Can YOU identify this Fish? Wilderness travel...Snorkeling in Palawan & Whale Sharks in Donsol... by Lee Goldman
This is Lee…Lee Goldman that is… I thought you might like this article and read about my recent experience in the Philippines...
Hi Lee, Gunther here…of course you always welcome and we are very happy to publish your real life stories, thanks Lee please keep it up, we appreciate your input very much.
See below the story which I have just received, thanks again to Lee Goldman, Marine Biologist, who always finds the time and supplying us with some interesting articles.
Who can Identify this Fish? Please
help...
Photo © Lee Goldman, image taken in the
Philippines
Snorkeling the
Islands of Palawan. Okay, so the title sounds like we spent the
entire time in Palawan, but our first 2 days of the expedition were
snorkeling with Whale sharks in Donsol. Come ‘on, how can I
invite guests to the Philippines and not expose them to one of the
best big animal encounters a snorkeler can have!
This entry will be a quick one because how can I describe the
experience? Amazing, exhilarating, sometimes exhausting. Because
visibility often does not exceed 12 m, when you see a whale shark,
it is an up close and personal encounter! The guides put you right
near them and as they swim by, you are sometimes only a few feet
from them. My guests all commented on how amazing it was that they
actually had to swim away from the sharks rather than having to
chase them down. Needless to say, our experience with the whale
sharks in Donsol was exactly as it has always been promoted; come
and swim with lots of whale sharks. We swam with no less than
eight. We also had a chance to snorkel in the area. Due to
proximity of the rivers, visibility was not optimal, but we
didn’t miss a beat. Many varieties of fish and coral exist
there and for most of my guests, new species of fish were checked
off in their fish identification books. For one guest, an avid
admirer of nudibranchs, a new species of Phyllidia was her treat
for the day. As a guide who spent many years in the Philippines and
Palau, you may think I had seen it all. No way, that’s what I
love about the Philippines; new species of fish I may know but not
seen, or in my case in Donsol a new species of fish I had no idea
existed.
Even some of the better
ichthyologists could not help me with the identification. I intend
to pursue this one and will keep everyone updated as I know more.
Anyone out there with a suggestion?
Lee
Goldman
Our Philippine-Micronesia Alliance
partner in Palawan Philippines is Club Paradise & Dugong Dive
Center for all your travel arrangements and
for Lee Goldman's Wilderness travel contact our partner in
Manila Blue
Horizons.
Great NEWS...BUSUANGA AIRPORT in PALAWAN Philippines extended... now more flights,comfort...plus several Whaleshark sightings in the Coron Island area
NATURE is a lot closer now....
BUSUANGA AIRPORT Palawan Philippines...
CLUB PARADISE, EL RIO Y MAR
and the
DUGONG DIVE CENTER
Busuanga
Airport, landing point for
CLUB PARADISE, EL RIO Y MAR
and the
DUGONG DIVE CENTER now has a 1500
meter concrete runway plus a 400 meter gravel extension.
This gives a new dimension to tourism in the islands of the
Calamianes. Whereas before only 19 seater planes were able to land,
Busuanga airport is now being served by the super fast 32-seater Do
28 (needs only 35 minutes to get there from Manila) and the 50
seater Dash-7.
Starting next week, May 17, 2008 the service of a 72 seater plane
from Phil Airlines will begin daily flights. This will bring the
total seat capacity per year to about 100.000 seats yearly. New
hotels, lodging houses and resorts are under construction and on
the planning board. Present room capacity of 400 rooms will be
double within an
year.
© Gunther Deichmann - the spectacular marine life in
Palawan
The Government has decided to pave the road from Coron to Busuanga
Airport to modernize the road system and create more
comfort for all travelers. Guests of the
Philippine-Micronesia Alliance
and
CLUB PARADISE, EL RIO Y MAR and DUGONG DIVE
CENTER will get to
their destination a lot faster and more comfortably now.
This will increase their time to enjoy all the exciting dive sites
to see the Turtles, Dugongs, WWII Wrecks, a whole fleet was sunk in
this area and of course beautiful reefs in this area.
Another great NEWS is, several Whale-sharks have been in sighted in
the Coron, Palawan area, a good reason for planning your next trip
to PALAWAN...the Philippines best kept secret...NATURE at its
best.
© Gunther
Deichmann - the WWII Wrecks of Palawan
©
Gunther Deichmann - the WWII Wrecks of Palawan
Did You Know...? Dinosaurs dung...& three DUGONGS spotted at the HOUSE REEF at Club Paradise last week...Dive with Dugong Dive Center
DUGONGS at THE HOUSE REEF ...
CLUB PARADISE PALAWAN.
©
Courtesy of Dugong Dive Center in Palawan, Philippines
click the image or the link below to visit the website
@
http://www.dugongdivecenter.com/
I
have just received this report from Dirk Fahrenbach, yes three
(3)
DUGONGS
right at the House reef at Club Paradise grazing the seaweed
bed.
This is the only place in the Philippines where you can observe
these amazing and gentle creatures in the wild, the area is well
protected by a conservation Park.
Another
article but not related to our Dugong sighting is that of a Auction
where some fossilized Dinosaurs dung has been sold for some US$
1000.00 very interesting reading...
GD
Dino
dung snapped up at auction
Jurassic-era coprolite, or fossilised dinosaur dung
Two pieces of dinosaur dung have been sold at auction for $960
(£486) at an auction house in New York.
The fossilised dung, which resembles rock on the outside, and a
colourful mineral inside, is 130 million years old, from the
Jurassic period.
Auctioneers Bonhams of New York said it sold for twice the expected
price.
The buyer is reported to be Steve Tsengas, the 71-year-old owner of
a company that sells products to treat pet animal waste in
Ohio.
Marketing
tool...
for the full story click the link
below...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7377982.stm