pakman
Contributor
Took advantage of the local 5 day Easter weekend (gotta love HK for celebrating both Western and Chinese holidays 
) and hopped out to Cabilao Island in the Philippines. Located between Bohol and Cebu in the Visaya Region, Cabilao has 3 basic resorts on the island and is a frequent daytrip destination from Cebu and Bohol. I had heard OK things about the diving here and so went with little expectations. But what surprised me was the wealth of healthy coral and diversity of macro and wide angle subjects, all within a 5min boat ride from the resort I was staying at. Where else can you come across 3 different species of pygmy seahorses in 1 day, walls covered in the largest gorgonian sea fans I've seen, ripping currents with a 50-70 school of barracudas, technicolor corals in the shallows, ghost pipe fish, leaf frogfish, blue ribbon eels, and various crustacean in all sizes...!! Anyways, a more in depth trip report will be made in the Philippine travel forum shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the pics... 
Many thanks to Tobias & the lovely Birga who run the Cabilao Dive Center @ La Estrella Resort and to Bobet and Roy who were my spotters/ guides!
First off, the loveable but alway so frustrating to shoot pygmy seahorses...
This last guy was so small and blended in so well, I lost track of how many frames I wasted and I still couldn't get him in sharp focus. Add to it that you're down around 25m on a drift dive, trying to keep yourself steady focusing on something you could barely see with your own eyes.
) and hopped out to Cabilao Island in the Philippines. Located between Bohol and Cebu in the Visaya Region, Cabilao has 3 basic resorts on the island and is a frequent daytrip destination from Cebu and Bohol. I had heard OK things about the diving here and so went with little expectations. But what surprised me was the wealth of healthy coral and diversity of macro and wide angle subjects, all within a 5min boat ride from the resort I was staying at. Where else can you come across 3 different species of pygmy seahorses in 1 day, walls covered in the largest gorgonian sea fans I've seen, ripping currents with a 50-70 school of barracudas, technicolor corals in the shallows, ghost pipe fish, leaf frogfish, blue ribbon eels, and various crustacean in all sizes...!! Anyways, a more in depth trip report will be made in the Philippine travel forum shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the pics... Many thanks to Tobias & the lovely Birga who run the Cabilao Dive Center @ La Estrella Resort and to Bobet and Roy who were my spotters/ guides!
First off, the loveable but alway so frustrating to shoot pygmy seahorses...
This last guy was so small and blended in so well, I lost track of how many frames I wasted and I still couldn't get him in sharp focus. Add to it that you're down around 25m on a drift dive, trying to keep yourself steady focusing on something you could barely see with your own eyes.
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