Seven days, seven massages, twenty-five dives later...

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. For me it is this vacation, for my faithful readers (if I have any, doesn't seem to be anyone leaving comments... hmmm) it is the pleasure of reading my daily musings.

Our final dive day was a trip a return trip to Apo Island. The diving was beautiful as always. The coral reefs are incredibly healthy. The water is clear. There is an abundance of marine life. Lots of colorful nudibranches, and some not so colorful, variety is everything I suppose. All sorts of trigger fish (including titans again, nasty meanies), schools of big eyed jacks, and an awesome turtle sleeping under an overhang at fifty feet.

A quick note on photographing turtles. Approach them slowly. Keep a little distance. If they start to get fidgety, back off a little bit. If it is swimming, swim along side it, not towards it. If you follow these rules you can get some great pictures. The turtle might even become curious and swim towards you to check you out. Otherwise the turtle gets annoyed and swims away. Then you (or the next diver who has been waiting patiently for you to move so they can get picture) are left with pictures of turtle butt as it swims away.

Jen and I decided to check out the local hotel on Apo over lunch. This of course meant passing through the Apo Shirt Ladies again to get to shore, and then back to the boat. It is almost impossible to get through them without buying something. In our case that meant two more t-shirts and a sarong. Supporting the local economy is important. And being able to walk without trailing a dozen old ladies is more important. The Apo hotel we looked at (there are two) was, shall we say, rustic. Mosquito netting around the bed. A bucket of water and a large ladle for the shower. But a great view.

After our final massage (*sob*) was our final dinner. A party event where the restaurants rules were no sarong, no entry, regardless of gender.

Tomorrow morning its time to pack, then after lunch its is off to the airport. This will be my final posting. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

The last pictures are a cool flatworm, a school of jacks, friendly Mr. Turtle, and Wing-Wing showing off his bubble blowing skills.

-Matt

Three octopus (octopuses? octopi? I'm never sure of the plural)

Sometimes it's really cool, when you're having a great dive, and then you stumble across something you didn't even know was there. That was our first dive this morning. We were having a great muck dive. All the critters that we normally find on a much dive. Various frogfish, hairy, painted, and just warty. Mantis shrimp out and about for a stroll. A very aggressive titan triggerfish that kept buzzing one of the divemasters. And then there it was. The wonderpus octopus. Now I had absolutely no idea that the wonderpus could be found near Dumaguete, so this was a great surprise for me. It put on a great show, flashing colors along its arms and dancing around a bit. Great way to start the day.

Three more dives brought some more new critters, like pipehorses, porcelain crabs and sexy shrimp (no, I'm not making up these names). We also saw a couple of blue spotted rays today, the first rays of the trip. At lunch we were talking about what was left that we wanted to see here, and Jen mentioned she had not seen a single ray yet. Five minutes into the next dive, there was a ray.

Then the fifth dive of the day, the night dive. We (possibly) found the one thing we were hoping to see more then any other. The divemaster thinks it was, but needs to see the picture to be sure. The elusive blue ring octopus. He was being shy and wouldn't poke his head up for long, and no tell tale blue rings, but they don't always flash blue. We think it was, we hope it was, and we're going to say it was. Mission complete. Just to be on the safe side we found a second octopus on the night dive, definitely NOT a blue ring, but it still took five minutes to pry Jen away from it.

Wrapped up the day with the usual massage. Only one hour instead of ninety minutes. Trying to wean myself off slowly.

One last note. We celebrated the one hundredth dive of one of our group this trip. He made the requisite sacrifice for the hundredth dive. For those of you who don't know what that is, he dove naked for half the dive. No pictures of the celebration. You're welcome.

Tomorrow is our last day of diving, so we're going to finish off in style with a return trip to Apo Island. Stay tuned.

Todays pictures are the two octopuses from the night dive (the second MAY be a blue ring, will try to confirm) the wonderpus octopus, and because it is so colorul, a mantis shrimp.

More to follow...

-Matt

A (brief) marine biology lesson

The variety and the colors of the nudibranch here never cease to amaze me. For those of you who don't know what a nudibranch is, other then a colorful looking thing I keep talking about, I will explain. Briefly. Very briefly. This paragraph is actually already longer then the explanation will be. A nudibranch is a slug. The name nudibranch means 'naked lung.' Those fluffy protrusions on the back of must nudibranch are it's gills, which are external. Neat eh?

I could fill these posts each day with nothing but pictures of different nudibranch, never showing the same species twice. But then I'd be leaving out all the other odd and amazing stuff we see each dive. Today was a full day, four more dives. First dive was a deep dive at Sahara, then Masaplod North, and then back to Dauin North. We were supposed to do our fourth dive on the house reef, but decided to go back to San Miguel, since this time we all had our cameras and we knew where the flamboyant cuttlefish was last spotted, and they don't wander far.

For the last dive at San Miguel we had Gabi as our dive master instead of Wing (he also did the night dive with us last night). Another great example of a dive master. He knew we were looking for the flamboyant cuttlefish, so his dive briefing focused on where to find it. Locate the anemone with the saddle back anemone fish, ascend up the slope to thirty feet of depth, look around there. We followed that plan, and sure enough, there it was.

Our other dives also brought us more great critters, like leaf scorpion fish, painted frogfish, clown frogfish, mimic octopus, and a really friendly bat fish that kept following me around like a puppy. Quick note, the picture of the minuscule frogfish the other day was a CLOWN frogfish, not painted. We saw both and I got them mixed up. That's it for now. Stay tuned.

Todays pictures are another nudibranch, an ornate ghost pipefish, a mimic octopus, and an orangutang crab.

More to follow.

-Matt

My name is Matt... and I am an addict.

OK, it is official. I am addicted to the massages here. It is going to be really hard to go cold turkey when I leave after daily massages. Hopefully if there is a long enough layover in Manila on the way back I can get a massage at the airport, just kind of wean myself off them slowly. Massage is apparently the national pastime in the Philippines, and they are really good at it. Now I have had professional massages before, but this is amazing. They start with their hands, traditional techniques. Then add forearms and elbows. Next thing you know there are knees digging into your back as well. Then they bend your arms and legs in ways that I am sure were inspired by submission techniques from professional wrestling. The whole experience is incredibly relaxing, and I even fell asleep during my last massage.

On to the diving. Today was a four dive day. First we went to Siquijor Island (pronounced: cig-E-whore) for three wall dives, then wrapped up the day with a night dive. Siquijor is amazing. The dive sites there all start with colorful coral reefs, full of the usual array of fantastic critters, then the walls drop off to about one hundred and fifty feet. It is a zen experience to float over the edge and the slowly drop off into the abyss. Our first dive was Peliton Point North, then Tambesan Point, and finally Peliton Point South.

All along the wall we were seeing more different and colorful nudibranches. There were titan triggerfish patrolling and looking quite mean (we kept our distance, titans can turn nasty). And just amazing coral formations outcropping from the wall. At the end of each dive we spent time exploring the reef atop the wall. Here we saw blue ribbon eels, a juvenille blue ribbon eel, which is black, and a very friendly turtle that kept swimming back towards me no matter how I tried to move to let someone else get close to take a picture.

For our night dive we went back to a site from yesterday, San Miguel. Jen and I decided since it was night, we would leave our cameras behind and just enjoy the dive. A couple of other divers did bring their cameras. Of course this meant we would now see something we really wanted to see. Sure enough, five minutes into the dive we come across our first flamboyant cuttle fish of the trip. Despite not having a camera, it still took five minutes to pry Jen away from it so we could move on. More frogfish, an orangutan crab, sleeping lionfish. Hopefully we will find that flamboyant cuttlefish again during the day so we can get some pictures. Stay tuned.

Todays picutres are commensal (spelled wrong) shrimp on coral, another nudibranch, and a blue ribbon eel.

More to follow.

-Matt

Four dives along the coast

Today we did four dives at local coastal dive sites, the Car Wrecks Deep, Dauin South, San Miguel, and the Car Wrecks Shallow.

The first dive was the Car Wrecks, deep. This is probably the deepest of the local dive sites for Dumaguete. We maxed out our depth at ninety feet. We had a slow descent getting there, working our way down the sand slope. There were all sorts of odd critters living in the sand, flying gurnards, more colorful nudibranches, sea moths, and much more. At the deep point there was an old rusted out car and some other relics. And here was one of my favorites, the juvenile emperor angel fish. Absolutely fascinating patterns on them.

Next up was Dauin South. Started as a muck dive, moved to coral, and ended up in the sea grass in the shallows. In the muck, besides all the regular oddities, we saw a hairy frog fish about the size of a plum. It never ceases to amaze me how unique some of the critters in the ocean can be. Over on the coral section, there were mantis shrimp peaking out of holes, rare spine cheeked anemone fish, and giant clams. In the sea grass at the top I found a pair of halimeda ghost pipefish pretending to be blades of grass. Not bad for the guy who admittedly depends on his wife and the dive master to find all the cool stuff for him.

Dive three was San Miguel. A sandy slope with an artificial reef of old tires at the bottom. Lot of lionfish living among the tires. You had to be careful of your buoyancy, because they were everywhere, and you don't want to bump into them. Of course you have to be wary of some of the other things too. While trying to get a picture of a nudibranch, Paul got bitten by a little damsel fish. Twice. Tiny little thing just kept attacking him. It was actually kind of funny to watch, probably more so for me then for Paul.

Last dive of the day we went back to the Car Wrecks, and stayed shallow, exploring the sandy muck slope more. Jen kept finding cuttlefish everywhere. Still haven't found the elusive flamboyant cuttlefish, but there is still time. Wing did find a painted frog fish for us. I have no idea how. I have good vision, even if I can't find must stuff myself. Jen can find a camouflaged peacock flounder in the sand from twenty feet way. But to spot the painted frog fish??? It is tiny!! It could fit on my pinkie nail with room to spare. This tiny little orange and white speck under a bit of sand and sea weed, and Wing hones right in on it. Just a great job divemastering, and a great find for our photo album.

Of course, no day at Atlantis would be complete without a massage and gourmet dinner, and our day was definitely complete. Tomorrow is an early start because we are heading off to Siquijor Island for a day of wall diving. We're planning on doing a night dive as well, so might be a little late on the next post. Stay tuned.

Todays pictures are the juvenille emperor angel fish, the hairy frog fish, a lionfish, and the miniscule painted frogfish.

More to come....

-Matt

Three awesome dives at Apo!

The morning started out a bit overcast, and there was a hint of thunder in the air. Then of course it started to rain on the boat ride over to Apo. Rain picked up to the point that for a bit we couldn't even see the island. As we got closer the rain slackened, and the skies started to clear up.

Our first dive of the day was Chapel Point. Really nice wall dive. Lots of nudibranch, all sorts of amazing colors. A friendly little turtle, and a sea snake. It was with the sea snake I forgot one of the cardinal rules of shooting video. Just because you're watching through the view finder, doesn't mean you're not actually part of the scene. I found myself thinking 'gee, I didn't realize I had zoomed in that close to make the snake fill the frame.' Then I looked up and realized the snake was only about two inches from the camera. Needles to say I backed up a bit and made a point of trying to remember to look up more often.

Second dive was Rock Point West. Great wall dive, covered in all different hard and soft corals. Titan trigger fish were on patrol, and a huge barracuda was cruising the reef. We anchored in 'town' for our lunch stop, and Jen and I went ashore to buy t-shirts. The Apo Island t-shirt ladies have a very aggressive marketing strategy. As soon as a boat pulls up they line the shore in front of it and start waving their t-shirts and sarongs. As soon as someone sets foot ashore they are mobbed. If you show interest in a particular shirt, suddenly every one is waving the same shirt in different colors. You mention a color you like, and they all have the same color.

Last dive of the day was in the Apo Island Marine Sanctuary. Another gorgeous wall dive. In the shallows at the top of the wall was the area called Clownfish City. It is a large area with tons of anemones and all different species of anemone fish. Some anemones might even have as many as three different species of anemone fish living in them. Needless to say, Nemo found! Along with his entire extended family.

Photos today are a really colorful nudibranch, the Apo shirt ladies, and one of the inhabitants of Clownfish City.

Wrapped up the day with another massage and great dinner. Tomorrow morning is another early start and lots of diving to do. More to follow.

-Matt

Going to Apo today!

Never quite made it back to comment on the dives last night. Apparently when you are exhausted from about eighteen hour of travel with little sleep, then do two awesome hour long dives, followed up by a ninety minute massage then a huge gourmet dinner and an ice cold beer, you are so tired you fall right asleep. It looks like I finally found the cure for insomnia.

First dive yesterday set a great standard. We dove Dauin North. Dropped down and found a yellow sea horse right under the boat. Ten feet away we came across a mimic octopus. Later in the dive we came across tiny painted frogfish, ghost pipe fish galore, and Jen found a cuttlefish camouflaged against the sand, and our divemaster Wing Wing found a second one hiding behind her (more on Wing in a later post).

Second dive was the Atlantis House Reef. Lots more to see. Lionfish everywhere! Even came across a bunch of juvenille lionfish. A family of remoria were cruising around trying to make everyone think they were sharks. The house reef is a much dive, and then they sunk old tires formed tied together to form an artificial reef. It works really well, the tires are completely covered in marine growth, soft corals, and lots of critters living among them.

Followed that up with ninety minutes of pure relaxation. I wasn't even aware I could bend the way my masseusse kept bending me. Still, I managed to fall asleep during the last five minutes. It was very needed.

Just finishing breakfast now, then we are heading to Apo Island for the day!!! Diving there should be phenomenal. Jen will be bringing the still camera today, so I'll try to post some pictures tonight.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers reading this.

-Matt

After the long trip, finally arrived

It's been a long trip getting here, but we just finished lunch, and are getting ready for our first dive. The trip started out with a bit of a headache. We had the world's worst check in agent at the airport, who caused a stink about the weight of our luggage (which actually was withing the limitations that we were given) and the only way to complete our check in without over a hundred dollars in overweight charges each, was to join the frequent flyer program for thirty dollars each. Smell like a scam to anyone else? She managed to make checking in take almost two hours. The picture here is her standing on the luggage scale badgering us, even on the scale she is still shorter the me.

After we finally got on the plane, the bad news was it was leaving late, just after midnight, the good news is that the delayed departure was because we were skipping the stop in Guam, so the flight was only twelve and a half hours instead of fifteen. A short layover in Manila later and we were on our way to Dumaguete. Greeted at the airport here by two of the resort staff that we remember from our last trip. Lots of the staff here actually remembers us, so we're already having a great time and feeling relaxed.

Off to our first dive in a little bit. I'll add a post later about the dives today. Probably won't have any dive pictures today, but there will be some to follow over the next couple of days.

-Matt