PHILIPPINES EXPEDITION 2006
Pioneer: Kelly O'Connell
Hello folks. Seeing as I live a mere two hour flight from Manila (in Saigon) I decided it was about time to put the Philippines on the map for the ZeroBar.org team. I headed out on the lucky day of Rocktober the 13th, a Friday. Upon arrival in Cebu I reunited with my old time friend Lea, just in from San Francisco. We were there to celebrate my birthday, dive with some threshers, and basically rock out. 
And we did all of those things.
After months of deliberation, I finally chose to spend my limited 16 days of time diving in the Visayas sea in only two locations. Those destinations were a town called Padre Burgos, located in southern Leyte, and Malapascua, north of Cebu.
Malapascua is home to the thresher sharks, which arrive nearly every morning at Monad Shoal where they take advantage of a cleaning station . We had to get up early to get a peek at these elusive and shy creatures. The reward for Lea and I was front row seats to a major show. A thresher did a drive-by 
not one meter away from where we were waiting. They are indeed as impressive of a creature as you might have imagined. The experience literally took my breath away and I was unable to raise my camera even for one photo. They are the shiniest, most sparkling shade of silver I have ever seen. 
With that gorgeous whip-like tail and huge, unblinking black eyes, I was in total awe and I'm not ashamed to say I cried. He may have winked at me, I'm not sure. The guide couldn't believe I didn't take a shot, but who cares about a picture when the movie is in your head. It was a great birthday present.
My other great dive on this island was at Lighthouse Reef. Here you can see the psychedelic mandarin fish when they come out at dusk for their nightly spawning mating ritual. They live in the corals and come darting out and then back in again quickly and sporadically, making them very difficult to photograph. They are indeed bright neon shades of primary colors. If seeing these fish wasn't spectacular enough, this site also boasts guaranteed sightings of multiple seahorses living in sea fans and seaweed. Also in Malapascua I encountered sea snakes, white tips, frogfish, lionfish, boxfish, cuttlefish, morays, scorpionfish, nudibranches of many shapes and colors, and mollusks.
The other destination I visited was located on Leyte, at it's most southern tip. I stayed in a town called Padre Burgos. Burgos (as the locals refer to it) also offered up some great diving. We had a great guide and beach bungalow at Peter's Dive Resort. With them we saw multiple turtles, many frogfish, octopuses, seahorses, scorponfish, nudibranches, pipe fish, dolphins, and more. A fish sanctuary on a massive wall dive was home to thousands (perhaps millions) of gobies, damselfish, wrasse, angelfish, clownfish, anenome and other reef fish. The most fish in any area I have ever dived in. It was a psychedelic wind of gold, blue, purple, orange, yellow, pink and black, swirling as far as the eye could see. Completely mesmerizing and beautiful beyond compare, it is now a highlight of my diving experiences. The whale shark season was only two weeks from beginning but, sadly, we had to leave.
It was the first (but definitely not the last) visit to a worldclass diving region that offers much more for a diver than a couple weeks can allow you to experience. Next time I will explore the Tubbataha Reef upon a liveaboard and Moalboal(eastern Cebu), among others. But for now I look forward to my next adventure, a trip to the Andaman Sea! Leaving from Khao Lak, Thailand, I will spend 5 days diving in waters rich with whale sharks, mantas, sharks, and more. Stayed tuned for a report about my expedition to the Similan and Surin islands in February.