35 dives in the Philippines

[dlndavid]

:shakehead

If you want some pretty much fish free diving, try Monterey California

 

[dlndavid]

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.

we did 3 dives at Apo island in one week out of Dumaguete, stayed at Atlantis in Dauwan (sp?)

 

[manhattandiver]

we did 3 dives at Apo island in one week out of Dumaguete, stayed at Atlantis in Dauwan (sp?)

Apo Reef and Apo Island are two completely different places. Apo Reef is off of Mindoro. Apo Island is opposite Dauin.

 

[Babydamulag]

I really hate it when divers dive in the PI and don't see fish.....sounds fishy...know what I mean?

 

[jonix]

@rick: sorry to hear about the fish life. tuba is the safest to go for big fish action. pics please

 

[Diver Dennis]

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.

We just got back from Anilao and I have to tell you that we saw a LOT of fish. I'm not sure where you were diving but we saw clouds of fish on almost every dive site. There were less fish at Basura but that is a shallow dive site with a huge amount of boat, Personal Watercraft and windsurfing traffic, although I did see some small Jacks at 60'. The macro is a different story there though and Mike Veitch from right here on SB shot at least one recent Australasian Scuba Diver cover there.

 

[jbb]

I really hate it when divers dive in the PI and don't see fish.....sounds fishy...know what I mean?

I know what you mean. I really struggle with fellow divers and trying get at what they like to see and what they actually see when they dive. Take for instance that I really don't care if I see a lot of fish other than that it is an indication that the site is healthy. I really get into the small stuff that doesn't move as fast and you can stop swimming and just check it out for a while. Actually I've even spent 10 minute just watching a manta shrimp trying to break open a shell at Monad Shoal off of Malapascua where everyone goes to see thresher sharks (granted the threshers were playing hooky at the time but you do run the risk of missing out if distracted).

I dived Tubbataha last year and thought it was great for fish, sea turtle and even one whale shark but I was surprised not to see more nudibranchs. I actually got bored of the reef sharks, but that's just me. I dove Malapascua right afterwards and met some German photographers who were on the Tubbataha trip I was on and they thought Malapascua was better in their opinion for the marine life they liked to video and take photos of.

I really can't understand Apo Island though. I'm headed back this May and I remember it as vibrant with life, schools of baracuda, jacks and best of all lots of nudibranchs.

 

[jonix]

@jbb: well who doesn't like nudis?

 

[Mike Veitch]

@jbb: well who doesn't like nudis?

Paolov!

 

[jonix]

Paolov!

bwahahahahaha! he likes clams alright