Apo

Apo Island
Talking about wide angle! From the Bahura resort it is only 30 minutes by boat to the famous Apo island. There you can use the wide angle lens, the corals are beautiful! The area is totally protected, I was not even allowed to wear my gloves. It is a protected area, but some fishing is allowed. Underwater I found some fishing traps, I could take a picture of the inside, from a fish eye view! The first dive we were swept away by the current and set in front of a huge school of jacks. There were so many, they blocked the sunlight. At the other side of the island there can also be a big current, we were warned, but I was not worried, normally I can handle currents very well, even with the big camera. We were going to see the barracuda’ s. Again the current swept us along the reef, rather exciting, I thought. But this current was different, it pulled me down. I had heard many times about ‘down current’, but now it was really happening to me! It was rather frightening, your first instinct is to swim up. Don’t do that, I was always told. Better try to swim horizontally out of the down current. So I did and also I put some extra air in my jacket. At alarming speed I went along the reef, I realized I was on collision course with a big boulder of coral. Without my gloves I could not use my hands, but with a lifesaving shove of my elbow I just managed to push me out of harms way! I had lost my buddies, it was everyone for himself! After what seemed like a long time, but probably was only a matter of minutes, the strong current slowed down and I could look around me and saw my buddy swimming underneath me. As soon as we were together the dive master joined us. He was clearly happy to see us in fine condition! My total depth was 32 meters, nothing alarming, but still deeper than my intentions. We had missed the barracudas, I assume they had also been drifted away to open sea by the current. I resumed normal picture taking, sometimes I went with great speed along the reef and sometimes the current slowed down.

Our third and last dive of the day was at south point of Apo, there was no current at all, the buddies could be my model and the coral was in very good condition! The guide was on the lookout for turtles and here they were less camera shy! At the end of the dive I saw our Banka (dive boat) above me, it was in a perfect position for a wide angle picture: some coral, the dive guide and the Banka, all in one shot! All the time the crew was waiting patiently for me to come up, he was standing on the dive ladder, which also made a nice shot. I was totally happy when we left for the Bahura resort!

Dumaguette
Actually the waters around the island of Negros cater for the spoiled diver and photographers, it has everything: beautiful wide angle, especially around Apo the corals are growing up to the reef top! Also the Pier is a wide angle paradise but at the same time full of surprising macro life. I think it will become just as famous as Lembeh as there is still much to discover! Also on land there is a little village Douin, with a nice marketplace, at 10 drive distance. Dumaguette is 30 minutes by car, it is a noisy big city with a lot of jeepnys and tricycles. When we visited the town there was a fair at the main square and a procession going to the church. To our big surprise we found a Mc Donalds and tourists as we were, we had a nice hamburger, something I never do at home!