped island with tons of vegetation and caverns. Totally deserted. Below the water we saw two yellow pygmy seahorses and a long nosed pipefish.
7 pipefish, 2 bubble crabs, 2 juvenile sweetlips and several nice nudibranchs, including one that was the most amazing electric orange color.
Saw four mandarin fish but no mating, thanks to the stupid polish guys who wouldn't stop using their flash and video lights. Poor group control by DM.
Balicasag is definitely a brilliant dive destination. This wall offered everything from huge, swirling schools of jacks, tons of interesting shrimp and crabs, beautiful healthy coral, swim-thrus and 10 turtles between our two dives at the location. Tons of great blennies around as well.
Southside.
Another great dive on Balicasag. A few big turtles and lots of nudis. Plenty of beautiful crabs as well, covered in electric blue spots on a white shell. Also saw a very interesting shrimp which I had never seen before, with green, mitten shaped claws and white spots.
What a magnificent and aptly named dive site. No less than 18 turtle sightings. As an added bonus we saw two long nosed pipefish, schools of batfish, 2 orangutan crabs and 2 sargassum triggerfish. Lots of boxfish on this site as well, at least a dozen.
Lovely juvenile batfish right on the mooring line here. Pretty average macro site, though I understand it is normally better.
Great drift dive. Lots of schools of fish: huge grouping of great barracuda, moorish idols etc. Huge scorpionfish all over this site as well, at least 10. A wealth of blue spotted stingrays to be found here plus a turtle, as a bonus. 2 harlequin pipefish as well.
A pretty decent muck spot. Juvenile scorpionfish, nudis and an ornate ghost pipefish. Had a flamboyant cuttlefish show up as well, as a bonus.
Great muck diving spot! Juvenile fish of all types: scorpionfish, crocodile fish, frogfish and big mouths. Also saw 2 ornate ghost pipefish (one pregnant) and a pacific sea horse. All varieties of crab and nudi to be found here as well. Longnose pipehorse as well.
Nice dive with a beautiful, if not slightly bleached coralscape. The mounds of coral in the shallows were reminiscent of the chocolate hills, as light danced across them. Had a problem with a stuck inflator that took some quick thinking at 25m. Had to entirely remove my BC to get at the problem. 2 harlequin pipefish. Bubble shrimp, orangutan crab, huge moray and my first leaf fish (yellow). Beautiful creature!
Quite a large population of box fish on this site, saw 6 in total. Also caught a squid hunting and a huge sea snake. Highlight of the dive was two trumpetfish mating. What a beautiful, swirling dance.
Pleasant drift dive with nice coral and coverage, once again. A big sea snake rode the current and hunted alongside me for a good number of minutes. Saw 4 turtles as well. Shocked by the number of fish cages I had to destroy, packed full of bluefin turtle. Found and destroyed 4, releasing more than a dozen tuna.
Amazing dive, and to think it was the day after a tropical storm. I can't imagine what this site would look like on a day with excellent visibility and I certainly will never be eating a sardine again. It was stunning to watch the shoal of fish swirl and dart, open and close, creating a fantastic light show, as the sun poked through the spaces created by the desperate sardines, evading the tuna. Not only that, but we saw a variety of nudibrachs, 14 pipe horses and a black frogfish as well.


































































