Capturing the Moment

Whale Sharks in the Philippines Photos and Experiences   In the sleepy little town of Oslob in the southeast corner of Cebu Island, whale sharks ( Rhincodon typus) congregate close to shore for a feeding bonanza. But there is something unique about the feeding activity of these gentle giants slurping in sea water and filtering out all the tiny plankton. The method they suck in and filter out the plankton is the same here as it is throughout the tropics where whale sharks can be found. It is where the food is coming from that is different. These young whale sharks are being lured into this near shore water by fishermen tossing in huge handfuls of the sharks favorite food, brine shrimp. Now the fishermen are charging money to take people out to swim with the whale sharks. I talked with a lot of people in the Philippines about this area called Oslob and the impacts of these tours. There is a lot of debate about how the local fishermen are changing the whale sharks behavior an...

Two Ornate Ghost Pipefish  When I talked to my dive guide at Malapascua about finding rare small underwater creatures he told me about two nearby places; Calanggaman Island and Gato Island. Calanggaman, he said, is a long sand bar dotted with coconut palm trees that drops steeply off into the abyss. Gato on the other hand, was described as a solid rock topped with jungle surrounded by nudibranchs and sea snakes. I immediately added both destinations to our dive plans during my stay in Malapascua. First on the list was a two dive day trip to Calanggaman Island. Denise's pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus denise) Can You Find the Sea Horse?  I was already impressed by J.N., our local dive guide and creature finder by his skill in spotting wildlife on our first few local dives. When we dropped over the underwater cliff edge on the outskirts of Calanggaman, J.N.'s critter vision went into overdrive. He found pygmy sea horses no bigger than your pinky finger nail. Ornate gh...