Written by Sammi Mills (on her phone, so please forgive any typos this time!). Photos kindly provided by Eileen Furr.
Philippines 2019 – Dive day 2
New Horizons Dive Society headed out on the boat from Sogod bay, Southern Leyte for dive day 2. The first dive site was Santa Pas, where the reef slopes down to a sandy bottom and after a short swim we came to a pinnacle. The pinnacle is covered in huge corals, making it very picturesque and full of life. This pinnacle boasts magnificent nudibranchs, spiny devilfish, tassled scorpion fish and coral groupers. We found the huge sea fans were beautifully bright and hiding a range of reef fish.
The briefing for dive two was given by one of the guides, after we had enjoyed a cup of tea/coffee and a few biscuits. The dive guides rated this next dive, Napantao as the best dive site in Southern Leyte. We were blessed with a warty frogfish, an orangutan crab, a juvenile spadefish and three turtles; two large green turtles and one hawksbill. It was a gorgeous coral reef with elements of ‘fish soup’ as we approached the corners.
The coral garden went on for as far as the eyes could see with visibility at 15m minimum we were not disappointed. We completed over an hour long dive at Napantao and a lot of us struggled to exit the water, we found it too beautiful.
After lunch, we dived in for our first muck dive, Marayang, we searched the sandy bottom for any small critters. An ornate ghost pipefish was found hiding in a featherstar perfectly disguised, a sand eel had popped his head out of the sand. Large hermit crabs roamed the sand whilst we also spotted a mimic octopus and wunderpus.
We were offered a night dive on the house reef but as we moored up we could see the current swirling past the mooring lines. No night dive tonight. Instead we enjoyed a beer or a gin to help us celebrate another day in paradise.
Already looking forward to the next adventure.
Keep posted for the next update from the Philippines trip with New Horizons Dive Society. Did you miss out on Philippines Dive Day 1?
If you would like to join us on our next trip to South East Asia, we are headed to Indonesia in May 2020.