Reef Hook

To get a break from the wet , snowy, freezing U.K. early spring we booked a trip to Grand Turk in the hope of sun and some warm up diving in advance of a Raja Ampat trip later this year. 

Ten of the eleven days diving was a typical mix of Caribbean underwater life with a profusion of soft corals and a wide range of tropical Atlantic fish life.

However day three was to prove one of those "one off" experiences the memory will not forget, especially as I was able to record to video all four frantic minutes.

We had completed a long wall dive and were returning to our moored boat at some 15m over the sandy slope above the drop off. With an advance warning of multitudes of clicks two big Atlantic bottle nosed dolphins burst into our dive group and proceeded to give us a very personal series of lessons in advanced diving skills.

First show off your supreme agility and speed followed by a master course in getting a garden eel dinner then more showing off until tired of our pedestrian attempts at copying you depart as swiftly as you came.

 

[vimeo]51227972[/vimeo]

This short film includes some of the highlights from a livaboard trip through the Visayas followed by a shore based week in Dauin outside Dumaguete, Negros Island, Philippines.
The dive sites varied from coral walls to pristine reefs, from bare deeply shelving volcanic sand prairies to shallow sea grass meadows. There was little large pelagic action presumably due to intensive fishing however a diversion to Oslob, Cebu Island gave us the opportunity to snorkel with whale sharks that the local fishing community feed to attract them into shore. I understand that when this first started some years ago it was something of a circus but it certainly seems to have now become very well organised and gave our group of 7 an uninterrupted hour with six to eight of these magnificent fish..
The range of small to macro size creatures was varied and provided some excellent photographic opportunities especially on dives around Apo Island categorised as a marine sanctuary. Coastal dives out of Dauin were predominantly over volcanic sand, some with escaping hot gas and alive with unusual livestock. We encountered many frogfish varying in both size and colour but missed out on the sought after hairy version!
Although arguably lacking in pelagics as stated above this area of the Philippines makes for a great dive trip if you like macro and the climate, ease of travel and above all the friendly outgoing people.
Video camera Panasonic HDC-SD800
Housing Seapro custom SP5
Port Optolite (Ivanoff) lens port
Original footage 1080p 50fps
Vimeo footage Mpeg4 25fps
Edit Pinnacle Studio 14 Ultimate

Our group of four divers are now back in the U.K. after three weeks in the Philippines.
Our first week was spent on a livaboard out to the Tubbataha Reef atolls in the Sulu Sea. We love our big pelagics but this was not to be this trip and most of the week was spent diving the sheer walls of the two atolls with just a sprinkling of shark action to keep us going. Things livened up on the fith day when, at 6.30am the boat struck and grounded on the reef close to the ranger station. Cue an emergency evacuation of the leaning boat and a much longer visit to the ranger station than anticipated as we waited for high tide to float the boat off. In hindsight it was a good job the livaboard was steel and not wood as I reckon if it had been the later she would have sunk!
On to the island of Negros and to a dive resort outside the city of Dumaguete were we spent eight days muck diving and several dives off Apo Island.
Now I am as stated a "big fish" fellow and did not think a full week of muck diving would be my "cup of tea", however the sheer range and number of rare and odd creatures on every dive so impressed all of us we will be back for another trip later this year.
I apologise in advance for the schoolboy errors in the imbedded video. My only excuse is all the kit was brand new and this was its shakedown trip.
Record light not turned off giving reflection in the port.
External wet red filter (now "binned") that gave vignetting and colour inconsistency problems.

[vimeohd]42264369[/vimeohd]

Panasonic HDC 800    1080p @ 50fps
Seapro custom built case
Optolite (Ivanoff) port