jonix
Contributor
not so good at this trip rep stuff but here goes...
Dive Op - Polaris Dive Center
DMs - Jericho & Michael
Dive 1 - North House Reef
Max depth 25m
my first dive of the trip...caloy & myra arrived as we were preparing for the 3pm dive. polaris dive trips are scheduled 830am/12nn/3pm & 6pm. after the usual gear check went to dive with the 2 dms and a german couple doing their rescue course with gregory (polaris' polish dive shop manager funny dude). we did the north house reef. as my expectations were cabilao is all about macro i was actually surprised with what i saw...huge gorgonians, the biggest table corals i've seen, even huge tree corals (which had me mesmerized all through out the trip). the wall was just amazing and very much alive, saw jacks, tuna, the usual reef fishes very small nudibranchs (some i can't even figure out the shape of hahahaha), trigger fishes, and did i say table corals? damn they're huge! a wide angle lens would have been very handy. the seascape was just fantastic.
Dive 2 - Lighthouse (Night Dive)
Max depth 15m
It was again me, the two rescue students, the 2 dms, mr dive shop manager plus 2 german dudes and the samsons. the site is basically a sandy slope with lots of sea grass, corals of different varieties, crinoids and other small creatures. i had 2 lights but both conked out less than 5 minutes (one actually got flooded) into the dive which left me with just the focus light on the strobe s dive light...still i pushed on with the dive hehehe. jericho was pointing out lots of stuff but i only managed to shoot a few, the huge tree corals still got the better of my amazement. found a weird looking fish...looks like a leaf and took a shot of it. in front of the group i went face to face with a huge decorator crab sadly i wasn't able to get ahead of the thing to get a good angle and i decided to move on. maybe caloy has a pic of this. then jericho pointed out to something moving on the sand...an orange/white mantis shrimp. all to myself i was able to pull of several shots. very good! right after that we saw a flounder-like small fishy with tarsier-like bulging eyeballs...ugly yet cute. at the shallows while doing my stop jericho & i saw this weird centipede-like critter swimming up and pulled of a couple of shots....i got one relatively clear. ended the day tired and hungry. fun 2 dives i had.
Dive 3 - South Point
Max depth 34m
same dive group this time to south point where this electric/disco clam was supposed to be found. we found it and got some pretty decent shots. it wasn't dancing though hehehe. but before reaching the clam we got to see a solitary white tip shark at around 40m+. that made my day. beautiful! caloy & i were around 33-36m as i watched the creature passing below. throughout the dive were the usual reef fishes, a couple of parrot fishes (bumphead i think) and again huge gorgonians, huge table and tree corals and omg it's huge sponge! caloy please post the pic of this gigantic sponge! i just wished i had a wide angle with me.
Dive 4 - Looc
Max depth 25m
last dive of the trip was to looc, starts out sloping ntil you hit the wall. again the usual reef fishes, saw a some tuna and jacks overhead not much going on for this dive. maybe the critters were asleep. shot some clownfishes and crinoids to while the time away. turned the camera off and just enjoyed the view. it was just so relaxing. until...titan trigger! there was 4 of us, caloy & the dm michael were ahead, myra a few meters back and me trailing around 10m from caloy/dm. i froze watching the titan swim between michael, myra and me it came from above us and seemed to have other interests rather than bug us. it went on it's way to around maybe 30m+. i continued my dive just enjoying the wall. shooting stuff as i go. another good dive overall.
spent the 3rd day on a land trip to chocolate hills and the tarsiers. interesting trip and lots of pics to show. will post some in the next few days. a must for first timers to bohol. a resto worth visiting is Prawn Farm it's at the 2nd floor of the Island City Mall..damn their food is amazingly delicious!
viz wasn't the 30m + as experienced by zee, it was around 15-20m more or less still a very worthwhile experience overall. the dive op staff were very cool and easy to deal with. no complaints from my end. i'd gladly dive with them again. food was competitively priced and portions are generally big. good for 2 actually. what i dislike is the seeming bland taste of the food. except for the thai fried noodles and bacon & eggs, everything tasted a bit bland. good for someone on a low fat/low salt diet...like me pffft!
i think i'll go back to cabilao maybe next year when i have a wide angle ready for action...
pics to follow
Dive Op - Polaris Dive Center
DMs - Jericho & Michael
Dive 1 - North House Reef
Max depth 25m
my first dive of the trip...caloy & myra arrived as we were preparing for the 3pm dive. polaris dive trips are scheduled 830am/12nn/3pm & 6pm. after the usual gear check went to dive with the 2 dms and a german couple doing their rescue course with gregory (polaris' polish dive shop manager funny dude). we did the north house reef. as my expectations were cabilao is all about macro i was actually surprised with what i saw...huge gorgonians, the biggest table corals i've seen, even huge tree corals (which had me mesmerized all through out the trip). the wall was just amazing and very much alive, saw jacks, tuna, the usual reef fishes very small nudibranchs (some i can't even figure out the shape of hahahaha), trigger fishes, and did i say table corals? damn they're huge! a wide angle lens would have been very handy. the seascape was just fantastic.
Dive 2 - Lighthouse (Night Dive)
Max depth 15m
It was again me, the two rescue students, the 2 dms, mr dive shop manager plus 2 german dudes and the samsons. the site is basically a sandy slope with lots of sea grass, corals of different varieties, crinoids and other small creatures. i had 2 lights but both conked out less than 5 minutes (one actually got flooded) into the dive which left me with just the focus light on the strobe s dive light...still i pushed on with the dive hehehe. jericho was pointing out lots of stuff but i only managed to shoot a few, the huge tree corals still got the better of my amazement. found a weird looking fish...looks like a leaf and took a shot of it. in front of the group i went face to face with a huge decorator crab sadly i wasn't able to get ahead of the thing to get a good angle and i decided to move on. maybe caloy has a pic of this. then jericho pointed out to something moving on the sand...an orange/white mantis shrimp. all to myself i was able to pull of several shots. very good! right after that we saw a flounder-like small fishy with tarsier-like bulging eyeballs...ugly yet cute. at the shallows while doing my stop jericho & i saw this weird centipede-like critter swimming up and pulled of a couple of shots....i got one relatively clear. ended the day tired and hungry. fun 2 dives i had.
Dive 3 - South Point
Max depth 34m
same dive group this time to south point where this electric/disco clam was supposed to be found. we found it and got some pretty decent shots. it wasn't dancing though hehehe. but before reaching the clam we got to see a solitary white tip shark at around 40m+. that made my day. beautiful! caloy & i were around 33-36m as i watched the creature passing below. throughout the dive were the usual reef fishes, a couple of parrot fishes (bumphead i think) and again huge gorgonians, huge table and tree corals and omg it's huge sponge! caloy please post the pic of this gigantic sponge! i just wished i had a wide angle with me.
Dive 4 - Looc
Max depth 25m
last dive of the trip was to looc, starts out sloping ntil you hit the wall. again the usual reef fishes, saw a some tuna and jacks overhead not much going on for this dive. maybe the critters were asleep. shot some clownfishes and crinoids to while the time away. turned the camera off and just enjoyed the view. it was just so relaxing. until...titan trigger! there was 4 of us, caloy & the dm michael were ahead, myra a few meters back and me trailing around 10m from caloy/dm. i froze watching the titan swim between michael, myra and me it came from above us and seemed to have other interests rather than bug us. it went on it's way to around maybe 30m+. i continued my dive just enjoying the wall. shooting stuff as i go. another good dive overall.
spent the 3rd day on a land trip to chocolate hills and the tarsiers. interesting trip and lots of pics to show. will post some in the next few days. a must for first timers to bohol. a resto worth visiting is Prawn Farm it's at the 2nd floor of the Island City Mall..damn their food is amazingly delicious!
viz wasn't the 30m + as experienced by zee, it was around 15-20m more or less still a very worthwhile experience overall. the dive op staff were very cool and easy to deal with. no complaints from my end. i'd gladly dive with them again. food was competitively priced and portions are generally big. good for 2 actually. what i dislike is the seeming bland taste of the food. except for the thai fried noodles and bacon & eggs, everything tasted a bit bland. good for someone on a low fat/low salt diet...like me pffft!
i think i'll go back to cabilao maybe next year when i have a wide angle ready for action...
pics to follow
