Browsing The Underwater Photographer, I felt I need to share how this book is both educational and inspirational to you guys. I just love scuba diving in the Philippines! And this book by Martin Edge has helped me with a lot of highly specialized techniques.
Inside this book are the step by step looks at the basic techniques of how to properly shoot shipwrecks, divers, marine life, abstract images and night shots. What I like about it most is that it is packed with beautiful images and it has a very easy to read style.
There are a bunch more, but I’ll just stop from here and maybe you guys can check it out yourself!
The thinnest and longest island in the Philippines, Palawan, is best known for its rainforest and remote natural beauty. Below the water, sights are no less impressive. The diving depth is varied, but colorful fishes, soft corals, starfishes and kelp forest grow within inches of the surface. For a different whale shark encounter aside from the docile beauties of Donsol to the north, look for whale sharks off Honday Bay in Palawan’s Puerto Princesa. Explore colorful sights beneath the waters by going through a dive shop to “schedule” an encounter.
Gettting There Most major airlines fly into Palawan; Cebu Pacific as well as Philippine Airlines has regular daily flights from Manila to Puerto Princesa.
When To Go The best weather is April through November. Visibility is best in the summer in which the calmest sea conditions occur.
Price Tag Prices start at About $70 per person for two dives, including all gear and a dive guide. Room rates start from $19.
Our class started nice and early with a 3 hour pool session. During this session, we learned and practiced over 20 different diving skills, from clearing water from our mask to learning to breath off our partner’s regulators (breathing device). The afternoon session of the class (everyday has both a morning and afternoon class) consisted of a couple hours of lecture and quizzes based on the diving textbook. The class took up most the day, so afterwards we headed out to dinner on the beachfront and completed our homework looking out at the gorgeous view of the ocean from our hillside room.
Coron’s world famous twin lagoon is littered with 9 shipwrecks, the result of a U.S. offensive in the Pacific theater of WWII which took place some time in 1944. Most of what remained consisted of the Japanese navy’s supply ships. If you are penetrating these wrecks, you will need a special training.
To start with, you should have proper wreck-diving certification as well as a host of other courses to prepare you for the world of wreck penetration. Courses in the use of nitrox, mixed gasses, deep diving and techincal diving are not only beneficial but should also be looked at as essential when planning to do deep wreck-penetration dives.
Take note that the visibility on the wrecks is not as great in Coron as other places in the Philippines – maybe 20-30 feet at best, 10-15ft usually. As an insider’s tip, stay with your guide, who not only knows the history of these ships and where to see the greatest points of interest, but also knows how to safely dive and penetrate the wrecks.
Mactan, Cebu, Philippines – I didn’t see this tiny decorator crab with the turnicate on its back until the guide pointed it out on the P-com Dream house reef. When I got closer, it popped inside its home. I’ve since searched of green turnicates but have yet to find another crab.
How I Got The Shot I used a Nikon D80 with a Nexus housing, Nikon 105mm VR lens and a pair of Inon Z-240 strobes. The slower the shutter speed allowed me to get more of the macro shot. Go Now Scotty’s Dive Center, divescotty.com
The word scuba is an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus and refers to the apparatus which makes it possible for professional scuba divers to safely explore the underwater world. In the middle of a scuba diver’s training is knowing how this equipment is used and the step by step procedures and techniques for its safe use in a course of study that leads to open water certification.
Trained and certified instructors conduct courses for beginning divers. Since I’m a beginning diver, I was trained through this so called training agencies by professional instructors who have licensed me by keeping an eye on my performance. After issuing my diver’s certification, I got these C-Cards which served to vouch for my diver’s qualifications.
Under the rules and regulations of the organization to which they belong, these scuba diving instructors will teach you scuba classes independently or in a dive training facility to which they belong.
My training in diving consisted of three components:
1. Academic or classroom study
2. Confined Water or pool training and
3. Open Water training.
Of course, take note that entry requirements, training methods and qualification tests vary around the world.
Many diving enthusiasts have great admiration for exploring various kinds of animals found in the ocean. Well, the Philippines is just proof of this aquatic beauty. It has brought divers closer to these undiscovered species of fish and different creatures from the sea. It has been known that around 400 species of fishes are found in the Philippines – that’s a LOT! Surely, you would love to watch these colorful fishes while enjoying scuba diving in the Philippines. What’s more, nearly five different species of turtles are also found nowhere else but in the Philippines.
If you’re planning to visit the Philippines, one of the most exciting things you can do here is to scuba dive. Not only is it one of the country’s biggest attractions, but there’s plenty of magnificent diving areas around from Luzon to Visayas from where you can enjoy a spectacular scuba diving experience. The diving regions in the Philippines are divided into five areas. The names of these five regions are Luzon, the Sulu Sea, Palawan, Visayas, and Puerto Galera. The best thing about diving into these regions is that the diving experience is not only exclusive to the shores and major diving places at the beach, but you the Philippines boast a lot of diving areas like fresh water caves, inland lakes, coral reef walls and many more.
Off the northern tip of nearby Olango island, Tingo Point offers divers a good chance of spotting this famed creature.This thresher shark was with us for nearly half an hour, swimming around the sea and slapping his tail on a school of sardines. Here is a picture where he just slapped his tail on the sardines. You can actually see them scattered around. I never get tired of this place, what’s more it has good visibility, schools of huge fish and a lot of colorful corals to explore.
