female stays put while her alpha male swims erratically around her. I am utterly entranced by the
mandarins, but Tata drags me off to shoot a colony of tigertail seahorses a few short kicks away. Although barely four inches (10cm) tall, they look enormous compared to the 0.2 inch (6mm) Denise’s pygmy seahorses that I photographed earlier in the week. Nearby, a sinister looking spiny
devilfish claws its way across a sand patch to a coral head inhabited by three different species of lionfish and two blue-ringed octopuses. Above the reef a male bigfin reef squid flashes orange then blue and purple. There is way too much going on here for me to absorb in just one dive so I add Lighthouse Reef to the rapidly expanding list of sites that I need to revisit.
together in this way, the macho mandarins spin in circles until one gains supremacy over the other and chases the inferior suitor away. The winner then struts towards a patiently waiting female like a barroom brawler that has just ‘taken out the trash’. Apparently impressed by the show of bravado, the tiny
water desalination units were capable of supplying some 12 tonnes of fresh water a day. The vessel remained in Leyte until November 24, acting as a temporary field base for MSF personnel where they were able to eat, rest and shower.
Tourism Will Help
Though much of the country was not damaged by the typhoon and remains open for business the devastated areas of the Philippines are now recovering and tourism dollars will be central to the recovery. “What the Philippines need right now is tourism. Tourist dollars are an economic mainstay for this country and crucial for the maintenance of its infrastructure,” WWDAS Director Frank van der Linde said. “More than ever we urge people not to put off planned visits to the country.” The Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT) shares the sentiment. “Tourism continues to be one of the major contributors to our economy, approximately 80 percent of GDP,” Venus Q. Tan, DOT Region Director for Europe said. ”It will play a significant role in rebuilding lives and businesses and will go a long way providing jobs and infrastructure support in communities across numerous regions.” Noting that tourism is a multiplier industry, Tan said, “More tourism activity now will provide much needed jobs and livelihood for the Philippine people and especially for survivors of the disaster.”
Van der Linde and his business partner, Mark Shandur, co-owners of WWDAS, have first-hand experience dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters. When the tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004, van der Linde was diving off Phuket, Thailand, and Shandur was in Sri Lanka, where he subsequently spent six months helping with the relief effort. They’ve seen the harm done to recovery efforts when tourism drops in the wake of a natural disaster. They urge visitors not to cancel planned trips to the Philippines.
To that end WWDAS will donate to MSF and the Philippine Red Cross 50 percent of the trip price on available space for sailings now through January 31, 2014, on both Philippine Siren boats.
The majority of Siren Fleet dive trips are unaffected. Reports of good weather and diving conditions are reported from Cebu, Bohol and Negros (Dauin). As well, the ‘all clear’ has been given for diving in Anilao and Puerto Galera. While Leyte Island was
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Super-Typhoon Haiyan By the end of the week my ‘must dive again’ list includes virtually every site that we’ve been to. This is definitely a destination on my return list but shortly after I get home the headlines are filled with stories about super-typhoon Haiyan. From the aerial images, it looks as though a giant steamroller has flattened
Cebu Island. The death toll defies comprehension. For the next few days I
wait patiently for news from Malapascua. The island was directly in the path of the storm and I wonder if it has been wiped off the map completely. Then the first reports finally come in: most of the locals are safe and the resilient Malapascuans have begun to rebuild their homes. Amazingly, Tata and the other dive masters from TSD are back in the water analyzing the effects of the enormous waves that accompanied the storm. Like many buildings on the island, their shop sustained some serious damage but not enough to keep them closed for very long. Reports from underwater are
just as promising. As sometimes happens after a big storm, a few things have been moved around but right now the marine life close to shore is actually better than it was before Haiyan and because of its depth, the thresher shark dive at Monad Shoal was completely unaffected. So by the time I get back to Malapascua next year, it looks like I will be able to tick off all those must-dive-again sites from my list and, hopefully, add a few more.
the most affected by the typhoon, the area of Sogod Bay far to the south of the storm’s main path was unaffected and February trips remain scheduled. The Tubbataha reefs were not in the path of the typhoon either so “we expect
great diving there when the park opens in February,” van der Linde said. The region around Donsol and Ticao was thought to be in the direct path of Haiyan but the typhoon moved south leaving dive centres and resorts there with minor damage. “And thresher sharks have been sighted around Malapascua, where many of the deeper reefs remain unaffected,” he added. Busuanga airport was closed for a few days, but has now reopened, and although two trips had to be re-routed to avoid Coron, WWDAS hopes that by mid-December, both boats will be operating as normal.
Photos: Courtesy Anne Paylor and WWDAS
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