Balicasag Marine Sanctuary - March & April 2004

A clown fish in his anemone; the current was strong on this dive and the the anemone was pushed up, revealing its electric blue underside. Click here to add this photo to your computer desktop wallpaper.

 

Now all they need is a picket fence.

 

Almost as if they were posing for the camera.

 

Ok, I'll admit that I really did enjoy "Finding Nemo".

 

...and away they go!

 

Moving a bit up the food chain, this large school of five pound jacks clustered closer and closer together as I approached.

 

When I was within 20 feet, the school began to spiral nervously like a silver cyclone.

 

Even when I was so close, they held their group together--notice the fellow in the lower right corner who still has an appetite.

 

Unneccessary zoom!

 

At the bottom of the foodchain, this nudibranch might look like a pushover, but he's very poisonous.

 

Ooooh Barracuda! Anyone remember that song? I know someone out there does.

 

In another installment from the "Dangers Under the Sea" series , this is a sea snake, one of the most poisonous in the world. The only thing that kept me from fleeing in terror is the fact that they have tiny, tiny little mouths and are unable to bite you unless they can catch a hold of one of your fingers. Not quite as menacing as the king cobra I saw in Bangkok!

 

A skunk anemone fish.

 

Hi Mom! I'm underwater.

 

A bubble coral at 20 meters below the surface.

 

This trevally was really moving when I tried to take a photo of him. At least that is how I explain the bad composition of this photo.

 

And finally, I couldn't resist doing this photo, even though the salt water burned my eyes giving me a pained expression.

Apo Island - May 2004
In May 2004 I visited Apo Island, a tiny former volcano located about 45 minutes by pump boat from a small fishing village south of my Peace Corps site in Dumaguete. In 1986, the forward thinking residents of Apo Island teamed up with the Silliman University Marine Lab to establish a marine sanctuary. Since then the island has become synonymous with sustainable eco tourism in the Philippines, and has even become a model for best practices in creative solutions to difficult problems facing the Philippines today. We stayed at the community based Liberty's lodge, a simple hotel set perfectly into the steep volcanic hill of the bay. We were lucky enough to dive in the Apo sanctuary, which was a psychedelic kaleidoscope of brightly colored corals and an incredible diversity of fish species. (Click here to see the photo essay--34 photos)

 

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