They are back!

Happy new year! May 2010 be for all of you a year of fun, happiness, and fulfillment. We are all fine in Boracay. This month weather was grey and windy for a while, but now it's sunny again with less strong wind (surfers are complaining). Water temperature dropped once to 22'C, but went back to 24'C. Visibility, on the other hand, is very good, so though we are freezing, we still enjoy diving.

Those of you who were certified in December and January, please be patient. PADI must have been inondated with christmas mail, has been really slow at processing certificates.

As I said in my previous postings, eagle rays are back at Punta Bunga, at every dive there, we saw one to three eagle rays. Drifting seaweeds started arriving, the bottom is being covered, a condition which ghost pipefishes love. There are two or three at Camia wreck, and several around the rocks in front of the shop. We have 3 kinds of ghost pipefish here. First, harlequin ghost pipefish, a really ornate one, second, longtailed ghost pipefish (usually brown. When you see them, you'll have no doubt about their identity), and last, halimeda ghost pipefish (see picture). Halimeda is the name of a sea grass. If you find a ghost pipefish but are not sure which one it is, it probably is a halimeda. I'm still not sure how to identify a robust ghost pipefish, please help!

Seaweeds have arrived earlier than usual, so melibe (see my posting of April 07) and seahare "aplysia" (see my posting March 09) are already here. Are they one month earlier than usual, or is it because this year I intentionally searched for them when I saw seaweeds arrive?

The more one dives, the more interesting diving becomes. At first one is overwhelmed by what one sees, then one wants to spot things oneself, then one starts understanding underwater creatures' behaviors, then actively looking for certain behavior. One keeps learning, and it's so much fun!