Puerto Galera

Lots of you know that I have been there quite a few times before (hey, I even learned to dive there, less than 3 years ago).

http://www.fototime.com/inv/CB031F6C5EC5FB6

Album is called "200312 Puerto Galera".

Originally I was supposed to go for about a week starting 12Dec, but I was just getting over a cold so I postponed for a couple of days. As you might gather from the subtitle in the gallery, I still wasn't all that well, as it turned out. I just managed 6 dives over 3 days before I finally got the message my sinuses were sending me, and I packed it in and came home early.

-David

David,

Nice shots! I was there a week before you were. Looks like you found the sea horses just east of Sabang wreck and the sweetlips at the Drydock! Where was the big cuttle at? I saw him twice, a night dive at Small La Laguna and once near the horseys at Sabang...just before I got the flying gunnards.

PG is my favorite place to dive.

Stu

Hi Stu

Actually the cuttlefish wasn't too big, I'd estimate maybe 25cm including tentacles. But there are no clues in the shot to tell you that. This was just a few metres west (ie to the left if you are looking towards deeper water) of the deeper end of the Drydock. On that side there's quite a bit of coral, and it was hanging about there. Quite shy though, didn't want to let me get close.

This was a great dive on 35% Nitrox - 45 minutes bottom time. And at DryDock there's no likelihood of other divers wanting to swim too far so there's no hurry about taking the photos.

-David

I never got that far as I was busy with the Emperor Angels that were inside the structure =) Another photo buddy ventured there and got some pics of a good size octopus.

The cuttle that I saw at Sabang and Small La Laguna was easily 2 feet long.

Can't wait to be back...in April!

Stu

Mention of the drydock at PG brings back memories - there used to be a resident pair of harlequin shrimps about 15 feet away. It's the only place I've ever seen them, or been able to get a shot of one.

Pedro (at Asian Divers) tells a great story about taking some divers to see the harlequins one day. They dropped in about 100 m or so away, and Pedro picked up a blue Linckia star fish to use to lure the harlequins out of their hole, holding the starfish in front of him as he led the group across the bottom toward the drydock. (Needless to say, the local supply of Linckia's in the immediate vicinity of the Harlequin's base was quite limited).

Well, they got there, saw the Harleqins, etc., then did the usual blue-water ascent. On the surface, one of the divers exclaimed "That was incredible."

"Oh, you liked the harlequin shrimp, did you?", asked Pedro.

"That little shrimp. Yeah, that was okay. But what I thought was incredible was how you navigated using the starfish. You've gotta show me how to do that."

(Now I can share Pedro's secret: always swim in the direction that the middle leg of the starfish is pointing!)

Here's the harlequin from the Drydock at Puerto Galera:

Robert

Very nice shots Robert... Film?