All Photos: © Gunther Deichmann

DISCOVER THE UNEXPLORED

Chuuk State (formerly Truk Lagoon) is one of four states which comprise the Federated States of Micronesia and its lagoon is home to the greatest concentration of sunken ships anywhere in the world.

Best known as the world’s number one wreck diving destination, Chuuk’s rich and colorful history, its dynamic culture, and the warm hospitality of her people are often overlooked by the diving traveler.

Visitors to Chuuk will discover a living history by exploring life above water as well as below. Take an island tour and visit the old Japanese command center which is now Xavier High School run by Jesuits for Micronesians or explore old Japanese caves and fortifications.

Enjoy a cultural experience by taking the to mix and mingle with local Chuukese who treat visitors more like guests than tourist.


DISCOVER THE CROWN JEWEL OF TRUK

One mile from the international airport and close to stores & shopping, the Truk Stop can’t be beat for convenience, comfort and value. One mile from the international airport and close to stores & shopping, the Truk Stop can’t be beat for convenience, comfort and value. All 23 rooms of this PADI Resort Hotel are modern and spacious with private bathrooms offering hot & cold water The restaurant is open daily from 6:00am to 10:00pm serving a wide range of western style meals, and the Hard Wreck Café is the perfect place to relax and enjoy your favorite beverage after a great day of diving or sightseeing.

Truk Lagoon Dive Center has the staff, resources, equipment & experience to provide for all diver needs, whether you’re a newly certified open water or experienced diver. Our fleet of custom dive boats includes a Pro-42 and all are equipped with DAN 02 & First Aid kits, communications, ice water, snacks & towels for guests.

Boats depart from our private dock each morning for up to 4 dives daily and may include wreck, reef, shark & night dives. The spacious dive lockers, rinse tanks & shower make setting up for dives and washing equipment after daily dives convenient and easy. Nitrox, trimix, and deep diving are available to the qualified diver.


All Photos: © Gunther Deichmann

DIVE THE WRECKS OF TRUK

Over a two day period in February of 1944, U.S. Forces launched Operation Hailstone sinking more than 60 warships that now rest peacefully on the floor of Truk Lagoon – all accessible to the scuba diver. Dropping down into warm, crystal clear water divers become awestruck by the abundance of marine life and are transfixed by the vibrant colors of 60 years of hard and soft coral growth on and around these ghostly artificial reefs. A night dive on the Shinkoku or the Fujikawa is a must and only heightens the beauty of these underwater natural museums.

Truk Lagoon is more than wreck diving if you want to explore our 40 mile wide barrier reef. The professional expatriate and local staff of the Truk Lagoon Dive Center will take you to Shark Island where we guarantee you will observe sharks up close at this cleaning station. A dive on the inside or outside of our reef reveals a wide variety of large and small marine life plus beautiful hard and soft corals as good as anywhere else in the world.


All Photos: © Gunther Deichmann

Get ready for the The 6th Celebrate the Sea Festival in the Philippines, please see below some information and links to the official website.
Our partner from the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance Asia Divers with El Galleon Beach Resort is a proud sponsor of this event, and Gunther Deichmann is on the Jury and speaker panel.
For more information on this great event please click on the provided links below, thank you.

Celebrate the Sea is organised by OceanNEnvironment Australia in association with the World Festival of Underwater Pictures




Celebrate the Sea Philippines 2007



6th Celebrate the Sea Philippines 2007

Celebrate the Sea Festival is comprised of an international underwater film and photographic competitions, workshops on underwater photography, seminars of our ocean environment, children painting competitions and Shoot Out competition.

The Speakers and Jury Team in 2007

The Sponsors in 2007


'President Award of Highest Achievement 2007’

US$2000 cash prize

10 categories - with housing prizes from AMPHIBICO, SEACAM and many more

Celebrate the Sea Philippines

WOW Shoot Out Competition

16 to 20 Sep 2007

Lets get technical, explore and dive the Deep!

When we talk about diving, most of our dives are at 20 to 40-meters max., this is true, and lets face it, there is a lot to see at this depth, but some of us have the urgency and the training to go beyond the 40 meter mark.
We seldom talk about tech diving and what the Alliance has to offer with their fully equipped dive tech centers, please read below some facts,
I write more on Re-breathers and technical diving soon, subscribe to our blog for all the latest news and information in the Philippines and Micronesia.

The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance has some partners who are technical equipped not only for your tech-diving requirements but can take care of all your training.
Calypso Dive Resort in Boracay for example, Calypso has the state of the art Nitrox facility, to top it all off, they have some 20 re-breather available and the technical knowledge to get you diving beyond the normal open water course.
Asia Divers in Puerto Galera has its tech facility staffed by one of he most experienced instructors in the country, a superb training facility. Our Partner in Truk Lagoon, Chuuk, Truk Stop Dive Center, offers you deep dives with helium the only dive center with Helium on the Island, a great way to explore and dive the WWII wrecks in the Truk Lagoon,

Fancy some tech diving in Palau, no problem Sam;s Tours can take care of all your requirements, their dive center has also a state of the art Nitrox facility, as a matter of fact diving with Nitrox is safer and gives you more bottom time, maybe that is why they call the Bar at Sam's Tours "Bottom Time Bar and Grill."And NITROX IS FOR FREE

Not a certified Nitrox diver, no problem all our dive centers can give you the necessary training.

Nitrox is also available at our remote destination Club Paradise in Palawan, Philippines. Well, not that remote, Asian Spirit our partner has daily flight to Palawan, or book a package with our Partner Blue Horizons.
Well, here you have it, if you a technical diver and like to explore the Deep, the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance could be your choice for your next DEEP Dive.
Helium is available at some of our partner destinations and they can take care of all your Trimix needs and spend your interval time at some of the best beaches in the world

The Diver choice. Island hopping in the Philippine and Micronesia with dive operators you can trust. By the way, dont forget to buy your genuine Palau reef hook for these great currents at some of our dive sites, for more information on our destinations, soon available online and at our Alliance partners our Dive Guide
Books on Palau and Puerto Galera.

Just received this blog from Sam's Tours in Palau, our partner of the Philippine - Micronesia Alliance, in Micronesia.
The Divers choice.

Asian Spirit, a Manila based airline recently announced a new direct service to Palau from Cebu, Philippines, with three flights per week to Koror on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Asian Spirit has been flying to Palau from Davao for almost a year. However due to limited day time arrival slots at Palau International Airport (ROR) because of ongoing airport renovations, Asian Spirit has temporarily suspended their service from Davao which will resume once renovation of the airport in Koror is completed.

On June 16, Sam’s Tours in conjunction with Kraemer’s Bar & Restaurant, Red Rooster Beer and Asian Spirit Airlines hosted a buffet dinner reception at Sam’s Tours PADI 5-Star National Geographic Dive Center for a group of approximately 60 visitors from Cebu that included dive center owners, travel agents, airline staff, business delegates and other dignitaries. The delegation came to Palau on a Familiarization Tour organized by Asian Spirit and Surangel’s Worldwide Travel Agency, Palau Sales Agent for Asian Spirit. Palau Chamber of Commerce and Belau Tourism Association hosted a welcome reception for the delegation on June 15 at Palau International Coral Reef Center.
The place to meet

Asian Spirit offers connecting service from Manila to Cebu with continuing service to Koror. For more information on Asian Spirits service to Palau, contact Sam’s Tours Reservations Desk at: reservations@samstours.com or visit www.asianspirit.com

Asian Spirit is the newest member of the Philippines-Micronesia Alliance of which Sam’s Tours is a founding member. For great Philippines-Palau island hopping dive packages, please visit www.alliancediving.com
PermalinkPermalink

For all the details please go to our web pages @ www.alliancediving.com
there you find all the exciting packages from the Philippines and Micronesia.

Dive with friends and stay at operators you can trust.
Action, adventure and explore the sea,
discover a new dive experience.
Your passion is diving...
ours is service.

Island hopping, dive the Philippines, tauchen und meer,
Inselhuepfen, re-breather and Nitrox facilities, fully quipped dive tech centers,
diving with sharks and mantas, the best beaches in the Philippines and Micronesia with
modern dive centers or explore the great marine bio-diversity in Puerto Galera, but if that is not what you are looking for
then dive the dugongs in Palawan or the famous wrecks in Truk Lagoon.
The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance the divers choice in the pacific and a dream for underwater photographers.
Read what others say, please click this link

Book now direct from our web site.
http://www.alliancediving.com/packages.html

I have just received from our Alliance partner Asia Divers with El Galleon in Puerto Galera the story below,
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

Wow!
Conservation and some simple rules seem to work now wonders in Boracay,
I am refering to my last article from Boracay, no more boats allowed at
the white beach and since then the critters have returned.
I have just received these images from Rene Buob from Calypso/Pinjalo Dive Resort,
the boats are gone and the critters are back in full force. Great shot Rene,
The Marine life has returned, fantastic.

For those who dont know our partners and destinations please read on below.
In the Philippines our partners and destinations are Calypso/Pinjalo Dive Resort in Boracay,
Club Paradise and Dugong Dive Center in Palawan and Asia Divers with El Galleon in Puerto Galera, for all your bookings you have the choice, you can book direct with our partners on our website or book our exciting packages with our Partner Blue Horizons in Manila also available on our site under packages.

Our newest member Asian Spirit can take care of all your flight arrangements within the Philippines and to
Palau Micronesia.

Our Partner in Palau Micronesia is Sam's Tours and in Truk (Chuuk) Truk Stop Dive Center and Hotel.
The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance has some great packages available for your ultimate dive vacation,
why not dive the Philippines and Micronesia with the operators you can trust and who work together.
Like to be informed? Just subscribe to our blog.
A recent entry in our blog by John Owens says it all, read what John has to say about the diving with the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance. click here for John Owens un-edited letter.

The Philippine-Micronesia Alliance, your experts in island hopping, inselhuepfen, Re-breathers, state of the art Nitrox facilities, (Nitrox for free) wreck diving and expeditions, dive safaris, shark and spectacular wall dives in Palau, the spectacular World War II wrecks in Chuuk, Truk Lagoon or dive with
Dugongs at the Dugong Dive Center in Palawan, explore the world famous marine bio-diversity in Puerto Galera,
or relax at one of the best beaches in the world (according to Yahoo)
Boracay island.






All Photos © Gunther Deichmann

According to Yahoo! Travel

BORACAY makes it again to the TOP 10 World's Best Beaches
dated June 5,2007 ( source: http://travel.yahoo.com/beaches )

YAHOO! Travel's 2007 World's Best Beaches


One more reason to book your next vacation with our Alliance Partner
Calypso and Pinjalo Dive Resort in Boracay.
Check out our latest blog on the fantastic diving right in front of Calypso Dive resort, dont feel like diving, that's OK too, have a cool drink at the Sports bar instead and watch the great sunsets. You are diving in paradise........
Philippine-Micronesia Alliance. The Divers choice.

All Photos by © Gunther Deichmann
Island hopping and inselhuepfen with Calypso Diving or just relax at the Pinjalo Resort.
Calypso Diving has a state of the art Nitrox facility and they are the experts on all your Re-breather requirements.

I almost forgot, this is a reminder that you can now book all your diving direct or with Blue Horizons on our Philippine-Micronesia site. The Divers choice.... just choose your link.

See below an un-edited letter and images I have received from John Owens, I meet John during one of my visits this year to Palau, we started to talked and exchanged some notes, he mention to me the Philippine - Micronesia Alliance, so I ask him to write a small article and send us some images for our Blog, please see below John's views and some very nice images taken at some of the Alliance destinations in the Philippines and Micronesia, thank you John for sharing this with us.
All Photos on this blog are by © John Owens, for more images by John click on his flicker pages below.
G.D.


June 9, 2007

Gunther:

I wanted to write to congratulate those who came up with the great idea of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance. I learned about the Alliance early this year while diving at one of the Alliance partners in the Philippines, Calypso Diving. I think the idea of bringing these great dive shops in one alliance is wonderful for the diving community. I have been a diver since 1987. I used to dive quite a bit when I lived in Jamaica from 1988-1993 and then started back again when I moved to the Philippines in 1999.

I’d like to highlight some of my experiences with the various Philippine-Micronesia Alliance partners I have been diving with in the Philippines and Micronesia.

Calypso Diving
I have been diving several times a year with Calypso Diving since 2003. This place is the only 5-Star PADI dive shop on the beautiful and picturesque island of Boracay in the Philippines. This is a great dive shop with excellent facilities and professional multi-lingual dive instructors. I always felt comfortable using the equipment at Calypso Diving as the management really keeps the most up-to-date equipment and is very strict about proper maintenance. The staff and instructors are also top notch. In fact, I completed my advanced open water and enriched air courses at Calypso Diving School. The diving in Boracay is fair to good with fairly good visibility depending on the time of the year. My favorite dive site is Yapak but I also like to dive right off the beach in front of the Calypso Diving shop for night dives. This is the spot where I have taken some of my best underwater shots.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/108719985/in/set-72057594075366901/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/108719935/in/set-72057594075366901/

I have also taken some of the best shots of lionfish near some of the great wall dives with Calypso Diving as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/108107663/in/set-72057594075366901/

At the end of the day, you only have to sit on the beach to watch the sunset and you realize that you are in paradise:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/108722430/in/set-72057594132461284/

Just to let you know, it was at Calypso Diving where I first saw your book about Palau and was informed about the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance. In fact, Calypso Diving also introduced me to two of the other Alliance partners: Club Paradise and Sam’s Tours.

For more shots taken during my dives at Calypso Diving, check out my photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/sets/72057594075366901/show/

Club Paradise
This is another top notch dive shop in the Philippines with the same attention to detail as Calypso Diving. Located on a small island Dimakya in Coron, this has to be one of the favorite little get-away islands I have been to in the Philippines. The house reef that surrounds the front and side of the island is also one of the best shore dives I have ever been on in the Philippines, with incredibly good visibility.

The sea turtles always seem to be in abundance and are quite used to being around divers so it was easy to photograph them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/78457768/in/set-72057594132461284/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/78457761/in/set-1679558/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_DmqSi-8RI

Again the house reef is a great place for night dives to catch shots of all kinds of fish and sea life, including the usual hard-to-find ghost pipe fish:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/78458133/in/set-1679558/

And, of course, schools of clownfish were everywhere on the reef:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/78457739/in/set-1679558/

Dirk Fahrenbach and his wife Janet were wonderful hosts at the Dugong Dive Center.
In fact Dirk was very patient with my father who was almost 70 and still diving. As he has gotten older, he has had a harder time with his buoyancy but Dirk was more than patient with my father. My dad told me afterwards that he learned more in one hour from Dirk about controlling his buoyancy than all the other instructors he had been diving with over the past few years. Luckily, he was able to help my dad to relax and enjoy the rest of his diving:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/78458280/in/set-1679558/

The wreck diving, the dugong tour, and the visits to Calauit for an unusual African safari tour were all additional highlights during our stay at Club Paradise.

At the end of the day, the tropical sunsets off Club Paradise are just out of this world:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/86406751/in/set-72057594047532293/

For more photos from Club Paradise, check out my slideshow at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/sets/72157600333429778/show/

Sam’s Tours
I was fortunate to hear about Sam’s Tours from staff at Calypso Diving earlier this year. In doing my research, I was also able to find out about you, Gunther, and fortunately tracked you down to buy a copy of your book just before leaving for Palau. It was also quite fortunate that we ended up on the same flight to Palau this past Holy Week and I wanted to thank you again for introducing me to everyone at Sam’s Tours. The diving during my stay in Palau and with Sam’s Tours was definitely the highlight of my diving career so far. My wife and two year old daughter also enjoyed the tremendous hospitality that they received from the staff at Sam’s Tours.

Everyone from the reservations office to the drivers to the staff and to the dive instuctors were wonderful and really went the extra mile.

Now onto the diving which was truly incredible - there were more fish and animal life during our dives around the blue corner dive site than I have ever seen on a dive before including sharks, barracudas and turtles.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/458729912/in/set-72157600075708103/





http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/458746349/in/set-72157600075708103/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/458744751/in/set-72157600075708103/

There was truly more animal and fish life on that dive than most people see in lifetime of diving anywhere else.

Again, at the end of the day, the sunsets off Palau also remind you that you are truly in paradise:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/466252753/in/set-72157600302866453/

Again, to all the staff at Sam’s Tour’s, you really know what the word hospitality means!

For more photos of the wonderful diving in Palau, take a look at my slideshow at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnpamowens/sets/72157600075708103/show/

You can also see my video of shark diving at the Blue Corner dive site at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stO2JN2BRF4

Next time I make it to Puerto Galera, I plan to check out Asia Divers. If they are part of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance, you know they must be a world class operation!



I hope we can get together when I get back to the Philippines in July.

All the best,
John Owens
Chief of Party Microenterprise

Sex, seduction, traffic and the blog…
by Gunther Deichmann, he,he……………….. A true story!

That is how I got introduced - seduced into blogging! Hey, we are talking sex again, cool, that is great..…

Seduction is the word. Remember the words from??? Somebody help me, from Nickelback, oh yes I need some help……what the hell is a blog???????

Please read on, a cool story with some Brandy and real sound…

Seduction, sex, warm feelings, what ever you like to call it, it happen to me some time ago in Singapore, after lunch with Tony Wu and Eric Cheng at ADEX 2006!
They talked and talked, hey you should do some blogs…..

What was that thing, they call a blog??????????

A bog?? A blob? Bob and maybe ……….? I had no bloody idea, being an Australian. These guys where talking something from outer space, …. I thought so…at the time…

After spending some time with these two Guys I felt like going to the Toilet, I did not get it at all.
What was all this talk about Internet and blog, it beats me, I am from the outback, (Manila) talk to me straight please…

When I got back to my some how cool station in Manila, I had the first blog at the airport, one or two more before I got home, is this what these guys where talking about it? Traffic jams everywhere, I did not move, this was a real blog…. Hey, now I know what this talk was all about in Singapore.

Well guys, that stuff we have in Manila everyday, lots of blogs….NO, they could not mean this at all, me sitting in my cab in a blog… I started to think….
Oh boy, I got it, did I??? I started to wonder…. I had plenty of time to think, in a taxi and stuck in a real blog….

Blogs are actually a really need way to communicate, are they? You bet there are!!!
Why?? Not in Manila, that is what confused me all the time, I think Tony and Eric did this on purpose…

I refer to Tony Wu’s email and blog dated 2 June, to read all please click here.

Your news is getting out there, but with out annoying anybody, hey, it is not SPAM.
If you don’t like it you don’t have to read it, if you don’t want to see you don’t have to see it… not like a newsletter everybody gets, hey not everybody, only the ones you send it too….gets to see it anyway. The blog well reaches everybody, well almost, and it is your choice to subscribe or not. I call it freedom of the press or freedom of the individual, it is the coolest way to get your story out there, what about RSS????
Well now, that is super cool, but not tonight, what about Podcasts, oh boy, now here we go…….

That is not part of tonight, I do need a rest sometime, he, he, cheers, to all of you,
Got to admit, I am a happy blogger, a podcaster tomorrow and an RSS feeder, we do that already….. he, he.
Do I make sense? Probably not? But then who does these days???

Tony and Eric are the Gurus behind FiNS Magazine and Wetpixel, the ultimate in web exposure, and you better believe it. Thanks Guys, your blogger…. or whatever. ..love you guys.

I am just a happy blogger, and dont forget to subscribe to our blog and click here.
Cheers Gunther

Good News for our Divers who like to spend their dive vacation at our Alliance partner Calypso and Pinjalo Dive resort in Boracay.
When you dive with Calypso YOU dive at the best equipped Dive Center on the island, specializing in Re-breathers and with a state of the art Nitrox facility.
If you like a relaxing dive at sunset, then check out the Beach front,
please read below the information I have just received:

Received this message two hours ago from Lee Blundell at Calypso Diving, Boarcay, Philippines.

The beach night dives on Boracey’s famous White Beach have always been a fantastic dive for macro photographers
but now it is even more so.
 After a Government Ordinance that was started at the end of 2006 all motorized sea craft have been diverted away from the beach into allotted zones for water sports users and another separate zone for passenger craft.
This has resulted in the white beach night dive blooming to the tune of no less than five Seahorses Ghost pipefish Octopus Squid Cuttlefish Spanish Dancers Stingrays and Lion fish all on one dive in water no deeper than five meters.
The pictures that are shown here are all taken recently using Calypso Diving rental cameras.

Still not satisfied after your night dive? Then make some new friends with some cool drinks at Calypso’s Sports Bar, right at the beach and talk about your dive at the Beach front and I am sure they will join you the next day.

G.D.




The critters are back!
Conservation/preservation does work.

This was posted by Fins Magazine.

Tuesday, 5th June 2007, 6:52 pm by FiNS Team

Dermot at Sam's ToursDermot Keane, who manages Sam’s Tours in Palau, has discovered the joys of blogging. Check out the new blog on the new and improved Sam’s Tours website. Bookmark the blog and keep up with the latest news from Palau!

Posted in Fins Blog
http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/


Sam's Tours is a member of the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance

Simply irresistible!

If you have not heard or know about it, remember you can now Book direct on the Philippine -Micronesia Alliance Website all these very cool dive packages to our destination in the Philippines and Micronesia.
Why Not Book Now! With the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance.
The Divers choice.

The Alliance website has NOW complete dive packages available, the choice is yours…. from direct bookings with the individual dive centers and resorts to a full range of tailored dive packages from Blue Horizons.
Check out the site NOW for all these great travel packages! Click here for the direct link: Special Dive Packages

Hi everybody, I have just received this great article from my friend Tony Wu and strong Alliance supporter, please read it and you understand a lot more how things work these days on the net.
Thanks Tony, for letting us use your text.
Enjoy G.D.


Try to be connected, no matter where...
...but anywhere.

If you’ve been following my blog for the past month or two, you can see that I’ve stretched the limits of my coding capabilities (actually, I have none) and managed to put together a few podcasts and have them broadcast via Apple iTunes, as well as post them to my blog.

What exactly is a podcast? Not being a tech person, I’m not sure if there’s an official definition. But the way I look at it, podcasts are a way for anyone with access to the net to broadcast words, images, voice, video and any combination thereof to the rest of the world.

Where you needed a radio station, TV network, newspaper or other form of traditional media to have a voice before, the internet has opened up all sorts of opportunities for people to make themselves heard. Podcasts are a great example of this.

In addition to sharing my own experiences with other people around the world, I’m able to keep tabs on all sorts of stuff that I would otherwise need to invest much more time and effort in, in order to get only a fraction of the information I do now. In other words, podcasts (like the rest of the internet) can be a great way to educate yourself on just about anything you want to know.

I download podcasts to my video iPod, and when I’m stuck in a bus, train, taxi, airplane, airport, hotel, boat…with nothing else I can productively do, I listen to and/ or watch podcasts. It’s a great way to transform down time into productive learning experiences.

If you haven’t caught on to podcasts, you should…especially if you’re an information junkie like me. The easiest way to start wading into the world of podcasts is to download Apple iTunes (works on Mac and PCs) and take a look at the podcast section. Did I mention that all the podcasts are free?

There are podcasts covering just about every topic, so you’ll probably be able to find something that interests you. The list is growing every day, so it’s worth checking back for more. All you have to do is “subscribe” to podcasts that interest you and watch or listen to them on your computer. They update automatically each time you open iTunes, and you can always unsubscribe if you end up not liking a particular podcast.

Fair warning: there’s no traditional editor or network censor per se for podcasts, so the quality of different podcasts varies widely. And unlike traditional media, there doesn’t need to be a fixed publishing schedule or format, so some podcasts are published several times a week, and others only as-and-when they’re available.

A few examples of podcasts I subscribe to:

Tech Stuff: GeekBrief.TV, TWIT (This Week in Tech), MacWorld Podcast
Science and Nature: 60-Second Science, Science Magazine Podcast, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Wild Chronicles, Science Talk: Podcast of Scientific American, Nature Podcast, National Geographic News, DiveFilm
Humour: Ask a Ninja, Diggnation, The Onion News Network, Tiki Bar TV
Other Stuff: The Economist, NAPP TV, many more

Needless to say, I don’t get to watch or listen to all of these, but you’d be surprised how much I learn from these podcasts and the others I subscribe to. It’s like having a room full of experts at my personal disposal. And whenever there’s something particularly interesting, I can jot down a quick note, and Google it next time I’m online to look for more references and background information.

I think back to the long and tedious hours I spent researching when I was back in school…days, weeks in libraries, followed by waiting for answers to snail-mail letters, followed by telephone calls and site visits…my research today takes a fraction of the time, and I can keep all my notes (text, images, hyperlinks, reference papers, etc.) in electronic form, which means I can access the information whenever I need.

Anyway, the point is that podcasts are a great reference tool if you make use of them (just like the rest of the net!).

If you put my name into the iTunes podcast search engine, my personal podcast will pop up too. I have nowhere near the wherewithal or resources of many of the most well-produced podcasts, but I’m having fun! Example: A Very Hungry Frogfish.

I’ve got slideshows fairly well mastered. Still have to work on learning video editing software to do more video. I’ve recently acquired a better microphone too, so hopefully voice tracks will sound better from now on (I just used a cheap headseat before). And I’ve started podcasting PDFs of some of my published articles. So if you subscribe to my podcast, you’ll get a combination of video, audio and written podcasts. This would have been nearly impossible a few years ago.

I love this new tech stuff, and though my own understanding of the relevant coding and software packages is limited, I’m continually pushing everyone I know to get up to speed, though the resistance from most people I know is incredibly high and totally infuriating…about as productive as trying to herd cats in most cases.

One final thought related to this topic…if you or someone you know still stubbornly cling to the notion that the internet is unimportant, a fad, or otherwise useless, chew on this: A few weeks ago, a popular tech site released what later proved to be an untrue story about Apple (essentially stating that the iPhone and next generation Apple OS would be significantly delayed).

Within minutes, more than US$4 billion of Apple’s market capitalisation evaporated. Still think the net doesn’t have influence? Let’s see a newspaper article annihilate US$4 billion in a matter of minutes.

Without getting into a protracted exposition about the pros and cons of new media, there’s no denying that electronic media is important, influential, growing and here to stay.
For the Philippine-Micronesia Alliance Podcast click here: Octopus on the Catwalk