22/23/24 April 2009 Now back on land with all our gear full of salt, we shifted gears and spent slow quality time cleaning and maintaining our stuff. We also had to re-energize and plan our next Palawan trips to Roxas, Taytay and El Nido. Still with swollen fingers, Alya flew back to Manila early evening [...]
21 April 2009 Luli Arroyo infected with our COTS quest The guests onboard Oceana Maria joined in gathering COTS. Among them was Luli Arroyo, the Philippine President’s daughter and Southeast Asia Policy Officer for WWF Coral Triangle Programme. The fervor did not abate and as the stabbing sticks were not enough, rangers watched [...]
20 April 2009 The rangers, Angelique and the WWF expedition team Order of the day was an early morning group picture of the rangers with manager Angelique and WWF expedition visitors Alya, Yogi & I. After breakfast, we photographed WWF ranger Choy and TMO ranger Manny diving a coral reef near the station. [...]
19 April 2009 Woke up at 5:45am – gee it’s overcast. By 6:30, while I was using nature’s toilet, the heavens opened. We all thought it was a good thing the rains didn’t happen at night! Equipped with raincoats, we continued shooting after breakfast. Secille and Choy found a dead brown booby tagged with bird [...]
18 April 2009 Woke up at 3 am. Outside the station, the sky was bright with stars and a quarter moon. It was peaceful to spend a few minutes outside with Yogi and the rangers creating a cacophony of snores inside. After half an hour, the winds picked up. It was time to go back [...]
17 April 2009 Flat calm seas and sunshine as summer should be Today was a day of helplessness and frustration. It was flat, calm, and full sunshine yesterday. We left the boat Stella Maris with all the guests and crew wishing us a not-so-scorching hot visit to Bird Islet, and warned us to [...]
16 April 2009 Rangers – NAVY Team Leader: Elmer “Jhing” F. de los Santos Jhing mans the radar and radio 24/7 Secille G. Balot Secille tills their little garden for the ranger's vegetable needs Romeo “Romy” O. Bellezo Romy assists in catching a baby booby for bird banding Richard [...]
15 April 2009 Dive 1, 7:30, Black Rock N8 47.868 E119 50.440 Hmmm -- 6:30 morning rain. We’re going to be rained on in Bird Islet in a few days! Not a nice thought. Before the dive, our German dive group mates ordered pygmy seahorses, and guess what -- our guide Welmer found one. Hippocampus [...]
14 April 2009 Dive 1, 7:30, Delsan Wreck We went a way back from the wreck, to the point where our boatman said it was a different dive site altogether! But the drift was so strong, we ended up in the wreck at the end. Saw long lines, and coral was dangling from under one [...]
13 April 2009 Dive 1, 7:30am, Malayan Wreck Blue water hang at 20 meters, waiting for schooling hammerhead sharks to pass by. This was a test of patience. We have never been lucky with hammerheads and often have to explain to the dive masters that we bring bad hammerhead luck. But the plankton was interesting. [...]
