Earth Day 2008 at Asia Divers! Puerto Galera...your Resort & DIVE destination in the Philippines

© Gunther Deichmann - composite image
Global Warming & Save Our Planet.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Earth Day 2008 at Asia Divers! check this link http://asiadivers.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much to those who jumped in to “splash for
trash” this past weekend. There was good and bad news for
this year’s event. The bad was that the trash bags came back
a wee bit empty; the good news was the trash bags came back a wee
bit empty!! We hope this means that people are considering the
environment more and throwing less into the water.
You can make a difference throughout the year by doing 2 simple
things:
1) Consider your actions every day to minimize your eco footprint
on our ocean planet.
2) Always inspire other divers to be responsible eco
tourists.
It
is our world, our water, our choice – thanks for getting
involved.
PHOTOS & NEWS from the ADEX DIVE SHOW IN SINGAPORE...& party time at the German Club MANILA Philippines with the Jazz Band... Johnny Alegre AFFINITY
Great to see Dirk again even I am fighting a hangover from my Birthday Party at the German Club last night. Some of Dirk’s photos below…Oh boy… Dirk, you missed a great evening…
with the great and ever so cool Jazz Band "Johnny Alegre - AFFINITY"

Photo: © Hermes Singson - Juergen Warnke
from Club Paradise and the President of the German Club
introduces Johnny Alegre and band.
Now back to ADEX
and Dirk; Allan Nash and Tommy from
Asia Divers
with El Galleon attended the
show at the Philippine Department of Tourism Booth…Wow
Philippines. According to Dirk the ADEX show was the very best he
had attended compared to previous years, getting many requests for
diving with
Dugongs and on the
Philippine-Micronesia Alliance.
Jason Heller from
Dive
Photo Guide strolled around
and Michael AW made his presents felt with a presentation for the
up coming Celebrate the Sea Festival.

Our Philippine-Micronesia Alliance partners Dirk Fahrenbach
from
Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center
in Palawan with Allan Nash from
Asia
Divers with El Galleon Beach Resort in Puerto
Galera Philippines...
posing with the Alliance brochure at the WOW Philippines Booth in
Singapore 2008.

The WOW Philippine Booth at
ADEX DIVE SHOW Singapore 2008

Presentation
on the Celebrate the Seas Festival
soon to be held in Manila at ADEX Singapore
2008
You have to
forgive me today for not writing to much, I am still suffering a
bit, but don’t worry more to come in the next few days
including an article of some exciting new developments in
Palawan…I guess you just have to stay tuned or subscribe to
our Blog.
GD
Scuba divers get the chance to observe the wired and wonderful… amazing things happen on our planet… courtships and rock an’ roll…
The courtship of the sea horses and now the Dolphins continuous…
I thought Valentines day was over…I guess not, here I am getting articles from Asia Divers in Puerto Galera and now a very interesting story from our silent supporter Walter Ty, thanks Walter we all appreciate your input.
The last blog has been on the mating and courtship of the sea horses…now we have some real weird ones from the Amazon river dolphin's courtship, some how all during the month of March… enjoy this cool story. Wave some branches at your girlfriend, and you be alright… maybe.
My blog is going to be a bit thin in the next two weeks, I am off to India for Apple, it is the World Tour of Aperture 2, my part is the intro into this sure amazing software in Mumbai.
Now enjoy the story…courtship about Dolphins…this is really wired stuff…
Amazing how much we learn everyday about our precious environment…lets keep our planet in one piece and green!!!
I have to sign off now, I am listening to Wishbone Ash…not Nash… sorry folks…to cool to miss… right Allan…who is Allan… you better check out the Point Bar in Puerto Galera you might run into him…they play the coolest music on the beach. The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance The Divers Choice.
GD

© Gunther
Deichmann - aerial over the Puerto Galera area
with the Point Bar, Asia Diver & El Galleon,
red circle.
Now to our main story...Dolphin woos with wood and
grass
Courtesy
by Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
The
Amazon river dolphin's unique courtship...
A South American river dolphin uses branches, weeds and lumps of
clay to woo the opposite sex and frighten off rivals, scientists
have discovered.
Researchers observed adult male botos carrying these objects while
surrounded by females, and thrashing them on the water surface
aggressively.
Writing in the journal Biology Letters, they say such behaviour has
never before been seen in any marine mammal.
The boto lives in only two rivers, and numbers are thought to be
declining.
A group of British and Brazilian researchers studied the dolphin's
unique courtship behaviour over three years in the Mamiraua
Reserve, a flooded rainforest area on the Amazon.
"You see them coming up with bits of wood or lumps of rock in a
very ritualised manner," recalled Tony Martin from the Sea Mammal
Research Unit at St Andrews University.
They may be fairly numerous now, but they're going downhill fast
and we can't see any end to it,Tony Martin.
"Quite often they'd slowly come up above the surface in a vertical
posture holding this stuff in their mouths, then sink down rotating
on their own axis.
"They would also throw it or smash it against the surface, and it
does appear that the waving around and bashing is to impress the
ladies; but at the same time there's a lot of aggression between
adult males, and we have to infer that's part of it."
Professor Martin's group established that rock carrying and branch
thrashing were almost exclusively the preserve of adult males, and
that they did it more when lots of adult females were
present.
Although the males were more aggressive towards each other at these
times, they were never seen to hit each other with the rocks or
plants.
Sound
theory
Three years ago, scientists found bottlenose dolphins in Australian
waters carrying pieces of sponge, either to help with foraging or
to defend against predators.
But using objects for socio-sexual display is a novel
finding.
"I naively imagined this kind of thing was seen in other mammal
species," said Professor Martin.
"But I was quite surprised when I consulted friends and colleagues,
and it turns out that only chimps do anything similar - and that's
much less sophisticated."
How and why the boto evolved the behaviour is unclear; although as
cetaceans communicate largely with sound, it appears likely that
the displays also create an impressive auditory impact on females,
rival males, or both.
Hooked on
boto
This research stemmed from a larger project, Projeto Boto, aimed at
conserving the Amazon dolphin and its habitat.
River dolphins are among the most threatened of all cetaceans; the
baiji, a native of the Yangtze in China, may already have gone
extinct in the last two years, while numbers of the Indus or blind
river dolphin of South Asia are believed to be down to around the
3,000 mark.
Botos are increasingly turning up harpooned, their flesh used for
bait
Compared to these species, the South American dolphin is in good
health in its traditional haunts along the Amazon and Orinico
rivers. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species suggests "there are
probably tens of thousands of botos in total".
But the future does not appear secure. The Red List concludes that
the boto is threatened by dams (causing fragmentation of their
habitat) and pollution, such as from mercury used in gold
mining.
"With growing human populations in Amazonia and Orinoquia, the
conflicts between fisheries and dolphins are certain to intensify",
it notes.
Projeto Boto has found that fishermen are increasingly catching the
dolphins for use as bait to catch a fish, the piracatinga, which
usually feeds on dead flesh.
Meat from the caiman, a close relative of the alligator, is also
used for this purpose.
Projeto Boto scientists are regularly finding dead dolphins, either
harpooned or entangled in ropes.
"We lost half of the animals from our study area in just five
years," said Tony Martin.
"They may be fairly numerous now, but they're going downhill fast
and we can't see any end to it."
For more on this story and some photos go
to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7313385.stm
Sea Horse Courtship...Asia Divers reports from Puerto Galera, the Divers Choice in the Philippines...scuba diving with one of the best.
Asia Divers & El Galleon in Puerto Galera Philippines, you might not witness the courtship behavior of the Sea Horse during your dive...but mark my words...
if you like these little critters then Asia Divers in Puerto Galera is the place.
I have been diving for many years there and you have to be "blind" not to came across them in the Sebang area, do yourself a favor, next time you dive with Asia Divers ask your dive guide to bring you up close with these amazing sea creatures in Sebang Bay...you want be disappointed. Hey, dont forget your underwater camera...you never know you might get lucky and see the courtship of this amazing critter.
Asia Divers is a member of the Philippine - Micronesia Alliance...
The Divers Choice.
GD

©
Gunther Deichmann - Spiny sea horse from the Sabang area,
Puerto Galera, Philippines
Sea Horse Courtship
by Anthony
May
The Sea-horse is
unique due to the fact that it is the male that gives birth to the
young.
Male sea-horses impress females with a courtship dance. This dance
involves young males pumping their specialized brooding pouches
with water. It is usually the male with the biggest pouch that wins
the girl.
Once a mate has been found the pair will meet at the same spot at
dusk and dawn every day. This allows the male to prepare his pouch
for the arrival of the female’s eggs.
When the egg is ready the pair will align themselves opposite each
other and entwine their tails. Nose to nose they gently spiral up
in to the water column and the egg is exchanged from the female to
the males pouch. This has to occur at a depth at least six times
their body length or the egg transfer will fail.

©
Gunther Deichmann - Spiny sea horse from the Sabang area,
Puerto Galera, Philippines
The
male then fertilizes the egg internally and around four weeks later
the fry are ready to be born.
The male then pumps his pouch and hundreds of tiny sea-horses are
forced out. A healthy pair will be able to repeat the process all
over again in a couple of days.
Special thanks to
Anthony May (The
Sea horse Expert)
Blue Horizons Travel...a thank you note...plus Wilderness travel in Palawan...& dive the wrecks of Coron Bay with Asia Divers...dive and explore the last frontier in the Philippines
http://www.alliancediving.com/blog/files/jan-2008.html
In his letter Lee expressed his sincere thanks to Jem from Blue Horizons Travel I like also to take this opportunity and thank Jem personally for his hard work and effort in helping to put together the super package and Prize for the Layang Layang Photo Contest a lot more details on this later, thanks Jem.
Soon a new member of the
Philippine-Micronesia
Alliance,
Lee
will be joining us with his extraordinary and very exiting Kayak
tours in Palawan and beyond, subscribe and stay tuned for the
official announcement.
GD
His
tour has just been in the top listing of the
Concierge,
Best
Adventure Trips 2008!
http://www.concierge.com/ideas/skiadventure/tour/detail?id=1729&page=11
Hi Gunther,
A while back you blogged about my excitement and appreciation for
the significant inclusion of
Club Paradise onto our new
Wilderness Travel Expedition to the Philippine Islands.
I should also mention that another one of your
Micronesian-Philippine Alliance
partners has
made important contributions as well. Jem Kemp from
Blue
Horizon Travel has been
extremely helpful in arranging our flights to and from Legaspi,
where we will continue on to Donsol for a couple of days snorkeling
with Whale Sharks, and for all of the transfers for our guests when
they arrive in Manila.
While it may sound easy, from my point of view, it helped to keep
me from pulling even more of my hair out of my head while trying to
coordinate all of the other activities for our 12 day tour. So,
when coordinating 5 days of luxury kayak
camping (that’s
tents, supplies, equipment, personnel and their travel arrangement,
the outfitting of our new boat, coordination of the daily
excursions, food procurement, and contingency plans) became almost
as much as I can handle, Jem came through by taking care of the
guests in Manila, thus alleviating some of the weight from my
shoulders.
Thanks Jem!
Lee
Goldman, Marine
Biologist and Tour leader
Photos: ©
Gunther Deichmann – Images from Palawan…the last
frontier in the Philippines and a heaven for nature lovers,
pristine beaches, crystal clear water surrounded by majestic
limestone cliffs and spectacular diving…
explore and discover this incredible part of the Philippines
with Lee Goldman and our other Alliance partners. A pure natures
paradise.
Click
on the images above and see more photos from all our partner
destinations.
Asia Divers our partner in
Puerto Galera visits Palawan frequently for the wrecks in Coron
Bay, Asia Divers with El Galleon Beach Resort is also a major
sponsor of the
Layang Layang Photo Contest,
for more info on
Wreck diving with Asia Divers check out our previous blog
from David
Ross at:
http://www.alliancediving.com/blog/files/category-asia-divers-articles.html
Late News...Maldives with Asia Divers...change of Boat...book now for this incredible dive adventure
Correction and up date from the previous Blog regarding
the
Maldives with Asia Divers.
I have just
received this information from Asia Divers, please refer to my
previous Blog, there is a change of Boats... it is now
on the M/V Manthiri
not the Aggressor, for more
info please contact Allan Nash from Asia Divers @ mailto:
allan@asiadivers.com or visit Asia Divers Website @
http://www.asiadivers.com/
This information
is brought to you by the Philippine-Micronesia
Alliance...The Divers
Choice.
GD
__________________________________
Dive travel with Asia Divers... plus how bad is sunscreen for our environment?
Asia
Divers
and the Maldives...? Yes... check out the info
below...plus
"Did You Know"?
© Gunther
Deichmann - Aerial, no this is not the Maldives...
but the location of Asia Divers with El Galleon in Puerto Galera
Philippines.
This
information just came in from Asia Divers with El
Galleon Beach Resort, thanks Allan for sharing this with
us. Please read on below the info on Asia Divers travel to the
Maldives, yes Asia Diver does go beyond Puerto Galera, travel and
dive with one of the leading experts in Puerto Galera or choose
some of their other exotic dive destinations
like...Sardine Run,
South. Africa...Maldives Aggressor...Galapagos Aggressor...Palau
and many others, see the
dates below.
Asia
Divers is a member of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance.
The
Divers Choice.
GD
Asia
Divers Dive travel...we go beyond your normal diving
adventure.
Maldives
– March 30 – April 5th, Spaces still
available
Maldives is a garland- shaped chain of 26 atolls stretching 750
kilometers across the equator, in the Indian Ocean, southwest of
India. The atolls girdle over 1190 emerald islands, most of them
uninhabited, and countless reefs and shallows to form a complete
echo system that acts as a magnet for a cornucopia of colorful
marine life ranging from blooming corals to big
pelagic…. you could be
a part of this!
UP COMING DIVE
TRIPS
Sardine Run,
South. Africa June 21-30 2008
Maldives Aggressor, March 30 to April 5, 2008
Galapagos Aggressor, Oct. 2-9, 2008
Contact:
allan@asiadivers.com
for more information
DID YOU KNOW?
Skip the Sunscreen While Diving
It can damage
and even kill coral reefs, says a study in the journal
Environmental
Health Perspectives. Italian marine
biologists have linked four UV-blocking chemicals in sunscreens to
coral bleaching because they cause viral infections in the
symbiotic algae that live inside reef-building coral. The viruses
replicate until their algae hosts explode, infecting neighboring
coral. The researchers estimate that 5,000 tons of sunscreen wash
off people in oceans annually, and that up to 10 percent of coral
reefs are threatened by sunscreen-induced bleaching.
(The full article is available here: http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2008/10966/abstract.html
______________________________
Asia Divers with Tech Asia, a wreck and tech diving story from the Philippines by Dave Ross

We
have received this interesting article on Wreck and tech diving
from Dave Ross, Dave is from
Tech
Asia/Asia Divers with El Galleon Beach Resort
located in Puerto Galera, Philippines and members of
the
Philippine - Micronesia
Alliance.
Coron
with
Tech Asia….
by Dave Ross
Tech Asia
![]()
The year 2007 saw the closure of the last of the Coron Bay
shipwreck identity mysteries.
Tech Asia
and its divers are happy to have played a small part in this final
chapter.
Coron
bay, in the western Philippines, has been a known diving locale
since the 1980’s. Having been the scene of a September 1944
air strike by the USS Lexington lead Task Force 38, at the time,
the longest range carrier based air strike in history. As diving
opened up in the Philippines, the area necessarily attracted those
with a nose for history and wreck diving. Of the principal wrecks,
some were identified accurately and immediately. The IJN seaplane
tender Akitsushima for example, reported sunk in the US After
Action reports, is an unmistakable vessel. For the oilers and
merchant ships present at the time of the raid, identifications
were shakier. Partly this is the product of researchers trusting in
the reporting of the post war authorities, charged with putting a
positive ID on such a vast number of maritime casualties. Often the
ship that best fit the action reports went down in the annals as
the victim, and nobody involved at the time had any real reason to
question any grey areas or anomalies. Reports from bodies such as
JANAC were often taken as unquestionably
accurate.
One of the men
who took the keenest interest in the Coron story and her losses was
Capt. Peter Heimstaedt, who in the early 90’s, dived, and
exhaustively documented what he saw. He became a friend of ours
through communications on other ships sunk in the Philippines, and
kindly came to Puerto Galera in his free time to give a
presentation on Coron in July of 2007. During the evening he showed
us clear photographic evidence that the oiler thought to be Taiei
Maru, was in fact the Okikawa Maru, and the ship once known as
“Hector”, or the Tangat Wreck is the Olympia
Maru.
The last vessel to have bred confusion, having been thought to be
another of the many Taiei Maru’s, or another Olympia, was
confirmed by Capt Heimstaedt in 2006 to be a vessel whose original
name was Morazan, turned Ekkai Maru when she fell into Japanese
hands in 1941. A source which convinced him of this was the
excellent reference N582 Japanese Merchant Ship Recognition Manual
of 1944, issued by the US Navy Dept – Division of
Intelligence. He was sure his identification was solid, and passed
this on to us, though had not yet returned to Coron to verify this
with a dive.

How Tech Asia
came to be involved in this story was through slightly unforeseen
circumstances. Following Capt Peter’s talk we had two week of
liveaboards on the M/B Rags II. The first week, in October 2007 had
perfect weather, and the divers and the divers spent a lot of their
time on the deeper and more exposed wrecks such as Irako and
Akitsushima. However the November week was more influenced by the
bizarre behaviour of Tropical Storm Lando, which crossed Mindoro,
went all the way to Vietnam, then turned around and came straight
back. The couple of days of unsettled seas it created caused the
divers to divert away from Irako to more sheltered sites, the
Morazan amongst them.
Always a man to seize an opportunity to bring a dive to life, our
guide, Technical Wreck Instructor Sam Collett, seized the Peter
Heimstaedt information and ran with it. Armed with all the commonly
found Coron literature, plus` some 30’s photos of Morazan, he
tasked the eight divers in his care with examining ten
photographically observable features and comparing them to the ship
itself. These ranged from the numbers, position, and spacing of
portholes, to positions and style of air vents, railings, doorways
and davits. Also some distinctive fittings on both masts, and bolt
holes on the funnel where a letter “V” had existed.
Morazan had operated under Vaccaro Brothers in the Honduras, and
their logo appears in old photos. Everything observed by Sam and
his divers matched Morazan to the last detail. Though merely
confirming another mans research, the clear verification brought
tremendous satisfaction to the day for the divers.
Following the trip, some internet browsing threw up an interesting
history, starting life as the S.S. Manco, sold and renamed Morazan
and working the Amazon for years before moving to Hong Kong,
eventual capture by the Japanese in Shanghai, and a watery grave in
the Philippines in 1944. From this history arose one more
interesting observation. The hull of the ship still bears the
letters “CEI……SH” , which for years has
puzzled everyone. Whilst serving in Honduras and the Amazon, the
ships home port was La Ceiba – just maybe these letters
reflect the name of her former home port?

The
Morazan/Ekkai Maru story is just a single chapter in two weeks of
excellent, shallow ( it doesn’t always have to be deep and
helium) technical diving that we managed to run. Great fun –
I guess that means we’ll have to go
back!
Dave Ross
- Tech
Asia
Asia Divers speaks italian...
DID YOU KNOW?
Introducing our partners in their
different languages, the first in our new series
is
Asia Divers with El Galleon
Beach Resort in
Puerto Galera, Philippines.

FILIPPINE-MICRONESIA ALLEANZA
Benvenuti nell’Alleanza Filippine – Micronesia, I
vostri partners per vacanze di qualita’ nel campo delle
immersioni!
La vasta e remota regione delle
Filippine e della Micronesia include
le acque piu’ abbondanti e tropicali del Pacifico rinomate
per i sommozzatori per le ricche bio diversita’ marine che
includono pellicani, infinite varietà di soggetti per macro
fotografia, più di 700 specie di coralli, più di 1300 specie di
pesci ed una massiccia collezione di naufragi ancora intatti.
La nostra rete esclusiva di resorts di prima classe per subacquei
in tutte le Filippine, la Repubblica di Palau e la Laguna di Truk
negli stati Federati della Micronesia, in associazione con i nostri
selezionati e professionali agenti di viaggio, trasforma i viaggi e
le immersioni in questa regione sbalorditiva del Pacifico, più
convenienti, più comodi e più divertenti che mai per i
subacquei!
L'alleanza Filippine-Micronesia e’ formata dai piu’
importanti operatori per le immersioni subacquee, direttamente
selezionati dall’Alleanza per garantire ai subacquei il
meglio per vacanze di qualita’, il più alto livello di
sicurezza, eccellenti servizi agli utenti e professionalita’
del settore industriale.
Per la convenienza del suo progetto di viaggio, i nostri esperti e
selezionati agenti regionali pianificheranno le Vostre esplorazioni
nel Pacifico, per una tranquillita’ garantita
nell’appoggio dei livelli di servizio della nostra Alleanza,
nel conforto e nella totale soddisfazione. Per cortesia,
rilassatevi, divertitevi e lasciate il piano delle immersioni a
noi!
I Vostri partners per vacanze di qualita’ nel campo delle
immersioni, includono resorts Filippini e centri Asiatici per
subacquei come il “Resort Galleon, a Puerto Galera; il
“Club Paradise & Dugong Diving
Center,
a
Palawan; il “Pinjalo Diver Resort”,
a
Borocay; il
“Sam’s Tours” a
Palau, in Micronesia e il
“Truk Lagoon Dive Center, negli
Stati federati della Micronesia.
Nous
pouvons vous cherchez avec notre propre véhicule où vous voulez
dans Manille. Après un court trajet de deux heures, vos vacances
commencent vraiment lors de la très jolie traversée qui vous emmène
à la plage très typique de Small Lalaguna, de Puerto Galera.
L'hôtel El Galleon vous propose 30 chambres modernes et
confortables, toutes avec salle de bains et vue sur la piscine ou
sur la mer. Vous vous sentirez comme chez vous dans nos
chambres.
Situé dans une des plus belles baies du monde, Puerto Galera , qui
veut dire en espagnol, le port des galions, se compose de
nombreuses plages et criques tranquilles, qui vous permettent soit
de vous évader soit de vous rendre sur d'autres plages plus
fréquentées pour plus de plaisir au soleil. Si vous aimez la
randonnée, le canoë, ou le golf nous pouvons facilement vous
arranger ça. Mais vous pouvez aussi paresser sur le bord de notre
piscine.
N'oubliez pas de vous rendre au bar the Point, un endroit
remarquable pour boire un verre au soleil couchant, cocktail, bière
bien fraîche pour parler de vos activités et plongées de la journée
en vous laissant glisser doucement au son de la meilleure musique
de Puerto Galera, tout en rencontrant de nouveaux amis.
Nos propres experts de
Asia Divers vous
proposent ce qu'il y a de mieux en matière de plongée et
d'apprentissage. Le centre de certification PADI vous propose
toutes les formations depuis les plus petits, (pour faire des
bulles), jusqu'à la formation de moniteurs de plongée, pour ceux
qui veulent faire de la plongée leur carrière. Avec une trentaine
de sites de plongée dans un rayon de 15 minutes en bateau depuis
l'hôtel, vous avez le choix de faire soit une ou toutes les cinq
plongées prévues quotidiennement. Vous lisez bien, oui, jusqu'à 5
plongées par jour. Chaque plongée est accompagnée par l'un de nos
moniteurs expérimentés et revient à notre base toutes les heures et
demie.
Vous pouvez choisir entre de nombreux types de plongées, depuis la
découverte jusqu'aux plongées techniques, et nos experts de Asia
Divers vous montreront comment faire, au cours de plongées parmi
les plus belles au monde. Dans notre Centre Technique, le personnel
de Tech Asia dans des installations de premier ordre forme les
plongeurs à l'utilisation des respirateurs et des mélanges Nitrox
et Trimix. Les eaux de Puerto Galera vous offre des occasions parmi
les meilleures au monde pour faire de la macro, et sur notre site
de plongée des Canyons, des bancs de carangues, empereurs,
barracudas et autres bars très sympa sont là pour vous accueillir.
Ce sont des vacances très complètes où vous êtes sûr de faire des
plongées merveilleuses et de vous faire de nouveaux amis, et vous
pouvez plonger toute l'année.
Plonger avec
Asia
Divers n'est
jamais décevant, alors on vous attend
___________________________________________
Late breaking NEWS! Why????
All our partners from the Philippine –Micronesia Alliance care about these issues and our environment.
Thanks a million Allan for letting everybody know!
------ Forwarded Message
From: Michelle Masters
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:01:47 +1100
To:
Subject: Please take the time
Dear All,
I am sending you this link because the cause is very important and the man behind it just happens to be my step-father. The information is real which makes it sickening. If you feel strongly about animal rights and preventing such despicable cruelty to animals, then let others know. Please sign the petition.
The website is brand new http://animalsaviors.org/
Michelle
________________________________________
Did you know? Asia Divers & a water scorpion
DID YOU KNOW?
Is brought to you by the
Philippine - Micronesia
Alliance,
the Divers Choice.
We care about our Environment!
Oh
boy, more monsters from the past... but I have to admit this is
very interesting stuff and I hope we are not boring you with all
these amazing stories, it is nice to go back in time and besides,
it shows us how our ocean have been occupied in the past. So when
you go for your next dive and you spot a weird looking creature
dont stop breathing... it is likely a relative from some of the
bigger ones but I am sure they wont swallow you.
If you ever get the chance and dive ( actually it is a must) with
our partner
Asia Divers
in Puerto Galera, Philippines,
the chances are you see more unusual critters than anywhere else.
International marine biologists have named Puerto Galera as one the
top marine bio-diversities in the world.
Even more reasons to join
Asia Divers, it is believed there are over 3,000 species of fish
and marine animals - that's about 50% more than the Red
Sea.
GD
Rock marks record water scorpion

Geological
movement has lifted the rock up on to its side
More
details
The tracks left by a giant water scorpion as it dragged its great
bulk across a beach 330 million years ago have been discovered in
Scottish rock. The six-legged beast, known as Hibbertopterus, would
have been about 1.6m (5.2ft) long and 1m wide.
The markings, which have a central line made by a heavy, plated
tail, represent one of the largest invertebrate trackways found in
the fossil record. Dr Martin Whyte reports his discovery in central
Scotland in Nature magazine. "I knew it was a trackway as soon as I
saw it - my main work is on dinosaur footprints - but it wasn't
immediately obvious to me what sort of trackway it was," the
Sheffield University researcher said. "I could rule out reptiles
and amphibians because I could see whatever it was, it had six
legs," he told the BBC News Website.
"I've worked through the possibilities and I think it can only be
Hibbertopterus."

Hibbertopterus may have been big but it was not a ferocious
predator. The trackway is preserved in sandstone. What would once
have been a beach surface has been tilted to about 45 degrees by
geological movement.
The length of track preserved, 6m (20ft), is remarkable. The stride
pattern, too, is huge - 27cm (11in).
Fragmentary fossils of Hibbertopterus are well known from Scottish
Lower Carboniferous rocks and were first described from West
Lothian in 1831.
The creature did not have the big pincers or carry its tail in the
air like the land scorpions we know today, and it did not have a
sting, either; but these animal groups are nonetheless distantly
related, scientists believe.
What is interesting about this trackway is that is shows
Hibbertopterus could move out of its usual water habitat. "There
has been debate about whether it was restricted to water or could
come out on land. I believe this trackway shows it could come out
for short periods," explained Dr Whyte.
"It may have been taking a shortcut - from one body of water to
another. People have asked about spawning but there's just no
evidence to back that up."
Although the prospect of a man-sized scorpion might be scary to
modern eyes, this particular beast was hardly a ferocious
predator.
"It wouldn't have been chasing after an amphibian or reptile for a
meal. It had comb structures on some of the anterior appendages,
and it swept these through the water and caught small organisms,
such as small worms and water bugs," Dr Whyte
explained.
Article
courtesy of the BBC
Tommy is back from Cocos Island

Asia Divers, one
of the partnes in
Philippine /
Micronesia Alliance just brought a
group to the famous dive destination of Cocos Island, Costa Rica.
Cocos Island is famous for its schooling Hammerheads sharks and
pelagic marine life and is located 360 miles from Costa Rica in the
Pacific Ocean. It is not just the Hammerheads that swim in schools,
even the Whitetip Reef sharks and Marble Rays appears in big
groups. Highlights for the group was a huge Whaleshark at the dive
site Dirty Rock that was swimming amongst the Hammerheads. That we
saw Hammerheads on all dive but the night dives where the Whitetip
Reef sharks were hunting in hundreds might be worth mention. The
big Manta Ray that swam around our mooring every day and the Silky
shark that hang out in the light from the boat every night be
another memeories to remember.
This was the 3rd trip Asia Divers has organised over the last past
year and all have gave us some fantastic dives. Cocos Island is
probably one of the best sites for large animals.
ALL THE BEST from
Asia Divers and
Tommy Soderstrom Director Sales & Travel
PADI Master Instructor & Ice Diver
Asia Divers Pro Digital Photo Workshop
please read on.
Simon Buxton and Mike Veitch were back at it again for the first annual Asia Divers/Dive Photo Fest week. It was a great success! The weather could not have been better with flat calm waters throughout the week which allowed us to dive all of the top dives in and around PG as well as a flat calm trip to Verde Island. Our schedule throughout the week consisted of two dives in the morning with lunch, a lecture, and an afternoon dive followed by a critiquing session in the evening. This format worked well as it allowed for maximum diving and class work and gave everyone the evening off to enjoy a nice dinner. Topics of the course included image workflow and Photoshop, the basics of lighting, composition, manual white balance, as well as multi-media presentations. At the end of each presentation a goal was given out for everyone to try and present their results the following day. Happy Shutterbugs, Simon, Melika, Mike, Kim, Sean, Alli and Sue The rich reefs in and around Puerto Galera were the perfect arena for everyone to try out filter photography provided by Magic Filters and everyone was impressed with the colourful results. There was a definite improvement throughout the week with the images shown at the end of the day getting better and better. With photography as the focus, we were able to pick and choose the best sites with the best conditions for both wide angle and macro photography. Many thanks to Alli for finding loads of different Nudibranches for our slug hunting photographers. Other highlights of the week included pygmy sea horses, ornate ghost pipefish, lionfish, frogfish, as well as all the regulars found in the waters around Puerto Galera. At the end of the week we hosted a slideshow finale with everyone showcasing their best images of the week. Needless to say it was a great show with fantastic images from everyone and a great way to end the week. We would like to thank our sponsors Aquatica, PADI, Magic Filters, Cressi Sub, Photoshop, and Think Tank Photo for providing great gifts and prizes for all of our participants. Below are a couple shots taken by the students. Sea fan splendor by Susan Kearney. Now, that's a moray by Kim Ames.

Photo by © Kim Ames

Photo by © Sue Kearney

© Photo: Gunther Deichmann
World class dive site in Puerto Galera
Please read what Tommy thinks about it........... our Philippine-Micronesia Alliance partner in Puerto Galera is Asia Divers with El Galleon Dive Resort
This morning we left before 8 am to make sure we had a good flood current for my favourite divespot in the Philippines, the famous Canyon's in Puerto Galera. Descent to the ridge that goes from Escarcio Point down to the Canyon's passing the Hole in the Wall and slowly swept with the current down deeper until we reached the hill just before the first canyon. Looked up to see the big Kingfish that hangs out between the surface and the bottom. Swam through the little cave with two entrance to find a big Oriental Sweetlip hiding in the cave. Over the ridge into the first canyon that was covered with soft coral out feeding in the current and with a big school of Rabbitfish sitting head into the current.
Second canyon where the resident Harlequin Sweetlips was joined by Oriental Sweetlips, Snapper and ....... so much more marine life.
The third canyon was full of Humpback Snappers among a One Spot Snapper as we drifted towards the old anchor to prepare for our ascent to the safety stop. Just another lovely dive in the Canyon's, a dive I could do every day if I had the time.
Tommy


Images by © Gunther Deichmann
The Bay of Critters in Puerto Galera, Philippines
Puerto Galera — Treasures Above and Below
Photos and story by Gunther Deichmann
Diving the shallows of Sabang Bay early in the morning may sound like a chilly proposition, but for underwater photographers, it’s a dream come true— especially when everyone else is a sleep, perhaps recovering from the previous night’s merrymaking. With the entire bay to yourself, you’ll discover an amazing collection of life, from microscopic critters to the odd turtle swimming in the sea grass, all at a depth of three to four meters. For example, one morning before coffee and breakfast, I spotted a miniature-red - and- black frogfish, tiny dragonets,
juvenile leaf fish, a white V octopus, and just before I ran out of air, a huge green
turtle. Wow!
You can also do the same dive in the late afternoon by starting at 20 meters from the Sabang wreck area and then drift with the current, finishing back at the shallows, only five minutes from Asia Divers and El Galleon Beach Resort.
To top it off, you’ll be back for that cool sunset beer at the resort’s Point Bar.


Photos and text © Gunther Deichmann G.D. Website: Click here
Read the whole story on Puerto Galera in the current issue of Fins Magazine, or better come and visit Puerto Galera and have expirience the ultimate in diving, a sheer paradise for underwater Photographers, contact our Philippine - Micronesia Alliance partner Asia Divers with El Galleon.
our see the whole story under The Alliance and the media.
The Divers Choice, for Island hopping, Inselhuepfen, recreation dives, tech dives, Re-breather, tech dive centers, or for a pure nature at its best dive vacation in the Philippines and Micronesia. Your passion is diving.... ours is service.
Specials from the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance
just received this cool information from Asia Divers in Puerto Galera.
This year Asia Divers and Cressi-sub celebrate its 10th year anniversary as business friends and partner in the Philippines. During the past 10 years Asia Divers as exclusive distributor for Cressi-sub have brought the brand to be one of the major brand in the Philippines in the same way as it is in Europe and USA. Asia Divers a Philippine/Micronesia Alliance member, celebrate this by offering a 100 US$ retail discount on both Archimede and Edy computers.
You will also find this computers at another Philippine/Micronesia Alliance memeber, Calypso Dive Center on Boracay island.
The Divers Choice. Your Specialist for Island hopping, tech- diving, Re-breathers and inselhuepfen in the Philippines and Micronesia.
For technical details please check out:
http://cressi.it/intro.php?lang=uk&id_catalogo=2&id_categoria=3&id_prodotto=45&m=scheda#
http://cressi.it/intro.php?lang=uk&id_catalogo=2&id_categoria=3&id_prodotto=325&m=scheda#

The big story in Fins Magazine is out NOW!

Juvenile Leaf fish, Photo by Gunther Deichmann
One of the destination from the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance
is Puerto Galera, on the charming Island of Mindoro, Philippines.
Only two hours from Manila and a short boat ride to Asia Divers
and El Galleon Beach Resort.
For all your Travel arrangements and Island hopping contact
BLUE HORIZONS our partner for all your travel needs.
www.bluehorizons.com.ph
Find out a lot more about this great diving destination, download the
16 page special article in Fins Magazine as a pdf file below.
Another Partner is also represented with an article in the same issue,
Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center in Palawan, the place for
Dugongs and nature lovers, read more about it in the download
pdf file below.
The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance has so much to offer for all your
dive vacations, for more details and info contact us at the link below.
The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance.
The Divers Choice.
Download the complete articles from Fins Magazine
as pdf file below:
Dugong Dive Center
Puerto Galera story
Alliance Partners in Sea Star Magazine
Working
together we will simplify dive travel in this world-class diving
region,
providing divers with consistent, professional and safety minded
service."
Bookmark our link for the latest dive/holiday packages and
information.
www.alliancediving.com
Article in Tauch Sport - Sea Star Magazine
Germany
Dezember/Januar 2007. El Galleon Resort
with
Asia Divers, Puerto Galera, Philippines, a partner
of
the Philippine - Micronesia
Alliance.
Inselhuepfen - island hopping and tauchen at its
best.
The Divers Choice...

Article in Tauch Sport - Sea Star Magazine
Germany
Februar/Maerz 2007. Club Paradise and
Dugong
Dive Center Palawan, Philippines apartner of
the
Philippine - Micronesia Alliance
Inselhuepfen - island hopping and tauchen at its
best.
The Divers Choice...

We are at the Duesseldorf Boot Show, Germany
2007
A variety of Dive packages will be on our web site very
soon!
Ask for Tommy, René and Dirk at the
Philippines Booth,
have a chat with Dermot at the
Palau and
Schoener Tauchen Booth, your hosts for the
ultimate in dive vacation.
Tauchen, diving, inselhuepfen, island hopping, dive
education, tech diving
and re-breather, dive site maps, environmental, shark and wreck
dives,
wrex expedition, scuba diving, the top dive resorts and dive
hotels,
the best wrecks in the pacific,tropical beaches and dive
travel,
all of this from Palau Micronesia and the Philippines brought to
you by
The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance
Asia Divers with El Galleon Beach Resort
is The Divers Choice in Puerto Galera Philippines.
Partner of the Philippine - Micronesia Alliance
and your expert on Island hopping - Inselhuepfen.
Rated as one of the Top Dive Resorts and Dive
education facilities in the Philippines.
Direct link to: Asia Divers and El Galleon
As seen in Fins Magazine November/December 2006

Asia Divers and El Galleon, Puerto Galera

Location of Asia Divers and El Galleon, in Puerto Galera, Philippines
Photos: Copyright 2006 Gunther Deichmann
Welcome to our newest Member:
ASIA DIVERS AND EL GALLEON BEACH RESORT, Puerto Galera
Philippines.Dive and relax at one of the best known Dive Operators
in the Philippines,
Asia Divers personal touch in all aspects will guarantee you an
unforgettable Dive Vacation.
Their own Resort, El Galleon is surrounded by tropical vegetation
and offer you some of the very best accommodation and food in
this area.
Of- course once you there you cant miss out at the famous Point Bar,
meet new friends and talk about your diving experience.
Puerto Galera is world re-know for it's outstanding Marine Bio-diversity,
a Divers heaven. Quotes from Marine Biologists and Underwater
Photographers could fill Books and Magazines.
Asia Divers are happy to make all your arrangements for the ultimate
in Island hopping, domestic and international.
The Virtual office of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance welcomes
Asia Divers and El Galleon Beach Resort.
Please have a little patience, we have their pages on our web site
up and running soonest, including all other languages.
For the moment just click this direct link: http://www.asiadivers.com
and check out what our newest member has to offer.
Below are some of our other links:
http://www.asiadiveresorts.com
http://www.divingresorts.net
http://www.island-hopping.net




