Back from the Central Visayas, Philippines

[Gilligan]

Just got back from the Central Visayas, Philippines.

I have 2200 topside/underwater photos to sort through.

This is a Tarsier, the worlds smallest primate and found only in Bohol.

 

[Jamdiver]

Wow!!
Look at those eyes...
Were those pics taken at a zoo of some sort?

Looking forward to your pics both topside and u/w Gilligan .

 

[Gilligan]

Were those pics taken at a zoo of some sort?

Not quite a zoo but some local people that had about 10 of these animals in a larged caged area. They had a permit displayed granting them government permission to have the animals.

 

[calypsonick]

Cool little animal! Keep 'em comin', Jim.

 

[justleesa]

Cool Critter Gilligan....it falls under the primate catagory? has kind-of a batty look to it doesn't it??

 

[midwestdvr]

Cool tarsier pics. Unfortunately, I've heard there aren't too many of them in the wild. 2200 pics? Holy cow! Can't wait to see your UW shots and topside too.

 

[f3nikon]

Since we are on the subject of topside:

A bit of history… the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii connection and Bohol, next time you visit the Arizona Memorial.

Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7 1941 USS battleships West Virginia, California, Maryland, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and the Arizona were all hit during the Japanese attack, of course we know that the fatal hit was on the Arizona. The West Virginia and California were actually sunk while docked.

Fast forward to Oct. 1944, U.S. and Allied Forces lead by General Douglas MacArthur, as part of their “island hopping” campaign, establish a beachhead on the eastern shore of the Island of Leyte, Philippines. Leyte is the next island northeast of Bohol, the eastern tip of Bohol and the Surigao Strait (Mindanao), point at the mouth of the Leyte Gulf.

The Japanese Imperial Navy deciding to pay a visit to the Forces at Leyte, send their Japanese Southern Strike Force (one of three forces) to Leyte via the Sulu Sea into the Bohol/Mindanao Sea on their way to the Surigao Strait.

On Oct. 24 U.S. patrol boats (PT) spotted the Japanese Southern Force off of Bohol, radioed their position and proceeded with a torpedo attack on the Japanese fleet that night, but were fend off by heavy Japanese fire. The Japanese fleet continues on to the Leyte Gulf.

As the Japanese make the northeasterly turn to the gulf they are meet by the 16 inch guns of (you guessed it) the resurrected USS battleships West Virginia, California, Maryland, Tennessee, Pennsylvania (of the Pearl Harbor fame) and Mississippi plus their cruisers and destroyer escorts.

By morning the entire Southern Force of the Japanese Imperial Navy was either at the bottom of the Surigao Straits or burning.

You could say that Bohol was the beginning of the Battle for the Leyte Gulf and the battle of The Surigao Straits was a personal “Payback” time for the battleships of Pearl Harbor. Historians consider The Battle for the Leyte Gulf as the greatest naval battle in history.
Yes, the Bohol/Mindanao Sea and Surigao Strait are littered with wrecks; no they are not diveable, too deep.