35 dives in the Philippines

[pakman]

I don't know where you would have gone to see plenty of fish ... the only plentiful fish that I saw were in the town fish markets???

90 million people are eating fish every day, and the denuded reefs show the effects ...

Rick, I'm a bit shocked by some of the sweeping comments you are making. Sorry that the trip was a disappointment to you and I hope none of our responses to your pre-trip posts were misleading. Yes, overfishing is an issue in the PI, but it's also an issue in many other countries in Asia. I was more disappointed in the lack of "big fish" on a Komodo island liveaboard than with what I've seen in the Philippine sites you visited.

I do have to admit, this is the FIRST time I've heard someone EVER say that the diving in PG, Anilao, Alona, & Apo were all the same...:shakehead If you think those places don't have plenty of fish... I'm just not sure what you are using as a comparison?

 

[rcolman]

I have 25GB of photos, some of them even good(!) and will be processing them and mounting online as available.

 

[Kim]

......but, basically it was all the same in terms of marine life.

That surprises me as I was under the impression that most marine biologists considered the Philippines as more or less the "center" of the whole world for marine biodiversity:
http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/20061015/marine-biodiversity-in-the-philippines.html
Sure your mask wasn't foggy? :huh:

 

[rcolman]

So, let me clarify having done a fair number of dives in just those areas.

I am looking at these areas from the viewpoint of underwater photography. In all those areas, the recommendation was: "use a macro lens on your camera because most of the marine life is little stuff." And, that was generally true. I brought a 22mm wideangle lens along, but never used it even once (bad vis)!

For example:

-- Apo Island had beautiful coral gardens, but the vis. was bad and there were no fish.

-- PG and Anilao were basically very similar in marine life, with the excepting of a few sweetlips fsih in the canyons dive site

-- Alona beach had some nice wall dives, but the DM says "look at the cool nudibranchs" because there were no fish. We saw a few small jacks (5) swimming together on Balicasag. I am told that there are larger groups, but we did not see any.

Is this situation true all over southeast asia? I don't know. The only other spot that I have dived in the region is Wakatobi in Indonesia, and that had a general lack of large fish as well, but a greater variety in general marine life and better coral gardens.

I am not trying to make any judgements, just trying to report what I actually observed over three weeks and 35 dives

Rick.

 

[rcolman]

When I was in Southern Leyte, one of the resort owners mentioned that 97% of the corals found on the Great Barrier Reef can be found in a single dive site, Grand Calamity (I think). Viz. was poor with stringy stuff in the water, so I could not really appreciate the coral garden landscape.

However, more to the point, I am not a marine biologist and don't care that much for coral diversity. I was looking to see and photograph something that did not require a macro lens, and there just wasn't much diversity from that viewpoint.

On the other hand, we made a night dive off of the Padre Burgos pier and the diversity of marine life was amazing, but, again, nothing bigger than a small decorator crab --- macro, macro, marcro ...

So, again, I am not trying to make judgements about Philippines diving -- some of it was very good and some dives were almost boring to me; I am just reporting what I saw and experienced.

 

[Diver Dennis]

For me, the macro stuff around PG and Anilao stacks up to anything I saw on my 3 month Asian tour late last year. Anialo and PG had a lot of fish the last time I was there. Not in the numbers of Palau but then Palau is a pretty special place.

 

[Gilligan]

We just got back from 35 dives, almost 3 weeks in the Ph. diving in Anilao, Puerto Galera, Apo Island, Sequijor, Alona Beach, and southern Leyte.

I will be posting a detailed dive report and article soon. Here is a preview:

* diving was good, but not great.

* best all around diving is in southern Leyte

* during March 9-31, vis. was generally poor at 10-15 meters, with some rough conditions now and again.

* macro is great, but THERE ARE NO FISH ... it appears that the dive areas that I visited have suffered from massive overfishing ... nothing but a few small reef fish here are there ... sightings of anything larger were very, very rare

* the philippine people are very friendly and helpful, without exception.

* it is VERY tiring, time consuming and expensive to travel WITHIN the Philippines, especially if you have a lot of baggage with photo gear, dive gear, etc. Think twice about covering a lot of different dive areas in a single trip. don't think I would do it again.

More to come ...

Rick Colman
Laguna Hills, CA

I understand your comments and I don't think you meant them to be negative or offensive. I have visited the Philippines three times, the last trip being this past February. I did 40 dives in four weeks in Sabang. Mindoro and Panglao Island, Bohol, both of which have been to before.

From an underwater photographers view the P.I. does lack fish and that is likely due to over-fishing and dynamite fishing. This is a fact of life when trying to feed 98 million people, all of whom are living on islands. Nevertheless, the Phils is my second home. It is inexpensive, convenient for me to get to from Hawaii, the people speak English which is a major plus, and last but not least I love the people. After a couple of trips you get the hang of traveling around in-country. I plan on returning in June.

If it is any comfort to you the diving here in Maui, Hawaii costs about $125.00 for a two tank boat dive and it pales in comparison to the Phils. If you want to see a lack of fish come visit Maui and this is not a developing country, or maybe it is? We do have a saying here: "Maui is a third world location with a Beverly Hills price tag".

 

[bttmdwllr]

The Big Fishes, mantas, napoleons, Barracuda, jacks , Tunas are in Tubbataha.

 

[bttmdwllr]

go to www.bttmdwllr.multiply.com and click on the Tubbataha album...that was from last years trip I will be posting a new set from a transition I did last month....

 

[manhattandiver]

Tubbataha and Apo Reef are definitely the places to go in the Philippines if you want to see big fish. Of course, that means doing a liveaboard. Once you go that route, there are better places to dive that cost an equal amount of money.

In terms of the visibility, my experience has been that in the rainy season, it's actually much better. Less sun means fewer plankton blooms. While I have seen 10 meter visibility in Coron and PG in March, I have also seen 30 meter visibility in Southern Leyte and Belicasag in September. You don't get the routine 30-50 meter visibility you get in the Cayman Islands, Cozumel, etc., but the species diversity in the Philippines blows those places away.

Finally, as Gilligan noted in his post above, diving in many other places costs upwards of $100 for a 2 tank trip. Compare that to some places in the Philippines where you can do an unlimited number of dives in a day for $50-$60 and it makes for a great value.