Negros, the black sand

For my buddy it was the first time he was diving in the Philippines. We had been one week on a live-aboard and were diving all around Cebu Island. Beautiful corals, wracks and turtles, we had seen it all. But now we were one week on the island Negros with the capital city Dumaguette. Our hotel was a luxury resort called Bahura. There we went diving on the black sand. Negros is an island created by many volcanoes, hence the black sand.

Diving from the beach
The first dive was from the Atmosphere resort. Nowadays the resorts have their own piece of reef, which is marked by a line with floating buoys. No boats are allowed inside the sanctuary, especially fishing boats. Together with the dive guide we entered the water by just walking over the beach. The corals started after a couple of meters. At a depth of 16 meter I saw a beautiful baby emperor fish, with the typical juvenile colouring. Only once before I had seen this fish and was I able to take pictures, but that was before the digital era, now I wanted to photograph it again, but the fish was very shy, it was hiding behind the corals. I was willing to wait, but the rest of the group moved on and I did not want to stay behind, not on the first dive. The guide pointed out two jaw fish (they are mouth breaders), a little fish in a hole with just the eyes sticking out of the sand. They went into hiding, again I waited and again no picture. Halfway through the dive a current came and brought us slowly back to our starting point, which was easy! My buddy said nothing, he was very polite, but I saw his face, so far he was not impressed! Me, I had seen nice things, but I was not able to take nice pictures.

Masters in camouflage
Our second dive was at the end of the afternoon, again in front of the Atmosphere resort, it was just a short walk on the beach. We started with a nice swim over the sandy reef. At first glance I did not see anything special, but diving on the sand requires a special technique. Most animals which can survive here are masters in camouflage. Sometimes I just see an eye in the sand, it turns out to be a big stingray. Tiny shrimp are living in an anemone, a small seahorse is in hiding behind a piece of plant. My buddy finds an orange anglerfish in an orange sponge, he is learning fast! On a sandy patch I see a blue ribbon eel, his head sticking out of a hole, he moves back and forth in the current. As soon as there is a disturbance, he disappears. The ghost pipefish are hiding in the black feather star, no problem, the guide will find them! I found a big helmet shell, normally they are hiding in the sand, this one wanted to eat a seapen, it all happened in front of my eyes, the seapen, sensing the danger, disappeared quickly in the sand! Also on the sand are these little critters, small fish walking around, called the sea moth. It is family of the seahorse, but has wings, therefore it is called Pegasus draconis, the flying horse. A big surprise was a little yellow sea slug, I had never seen it before and neither can I find it in the books! After asking the biologist it turns out to be a nudibranch, I have the name: Gymnodoris subflava! There is still so much to discover on the sand! The small raisor fish swim around in groups, always hiding behind the corals. The only time I could take a good picture was at night, when they rest. The tiny shrimp on the pillow star fish, I always find, sometimes two together. I also find a nice commensal shrimp on a big seapen. All these symbiotic forms of life were new to my buddy. He was speechless, every time he swam closer to the guide, as to miss nothing of these small surprises! The guide was also alert for turtles, many times he pointed them out to us, and after a long and hard swim I could take some pictures. They look so lethargic, but they can be fast swimmers. I was so involved in looking for animals in the black sand, I was totally surprised by the big group of jacks, swimming all around me.