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Posted by Lauren Smith on

A Major Lesson from Palau June 2010

A major lesson from Palau

Palau is unlike many other countries in that it actually recognizes what it has i.e.: world class dive sites and instead of ruining and exploiting such a resource it embraces it and protects it.

I was particularly interested in how they were putting into practice their shark sanctuary policy (as unveiled to the world in September 2009) which banned the landing of sharks or shark fins by local or international vessels in Palauan waters. How is it policed? Does it work?

It is likely that to make such a bold statement as to declare your national waters a shark sanctuary you would have to be sure it would work, and of course it does.

Although in truth I believe if it was going to work anywhere it would be here due to a number of reasons; there was no existing international trade of shark meat or shark products, local fishermen avoid catching shark as they cannot sell it and Palauan’s do not eat it themselves.

Most of the islands are considered National Parks and so permits are required for visitors which are inspected by park rangers and finally the dive companies are savvy when it comes to issuing visitors with permits (it reflects badly on the company if their customers are not in possession of a valid permit and has consequences to boot) as well as their almost daily presence within their waters which must act as a strong deterrent to any international fishing vessels.

The ocean itself is also fundamental to the story of the creation of Palau (the country being born from a giant clam) as well as ocean practices such as fishing being featured in numerous folklore; being used to teach several morals and values.

For a country which only claimed independence in 1994 (having been owned/occupied by Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States). Palau stands in its own right as an example I wish we all could follow as a haven for sharks and other reef life. I must leave now, however I am keen to return especially during March time which is the Grey Reef Shark breeding season, which see’s specific dive sites teem with hundreds of shark’s (imagine that – perfection!).

So as I return to Manila for a final time, I can reflect on what an amazing time I have had both in the Philippines and Palau.

I would like to express my gratitude to Donsol Eco-Tour who enabled me to have some truly amazing encounters with Whale sharks which I will never forget, The TSRCP which gave me Thresher Sharks and so much more besides, Fish N’ Fins a super-duper dive experience in Palau and of course the guys at SSACN and SSTP who without which my computer illiterate self would never have been able to make this blog possible!

Finally thanks to all who kept up to date with this blog, I hope you found it informative and entertaining and I hope that in the future there will be plenty more like it!

Am I ready to go home for a while? Am I heck … bring on the next adventure!

Cheers to that!

Posted by Lauren Smith on

End of the Rainbow June 2010

End of the Rainbow

It would be fair to say I was in love with Palau before I had even left the Philippines, this had been born from various conversations I had had with diver’s around Malapascua Island who had previously been to Palau. As soon as you mention Palau you are greeted with a beaming smile and a glint in the eye, the sort of reaction anyone might give when they are remembering a place which not only met but exceeded their expectations and allowed them to fully indulge in their passion.

By the time I boarded the flight in Manila I was bordering on anxiety, had I put Palau up on an airy pedestal that just couldn’t be reached? During the flight I was put at ease somewhat when the immigration and customs declaration card was headed with the slogan “Welcome to Palau the end of the rainbow”, I mean as long as the pot of gold translated to bucket loads of sharks I would be happy! On arrival in Palau I was further reassured when the customs declaration guy waved me on telling me that I had come to the right place after reading that I was a Marine Biologist, and when I stepped outside of the airport there was an underwater mural complete with reef sharks adorning the walls of the airport.

But the point is I needn’t have worried, Palau is an incredible place; the people are so warm, friendly and helpful, the land is lush and the Sea’s, Oceans and Lagoons vary from turquoise to emerald green in colour and literally teem with life. For this reason alone the diving is sensational, but add to this the abundance of underground caves, channels, walls and wrecks and you have yourself a diving location which is phenomenal.

Big Drop Off

 

Gordon and I dived with Fish N’ Fins who I would recommend to anyone diving in Palau, during our stay we did 12 dives at the following sites; Big-Drop-Off (Ngemelis wall), Siaes Tunnel, Ulong Channel, Virgin Blue Hole, New-Drop-Off, Blue Holes, German Channel, Helmet Wreck, Chandelier Cave and of course the infamous Blue Corner (this we did 3 times). All dives were amazing and I could dive them all again for the rest of my life quite happily, but really we just scratched the surface as there are so many dive sites that you would need ideally a year or more to get a true feel for the diving available here.

Chandelier Cave system

The rumours are true !! – If you don’t want to see a shark while you dive here then you will have to dive with your eyes shut! My wishes came true with an abundance of grey reef sharks, white-tip reef sharks and black-tip reef sharks, however the pièce-de-résistance was a single mind blowing encounter at German Channel; best known for its Manta rays which come into the cleaning stations in the channel, shortly after decent we saw a manta ray cruise by and then we went to explore other areas of the site. I was about to turn away from one area when I felt an urgent prod from Gordon as I turned I could not believe my eyes – a lone female Great Hammerhead around 3m in length was passing by! Only 3 of us in the group saw her and I felt the need to confirm what I had seen continuously by making the hammer shape with my arms and head – I honestly thought at first that I was “Narked” or that I had finally succumbed to some sort of fantasy shark hallucinations! I later found out we were very lucky to see such a sight with large sharks such as the hammerheads or tiger sharks only seen about once every 6 months, so I thank my lucky shark stars!!!

Grey Reef sharks off Blue Corner

Whitetip reef sharks


Big fish freeway at Blue Corner

Posted by Lauren Smith on

100 dives for the one fin wonder!

100 dives for the one fin wonder!
LOL – Lauren on Location – another fantastic week for Lauren as she logs up her 100th dive and along with some of the members of the TSRCP team she goes freediving around Malapascua Island.
Most sites are quite shallow with the deepest freedive logged at 10m; however the most fascinating site was “coral gardens” located out of bounty beach. As the name suggests there’s lots of coral coverage with relatively few non-colonized sandy patches, there are many species of small reef dwelling fish (although we didn’t see any larger fish indicating the health of the reef is not as good as it could be) and you could literally spend hours here looking at and photographing the reef.

The Coral Gardens
The start of this week was a bit of a milestone for me as I logged my 100th dive. I was lucky, on my 100th I got a Thresher Shark circling and on dive 101 I had another fantastic Manta Ray visit with it passing so close and going over my head! I never thought I would be writing about manta ray sightings as often as I have been – the week previous to this I saw 2 manta rays and 1 thresher shark all circling together at the same time, I thought I was going to explode I was so excited! I couldn’t decide where to look; this practically resulted in whiplash from snapping my head back and forth between animals!!! I am told that such sightings are by no means typical and so feel extremely fortunate to be experiencing this number/quality of sightings.
Yesterday I was struck with an entirely new challenge, I had cut open my heel on my booties when Freediving at the weekend this had become infected (I will spare the readers the gory details –let’s just say it wasn’t looking good!) and my ankle was swollen, having already made the decision to get up at 4:20am and go out on the boat I was determined to find a way to dive.

Whatever it takes ….. the 1 fin wonder!

I tried pulling on my wetsuit, but there was no way my ankle could bend in that direction so instead I was kitted out in Helen’s rash vest and Gordon’s board shorts, to keep the shorts up, I tucked the rash vest in the boardie’s, which came half way up my chest and the pull cord was doubled up and tied around my back, to top it all off I wore one bootie and one fin for all the dives !!! After providing everyone with a good laugh at my expense I was pleasantly surprised with my 1 fining ability, however there are some amusing videos in existence with my foot kicking out at about 100 times of the finned one!! Turns out my effort was worth it as I got the best Thresher Shark sighting I have ever had and was able to get some pretty good shots!

Today I remain on land willing the infection not to get out of control and to let me get back in the water with both fins as soon as possible!

Best Thresher sighting yet.

Manta Ray eclipsing the sun as it passed overhead (the next few shots I couldn’t get the whole animal in view as it dropped even lower!)

Posted by Lauren Smith on

Surviving Fiesta and Manta Ray Overload 12th May 2010

Surviving Fiesta and Manta Ray Overload!

LOL – Lauren on Location – Eye to eye with a Manta ray

Fiesta’s in the Philippines are usually held to celebrate a patron saint or to mark the passing of a season, different city’s/islands in the Philippines hold fiestas at different times of the year depending on the decisions made by the local Barangay (Christmas being the exception where everyone celebrates together).

One of the boats decorated for the fiesta’s boat parade

The 12th of May marked the only local fiesta of the year on Malapascua Island; I believe this was held in honour of the “Virgin de los Desamparados” the “miracle” of the island and the patron saint of the local people. She appeared as a piece of driftwood that wouldn’t burn, after some time people decided that it was an appearance of the virgin Mary and it was painted and dressed as such, and now resides in the village church. However I must admit that for me the true “miracle” of the Malapascua Island festival was my survival!!! Never have I experienced such displays of local hospitality (otherwise known as outrageous amounts of food and drink), given the expense involved of holding the fiesta for the local people their generosity is unparalleled.

“Lechon” spit roasted pig is the most popular fiesta meal

The fiesta for me began at around 11am when I was presented with a shot of Tanduay Rhum; thankfully we had then been invited to lunch, followed by a sort of late lunch and 2 dinners! Of course each engagement meant more beer than food, the afternoon descended into somewhat of a haze for me I had even stopped noticing the heat (40 degree plus), however I am (somewhat) reliably informed that after taking a bottle of beer (large beasts called Gold Eagle) to our cooks house to thank her for a bottle she had shared with us, we (myself and the rest of the TSRCP crew) left after 15 bottles had been consumed! I was then pretty much finished off with a final shot of Tanduay!

Thankfully in the days following the fiesta I was rewarded with yet more unbelievable dives with the Manta Rays. On one dive I was conducting a fish census, over a cleaning station I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I had not noticed the approaching manta ray, when I looked up I was literally reg to gills with the manta, it was so close that I could see it’s eye watching me! Incredible! The following day we also watched a manta cruising along the edge of the shoal while on a 12m safety stop, a fantastic view which showed how graceful these giants are.
I am currently in Cebu City awaiting the arrival of Gordon my fiancée (- crazy guy!), I cannot wait for him to get out to the Island and begin to experience what I have had the pleasure of so far on this adventure!
Posted by Lauren Smith on

An Update from Lauren May 2010

An Update from Lauren

LOL – Lauren on Location rounded off a fabulous week of diving at Monad Shoal with 2 dives at Gato Island (about 1 – 1 1/2 hrs boat ride N.W. of Malapascua Island) today, which was absolutely incredible, the visibility was particularly good especially on our first dive and the water was like glass.
Managed to see a number of White-tip reef sharks, hanging out under ledges and in caves which was incredible and of course my highlight, however the sheer abundance of soft coral cover was outstanding especially the pulsing coral which was absolutely mesmerizing and definitely had the ability to put me in a trance like state.

Gato Island – a view from the water

The second dive included a cave dive, which was excellent if not somewhat disorientating in the complete blackness, we also saw more white-tip’s including one free – swimming.

Whitetip reef shark

During the week I had enjoyed all sorts of macro life (such as octopus, squid, cuttlefish, scorpionfish, stonefish, lizard fish etc…) as well as 3 of the most impressive elasmobranch visitors to Monad shoal; Thresher Sharks, Devil Rays and Manta Rays.

I had missed the Manta Ray visits the previous week due to my ear infection and was beginning to get desperate for a sighting.

Manta Ray

As we descended for our final dive of the day, I began to make out abstract white shapes in the water; I was puzzled until I realized that the white patches were linked together and formed the absolutely massive body of a Manta Ray estimated at 5m (conservative!) across from wingtip to wingtip! The ability of this behemoth to move so gracefully underwater was fantastic, it held such a presence.