Ticao Island Boris Wall Dive

The Philippines has a great diversity of habitats (soft sediments, corals, seagrass, etc.).  It also has more coastlines per unit than any other tropical area on earth.  The Philippines has long been recognized as the world’s center of marine biodiversity.  Five of the seven sea turtle species known to exist in the world today occur in Philippine waters.

All photos were taken with a Nikon D810 in an Ikelite housing using the Ikelite DS161 strobes and BigBlue video lights implementing Ultralight Camera Solutions arms & clamps.

The Philippines is one of the most reliable spots in the world to encounter the gentle giant whale shark.  The Thresher Shark is not often seen by divers as it is nocturnal and spends most of its time in deep water, but on the small island of Malapascua, just off the northern tip of Cebu it can be found in the early morning hours.

These photos are from a 2 week trip at 2 different resorts in the Philippines.  Our first destination was the Ticao Island Resort where our guide Jan Esteban was a tremendous help finding all these amazing small creatures.  The Resort there is right on the beach with a fabulous view of the distant volcano.  http://www.ticao-island-resort.com/

Our second location was Thresher Shark Divers on Malapascua Island, a first class dive operation.  Wilbert Arriesgado was our expert dive guide during the week and has a keen eye for finding microscopic creatures.  He was fantastic!   http://www.malapascua-diving.com/