1st Annual Women Photographers' Tour: Philippines

Waterlogged Date: 2/26,/97

Due to an airplane crash and consequent cleanup, M/Y Nautika was delayed 12 hours from leaving the dock for our first destination, Apo Reef. To ensure a full day of diving, divemaster and boat manager, Norman Pasco, opted for a day at Verde Island with opportunities to photograph soft corals, giant sea fans and schools of large fish. Nautika arrived at the anchorage at 6:30am under partly cloudy skies after a calm night of cruising. The visibility at Verde Island was about 50 feet, water temperature varied from 74°-79°F. An extensive wall and meadow of brilliant soft corals, a giant yellow-lipped sea krait, dozens of unusual nudibranchs, crinoids, eels and major clouds of anthias provided excellent subject matter for the photographers. Verde Island has unusually strong and variable currents. The second dive has been designated the "Lost at Sea" or "Beach Dive" as two of the divers (including this author) were separated from the group, caught in a strong current and floated for 2 hours before giving up and making for the beach. A crowd of Verde Island residents helped flag down the chase boat which had been searching for the divers in a current that would have would have taken them out to sea instead of toward the beach. The most serious consequences of the adventure were the inverse sunburns acquired by one rescuer and rescuee. The rescuer, wearing a hood, burned the center of his face while the rescuee, wearing a mask, burned her forehead chin and right hand (holding the camera). The incident reminded all that an essential items of gear are signaling devices (such as a safety sausage and whistle) and sunblock! On Feb. 26, under sunny blue skies, the group dived the Apo Island reef area and visited the Apo Island Turtle Nursery. The group, escorted by project manager, Mitch Schlactermann, visited a saltwater lagoon surrounded by a mangrove swamp where baby turtles (loggerhead, green, and hawksbill) are raised in net cages. The turtles are taken from the beach immediately after hatching and raised in the nursery until they are about the size of a dinner plate before being released into the wild. Apo Reef is recovering from extensive overfishing and damage. The north and south ends of the island are walls with extensive hard coral meadows in the shallows and dendronepthya (bright colored) soft corals and gorgonians at about 80' on the wall. Not many fish or small invertebrates are found at Apo. Some turtles live around the island and on two dives some of the photographers were lucky enough to get shots of a green turtle feeding in the shallows. The east and west sides of the island are densely covered hard coral slopes. At least nine very large humphead wrasse (Napoleon wrasse) and a few white tip sharks inhabit theses slopes. All in all the photographers preferred the areas of Puerto Gallera and Verde Island for photography and Nautika, accomodating our preferences, cruised back to dive those areas. Back at Puerto Gallera cloudy skies and poor viz were a bit depressing, but posed no threat to the macro photography. Many species of nudibranchs, scorpionfish, anemone fish and shrimp with a lush background of various tunicates and sponges provided ample opportunities for great photos. A large swimming frogfish captured the focus of several of the women. The Philippines have some of the most outrageously colored scorpionfish in the sea. One diver noted that the scorpionfish are like fingerprints, no two are the same. Norman managed to get us into a sheltered area on a wall covered with multicolored bouquets of tubastrea corals and lots of small creatures for our last night dive. M/V Nautika is 100 feet long with two 4 berth cabins and 4 two berth cabins located on the dive deck level. Sufficient water for rinsing gear and salty bodies and a hot shower at the end of each day is provided by a desalinizaion plant. Each unit has it's own shower/toilet and twin size bunk beds. For photographers, the 2 camera tables and many storage shelves (also on dive deck level) were a blessing. Both 110V and 220V outlets are located on the camera tables and in the cabins and lounge. We needed plug adapters from two prong US style to two prong round style for the outlets, some were provided. Above the dive deck, a covered area with a bar, tables and chairs also served as the storage area for personal dive gear. Each diver was assigned a bin for mask, fins, booties, etc. We geared up on this deck then walked down the stairs to pick up the cameras. Tanks were geared up by the dive staff and loaded into one of the two 23 foot chase boats. Asian style meals were served buffet style in the air conditioned main salon. It would be a wise idea to bring along a jacket or long-sleeve shirt as the AC is not zone controlled. To keep the cabins comfortable, the main salon must be kept quite cold. The '97 Girl's Tour was the first American group to charter Nautika. We found the boat quite comfortable and had no major complaints. We left a list of our suggestions to improve the cruise for American tastes. Nautika dives: November-February, Apo Reef & Northern Palawan (wrecks) March-June, Sulu Sea July-October, Batangas & Mindoro Norman was able to help with several dive gear problems, loaning us hose adapters, wet suits and reparing regulators. A generous "Thank You!" to Norman for all his efforts to keep us diving and to Cindi LaRaia of Dive Discovery for her work in arranging the trip. For information on MY Nautika, Contact Dars Padilla or Norman Pasco at nautika@mnl.sequel.net view the MY Nautika Web Site or contact Cindi LaRaia at Dive Discovery. POSTSCRIPT: - Oct '97. Photos from the Nautika trip, particularly Verde Island, were outstanding. In nearly 6 months of dive travel so far in '97, I found Verde Island to have the best concentation of life for beautiful macro photography. Recent slide shows, my first opportunity to show them since our cruise, drew many compliments on the slides from this trip. Report by Deb Fugitt

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