Mark Mitchell has some shot some pretty amazing photos and this week he and Jamie found this Spiny Tiger Shrimp (Phyllognatia ceratophthalmus), also called the Bongo Shrimp, or Horned Bumblebee Shrimp. None of us have ever seen this before so we were all quite excited to see the photos that Mark got. They belong to the same family as the Harlequin Shrimps and are relatively small in size – they grow to a maximum of 2 cm but are often smaller. They live cryptic and are usually hidden in sponges, rubble, Algae or broken coral – mostly in an encrusted mix of them. Often in pairs – sometimes even in little groups or families. Characteristics are their beautiful coloration, their spikes and their wave like movements. Cool huh?!! Check out more of Mark’s photos on the link below:

http://mbmitchellphotography.com/

A big welcome back to the CCD dive club in their tenth anniversary year! CCD has members from Britain, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. Pictured here are Eamonn, Esther, Otti, Ulli, Pete, Brian, Gordon and Justin as well as Asia Divers and CCD member Pete. This will be their eighth trip to Asia Divers & El Galleon resort and they’ve had a fantastic time once again, diving all our favourite spots including a great trip to Verde Island with BBQ, plenty of massages in La Palm spa, some great evenings out and nearly broken the Point Bar Bell several times. Now that’s a good time!

Lembeh Seadragon in Puerto Galera

These are shots of the Lembeh Sea Dragon which is only found in Lembeh supposedly, but we found it right here! YES…HERE!! Thanks to Rogger Won for his keen eye in spotting it and getting these pretty little pics of something that we have never seen here before. COOL!!

The Lembeh Seadragon (Lembeh Pygmy Pipedragon, Kyonemichthys rumengani) is a recently discovered species that has been seen for the first time in Lembeh Strait in 2006. It belongs to the Family of seahorses and pipefishes and is closer related to them than to the actual seadragons that are known from Australia. But the Lembeh Seadragons got their name because of their special way of swimming, which reminds much of the Australian Seadragons.

Lembeh Seadragons live in pairs (sometimes up to 10 pairs in one area) and are usually hanging with their tails attached to overhanging walls and crevices. Before Sunset they can be seen free swimming and courting. They are extremely thin (about 1mm) and grow to about 3-4 cm in length.

I’ve always loved the Ocean.  Growing up in Australia I was spoilt for clean beaches and loved our childhood summers swimming in the surf. Having won a competition in 2010 for two open water courses with Asia Divers, it was the perfect opportunity to get together with my brother and sister and enjoy some time together while doing something we’d always wanted to do. Unfortunately, injury struck and I was sidelined in a plaster cast, while they could dive I could not.  Watching from the sidelines was more reward than I expected. You observe the effect diving can have on people.   A sense of calm wonder as the underwater world is opened up to someone for the first time. Watching people relax as they are allowed to escape from the world they live in with a complete change of focus.  That realisation that there is something much bigger than concrete skyscrapers and noisy TV programs about other people’s lives.   The bond that grows between diving partners, not only for a unique shared experience, but increase respect you have for someone you’ve had to trust.   And, a personal sense of achievement after each dive. Something new learned. Something new seen.   It’s taken me 12 months to find my opportunity to complete the open water course – and I’m hooked!  Not only for diving itself, but the opportunity I now have to explore the world in a new way with the people I’ve known all my life and love.  I would like to thank our instructor Allison.  Good instruction from the start builds confidence in anything.  We all felt very lucky to have a teacher who is as passionate as she is professional. And to have found a place like PG where you can dive on so many levels and see so much.   I’m looking forward to keeping her up to date with my ambition of diving the top 10 sites in the world, and working on an environmental clean up once a year.

Travel

We have the Palau Siren booked for a 10-day trip November 20-30, 2012. For you that have been there before on one of our 7-day cruises with Palau  Aggressor you’ll find that we get an opportunity to see other areas of Palau. We’ll dive far north for some big Pelagic, not to mention any as we might have bad luck. Some may have tips on the fins but they are not white !!! Also some may look like very big birds !!! Do the “usual” Palau dives and then go all the way down to Angaur south of Peleliu.  The boat will move and we will anchor in different places almost every night and therefore get the opportunity to dive in different areas all the time. Talking about the boat, for you who joined our Komodo trip 2011, will be very familiar on the Palau Siren as its a copy of the Indo Siren we spent the trip on. If you are interested please let me know and I will reserve a spot for you. The price for the trip is €2,995. The dates fits with the Manila-Koror flight so no need for overnight in Koror, straight to and from the boat to the airport. 11 spots left ! Contact tommy@asiadivers.com if your interested.

With over 250 dives on the Verde Island pinnacle or San Agapito, as it is called locally, I can still feel like a Verde virgin every time I drop into the pristine turquoise water. My body is encompassed and wrapped in a luscious blanket of warmth, which is teeming with abundant fish life and creatures beyond imagination.  Some days I still have to pinch myself to make sure that I am really experiencing all of this. And this is all in a day’s work…

Experts have called The Verde Island Passage the “centre of the centre” of the world’s marine biodiversity. Life enhancing nutrients from the Pacific mix with waters of the South China Sea. You would never guess that beneath the surface are spectacular reef formations with more than 300 species of corals and underwater rock canyons that host nearly 60 percent of the world’s known shorefish species. The World Conservation Union describes it as the marine counterpart of the Amazon River basin,” which put the passage at the peak of the “Coral Triangle” that spans the Sulawesi and the Sulu Seas in the southern Philippines and nearby Indonesia.

The Verde Island passage is situated between the islands of Luzon and Mindoro, which happens to be my backyard. A trip to Puerto Galera is not complete with at least one visit to Verde Island. Since it only takes 20 minutes by our speedboat, I encourage our divers to get over there early in their stay because no doubt that they will want to go back again.

The most well known dive site is the “Verde Island Drop off” or “San Agapito” about 300 meters off shore. Approaching the dive site you are greeted by the rough tips of pinnacles breaking the surface. I imagine that there must have been a few shipwrecks on these over the years! From the surface it doesn’t look like much, but as soon as you drop in, you’ll see that these pinnacles are like the icing on top of large colourful birthday cake.

The Drop Off can be described best as steep slopes with stunning vertical walls that drop down to 70 meters or more. Beautiful gorgonian fans, basket sponges and anemones nestle in and make their home here. Numerous nooks and crannies are home to all sorts of reef life including shrimps, sea snakes, scorpion fish and moray eels. Volcanic bubbles rise up through the corals and create a magical effect. Anthias and red-tooth triggerfish are so abundant that I tell people that there are so many fish on the pinnacle that they’ll have to push them aside to see the reef.

This is one of those dives sites that you can happily use a wide-angle lens or a macro lens and come away with great shots. Since Puerto Galera is known so widely for its macro I sometimes encourage the photographers to pull out their wide-angle lens for a day on Verde to take advantage of the spectacular pinnacles and beautiful gorgonian sea fans. These teamed up with the colourful anemones and reef fishes make an excellent backdrop and are a great area to shoot wide angle. Nudibranches are plentiful and you’re bound to see a gnarly scorpion fish or two, so a macro lens will come in good use as well.

The currents on Verde can be tricky, but going with an experienced guide you can safely manage them. With an experienced group I like to get on to the corner and “watch the show”. This where you have the best chance to see many of the larger fishes including schooling jacks, sweetlips, tuna and snapper all dancing in the current.

A Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora dela Vida, which sank in 1620, was discovered in the late seventies just off Verde Island. Unfortunately it was heavily salvaged in the 70’s and 80’s and nothing remains of the wreck except for a few pieces of porcelain. The larger plates and terracotta jars are now long gone. I like to take my divers “treasure hunting” for these little pieces of porcelain during their surface interval. If you walk along the beachfront and look in the sand you can be sure to find a few pieces wash ashore. It’s a nice little souvenir to go home with.

A day trip to Verde Island is a great experience for our guests. They get to dive on a spectacular dive site with prolific fish life, learn a bit of local history and perhaps even go home with a small piece of porcelain treasure.

Now at last we know why.

Definitely food for thought

In this case, not so wrong but I for one enjoy seeing someone doing something a bit silly to the point of providing me with a laugh. I think this qualifies.

 Fed up with leaving the bottom early? Enriched Air Nitrox is great way to spend longer time in some of our best spots- imagine 40 minutes in canyons? It really doesn’t get any better! We believe everyone should be a Nitrox diver and always dive with Nitrox. To us it’s just good old common sense.  As you’ll notice here, all of our instructors and Divemasters use nitrox for all pretty much all of their diving.

Enriched air. Learn to dive with Nitrox.

Why Nitrox ?

*Nitrox can give you longer bottom times on recreational dives. A good example of this is being able to spend 30 minutes of bottom time in the Canyons compared with about 20 on air.
*Gets you back to the surface with way less N2 in your system than diving on air.

*Decrease N2 loading if used with air profiles.

*Leave you less tired after multiple dives.

The PADI Nitrox Certification just got a whole quicker and easier to gain. No tables or calculations. All you need is a Nitrox dive computer and if you don’t have one yet, we’ll give you one to use for the course.

Asia Divers offers the PADI Nitrox (EANX) course for just $210 USD. Come to our dive centre, or contact Asia Divers at instructors@asiadivers.com  for further details. After your certified you can take advantage of the great deals we have for diving on Nitrox. For only a small extra charge you can do all of your diving on Nitrox!

One dive + $6

All Day NITROX + $12

Two Days NITROX + $20

One Week Unlimited NITROX + $60

Minimum age 15 years