From the smallest seahorse, the pygmy seahorse, to the biggest fish, the whaleshark, Padre Burgos' dive sites have it all!
I arranged for two morning dives plus a whaleshark watching trip with Sogod Bay SCUBA resort. At 9am the next morning I was geared up and ready for my first dive. From my non-expert fun-diver's point of view, Southern Leyte's underwater world is vivid and alive. There are nudie branches, an indicator for clean water, colorful corals and hard to find creatures such as the tiny pygmy seahorse.
Two of the biggest threats to this underwater bounty, the coral eating crown of thorn starfish and reef killing dynamite fishers, have been kept under control by the efforts of some international organizations such as the Coral Cay Conservation.
The fun-dives turned into an interesting educational tour when I learned that one of Coral Cay's researchers, marine-biologist Oliver Woody, was on board for the whaleshark trip. Olly came to Southern Leyte four years ago to survey the areas' reefs. The Southern Leyte reef guide is an interesting book from a scientific as well as trivia point of view. I learned that the hermaphroditic nudie branch's sex organ is on the right side of its head!
More interesting, of course, was Oliver's knowledge about the whalesharks in the area. He helps identifying and monitoring them to map their migratory travel path. He explained that a whaleshark's skin pattern, the white lines and dots just above his left fin, is unique to each shark similar to a human's fingerprint. For monitoring purposes he is seeking (non SCUBA!) divers support to take pictures of the shark's 'fingerprint' and upload it to ECOCEAN’s whale shark photo-id library. ECOCEAN then identifies and names each shark. Each picture-proven re-encounter is logged on the website, helping to map each individual's travel path.
Talking to Oliver was as exciting as swimming with the giants. With a body length of 4 to 6 meters we saw the rather 'small' representatives of the world's largest fish. The largest confirmed whaleshark was 12 meters long! The most impressive view is that of his square mouth. While scooping up plankton, the giant’s vegetarian diet, the mouth changes into a big black oval hole.
One effortless flip of his back fin propels the whaleshark through the water at a speed hard to keep up with, even paddling with fins. Despite, or maybe because of, their size they impressed me with their majesty and elegance.
Leyte’s amazing underwater world, the opportunity to swim with the whalesharks and talking to Oliver was a truly memorable experience! I can't wait for my next chance to explore Leyte. The island is definitely on my map now.
No comments:
Post a Comment