Philippine Dive Master

30/05/2024

Message me Php 4000 Introdive in Anilao Batangas

14/02/2024

Learn to scuba dive w PADI
Php 18k USD 322 course only
W scuba equipment
PADI open water scuba diver Elearning
PDM Aware and fish identification mini course
Air and fills
PADI OWSD Certificate of a lifetime

March 2 to 17
Day 1 Mar 2 orientation makati sbucks/elearning setup
Day 2 Mar 9 9am to 4pm 2 Confined Water dives makati
Day 3 Mar 16-17 9am 12 noon 4 Open water dives
MESSAGE ME LANG PO GUYS +639172575505

26/10/2023

Need a getaway

Coron to El Nido

4 days
12 dives usd 1250 php 72,000
DatesPrice
Nov 1 - 4
Dec 6 - 9
Dec 16 - 19

Jan 11 - 14
Jan 20 - 23
Mar 8 - 11

Feb 14 - 20 (7D)$1650

El Nido to Coron

Nov 8 - 14 (7D)$1650

Dec 10 - 13$1250
Dec 20 - 23$1250
Jan 15 - 18$1250
Jan 24 - 27$1250
Feb 21 - 27 (7D)$1650

26/06/2023

We love this cove because this is where a lot of grew their fins. One of the in since 1966 with Aquatropical Divers

19/06/2023

02/08/2022

They are cousins to Parrot fishes, they are the wrasses. This one found loitering by the bubbles area of Mainit bubbles is cute bubbly and makulit, kissing my mask, reminds me of my equally makulit cat Luna.

20/07/2022

Mainit Bubble is a Dive site located in Batangas Bay, favored by Scuba Divers because of it’s curious emissions of Bubbles from the sandy bottom 6 Meters to a sloping 10 Meters from the Surface. The Bubble Source could be from Mount Panay a strongly Solfataric Volcano that has a breached caldera probably submersed and swallowed up by the Sea. Very little is known about Mt. Panay, it’s last assumed eruption was 10,000 years ago making it a Pleistocene Volcano. Nevertheless, this beautiful Dive site has drastically flourished, with Anemone’s, Soft Corals, Hard Corals, Sponges and various fishes as well as a Turtle.
You will be greeted by a Wall that dips to about 18 Meters. A good drift diving spot especially at lunch time.
Watch out for more vids and marine animals in Bubbles.

15/07/2022

The Giant Barrel Sponge
Incorrectly referred to by me apparently and most Scuba Dive Masters as Basket Coral. It is not a hard or stone coral but a sponge. In existence for almost 500 Million years, these Giant Barrel Sponges are the supremely primitive Animals in our Planet.
They are the largest sponge in the reefs, with a diameter of 6 ft. and a height of a tallest man, 8 feet. They are the redwoods of the coral gardens, because of its lifespan of over hundreds to thousands of years.
Anilao Batangas is littered with these animals, these were particularly found in Batok Dive Site just off the shores of Sombrero Island. They also call it the Coral Garden, I call it the little Tubattaha, personally it is the most beautiful Dive site in Anilao which is why it is my first dive site in my series of Anilao Dive Sites. As you can see it is literally covered with soft corals and sponges and fishes are in swarms. I find it so beautiful and I hope Divers will keep it this way and allow this site to flourish some more.
Although you can see the Giant Barrel Sponge spawning everywhere in Anilao, these beauties are extra beautiful in Batok Dive site. Sometimes we see shrimps frequenting these barrels uninterrupted. Other Giant Barrel Sponges can be seen in Twin Rocks, Dive and Trek Marine Sanctuary and Layag Layag in Anilao batangas.
Hermaphroditic and Photosythetic, but Commensals, contrary to mutualism as most sponges live on. Find out more in www.philippinedivemaster.com

12/07/2022

Mainit Bubbles of Anilao Batangas, is nice and warm, no pun intended. It was the easiest dive site amongst all the sites I trained on. Fortunately, the reefs have respawned along with housing sea turtles and ribbon eels. And a very makulit Yellow tailed fish, that kept kissing my Mask. Only about fifteen Meters deep and you get to see Philippines Geothermal Prowess and wonder how these corals found homes and built reefs. A very highly active Coral Reef, this site will always be on my top list of boat dives.

08/07/2022

Who is the largest organism in the planet…Answer: The Great Barrier reef of Australia, it houses hundreds of coral species most specially the TABLE CORAL that is key to reef construction.
The table coral, without which fishes would leave. They provide shelter, food….jobs….just like any city provides. They are reef builders that produces calcium carbonate the foundation of coral reef. These eco system engineers, are regenerating The Great barrier reef than any other corals.
These animals relies on zooxanthellae exactly like the anemones. Their porous branch or stem called Acropora branches out like a flattened bush in a landscaped garden,hence their name. It is likened to a table, a shape very essential to Photosynthesis and its mutualistic relationship with zooxanthellae, the algae that provides the primary source of food for the table corals.
But since they thrive in shallow warm water, our very first sun worshippers are now also in danger because of coral bleaching. It is when they expel their main source of food, the zooxanthellae, because water is too warm. A clear sign is the bleach color, white. They are also more prone to destruction due to Boat Anchors. Something Puerto Princesa Tour Guides have made sure to be mindful of especially boat operators who are now more educated, appreciative and dedicated in coral reefs conservation.
Visit our website and learn how they healed The Great Barrier Reef . www.philippinedivemaster.com

05/07/2022

The Purple tip sea Anemone and it's Pink Skunck clownfish. So beautiful to look at, so animating. I saw this in Batok dive site in anilao batangas about 2nmi south of Sombrero Island on a Sunny afternoon with slight current at about 8 meters deep just before the basket corals.
Anemone and Clownfishes have a mutualistic relationship. The former a predatorial animal that stings and captures its prey, called nematocysts, was lured by the latter because ...well clown fishes are attractive ...cute and adorable. In turn the anemone provides clownfish protection.
Clown fishes are not 100% protected, the black spots are proof that lifetime of stings leaves a mark. Other Clown fishes turn full black, a more significant color transformation of the pe*******on on its scales.
Anemonefishes are protandrous hermaphrodites. They are borne male and then become female....well most of the time. Very male dominated indeed, most specially as they grow older, because most times females are removed from the Anemone and chooses a Male companion or more than one Anemone mate. They think it's cause females can be quite aggressive, hmmmm, fake or fact?

Interested to see for yourself? Dive With Us, Joiners are always welcome.

29/06/2022

The wrasses or the Labridaes, they are the most diverse of family because they are basically a large family of fishes. Bright and colorful, they have 81 genera, 9 subgroups. Small tiny 20 cms up to 2.5 meters which are the Humphead wrasse, a little smaller than the Humpheads are the Checkerboard wrasses.

The checkerboard wrasse is quite striking to the eyes of divers. They have three dark red to black vertical spots that starts from the back of the head to the middle part of the body. They have yellow rings that are stunning and a green orange and pink striping on the dorsal fin. You might also notice the reddish line passing through the checkerboard wrasse’s eyes stemming from the tip of the snout.

Called checkerboard because of the white to greenish colors and hints of blue to black on the edge of their scales, they are very slender fishes with lengthened body and prominent mouth conveniently feeding on worms, molluscs, echinoderms they find in the sand and feather dusters, but really are very well known Guardians of the Open Water Corals.

These glamorous looking fishes are what makes a coral garden bloom. Their unique intricate patterns are commonly seen in corals and oftentimes go unnoticed, but their friendly nature is what makes a coral garden flourish. A give and take relationship in a plethora of a predatory world is very much relaxing to think about. How amongst such butchery in the wild, us being the forerunners, they are allowed existence and allow persistence in return.

19/06/2022

This cute coral fishes are the Brown Tang fishes Zebrasoma Scopas, scopas tang, brush tail tang. They have protruding snouts that nibbles on algae, filaments of filaments of it with their pharyngeal teeth like goldfishes. Their snouts grows up to 16 inches from their whitish head their body is predominantly pale brown shading that grades to brownish black near their tail fins, some have green longitudinal lines that begin with dots from their head that sporadically goes dotted all over.
They are solitary when young but sometimes form schools as they grow older.Monogamous by nature, they tend to switch partners but in their small group. Their eggs are scattered in the water column, planktonic looking before becoming juveniles. The male is oftentimes bigger. Juveniles have paler and yellowish speckles to their anterior end with larger dorsal fins. Adults have white spines with large dorsal fins and up to 25 soft rays.
From the Acanthuridae family like surgeon fishes and unicorn fishes. They are fairly friendly, will not disrupt other fishes much like your social neighbor that hands out rice cakes or baked goodies to new friends. They oftentimes travel in groups, a great defense from those lesser sized territorial damsel fishes. View the Yellow Tang Fish in www.philippinedivemaster.com and learn more about the underwater world.

18/06/2022

Super Cute but highly poisonous. They are oftentimes seen in corals openly swimming though very elusive especially to photographers. They swim sideways as if telling us they don’t want to be photographed. I saw him in Batok Dive site, about 3 Meters from the surface, while waiting for my companions to settle in underwater. This cutie allowed me a side photo and then slowly wound it’s way to a hiding spot, never to be seen again.
Eyes set high and protruding, a usual puffer snout, like a shark, did you notice? Hence sharpnose. White based body with brown stripes on the nose that gets larger towards the back like map markings and then becomes dotted specks on the to the belly. Small Orange to brown spots on its abdomen.
Males are larger, with turquoise lines coming from the head. You can easily mistake a black saddled toby with a Mimic Saddle Filefish because as the name says the latter copycats the former. But you can distinguish the two from their dorsal fin. The Black Saddled Toby has one small dorsal sprouting on almost it’s back end while the Mimic Saddle Filefish has an almost continuous first and second dorsal fin, oh and it is not a puffer but a filefish relatives of puffers, triggers and trunk fishes. Do not be fooled even if it took many years for the mimic saddle filefish to look like it’s puffer counterpart, they are two distinct fishes that can land you in jail if you try to pass one of as the other. LOL, but yeah seriously.
Also known as the Valentini Puffer or the Saddle Valentini Puffer, they are pretty much voracious eaters of corals. Not a good thing. But they are more carnivorous eaters, proteins from shrimps, clams, mussels and some algae.
Learn more about this puffer and Batok dive site in our website www.philippinedivemaster.com

18/06/2022

Scuba diving Batok Dive site can be as thrilling and as subdued as you want it to be. That is why this will be the first of my Dive site series, because it holds so much for all kinds of diving sport, from snorkeling to scuba to freediving. It can go as deep as 25 Meters but you can easily enjoy it's coral garden at 3 Meters or 9 feet.

A lucky day can give you a reef shark sighting, but of course they will be found at almost 100 feet reefs. But right now we are very much excited to feature the 3 Meters to 9 Meters Fauna and Flora of this beautiful Dive site.

Here is the first part of the Batok Dive site series. First part cos it pretty much is hard to compile everything in one. Batok or Sombrero Coral Garden holds so much Life, that just making one can be too much already. You can also learn more by visiting our website www.philippinedivemaster.com

12/06/2022

The Giant Moray Eel of the Gymonthorax Javanicus of the Muraenidae Family. They can grow as long as 10 feet with a weight of 66 pounds. Juveniles have tan color with large black spots while adults have black specks which allows them to blend in to their habitat which helps protect them from predators like barracudas, sharks and groupers. Though groupers have been known to hunt together, the grouper shakes its head to the moray eel signaling that it wants to team up and the moray eel traps fishes for the grouper.
This gentle giant is carnivorous feeding on fishes like wrasses, crustaceans and recently observed to hunt lionfishes. They are known to hunt by smell rather than sight. They have a Pharyngeal Jaw, a second set of teeth like in the aliens movie, that powerfully bites on to its prey and does not release until consumed.
They open and close their mouth because they rarely swim in open water so they need to actively force water over their gills. Nocturnal and a predator like the reef shark you do not want to mess with them even if they are harmless, for some reason humans tend to forget that the wild is the wild and feeding them or any species human food is discouraged, at any given day.
For the benefit of other divers, scuba or free divers, do not feed the eels, do not pester, do not engage. This goes for all other fishes who are naturally do not eat what humans eat, and as for the moray eels do not forget that although they are not as aggressive as the triggerfish, they will attack if caught unawares, pi**ed off or plainly accidentally just like your house cat.

09/12/2021

The Golden Damsel fish, or yellow damsels, live in reefs and some lagoons but usually where there is an ocean current. The males love the gorgonians where he waits for the female lays her eggs on, usually happens at dawn. The male will watch over them until their time to hatch. The golden damsel fishes practices distance spawning. Some are short, some long. Short distance spawning allows females to come back and lay more eggs. Long distances obviously does not, so they lay their eggs in one spawn.

This is a yellow damsel fish, they sometimes have small bluish markings on their foreheads to the tail. This one is a lesser common yellow damsel because of its pale greyish yellow pelvic and a**l caudal fins.

Scientific name Amblyglyphidodon Aureus and part of the Pomacentridae family. Very sweet and peaceful reef fishes but as they grow older like the rest of us, well they become grumpier, more anti social....well sounds familiar.

Found this sweetie in twin rocks anilao batangas. As you can see there were a lot of damselfishes here, some black spotted ones too, will talk about those in a another post.

The eggs photo is taken from Peter Kragh Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjPYibO3vEilEIByAZTHpDA

08/12/2021

The slipper lobster
Yumm???? Oh that’s what most Filipinos feel when they see him/her….with ginataan so it seems. Have not tried them, but before we eat, a little more tidbit re these shovel nosed wonders. We found him/her down at the lobster cave in Dive and Trek Dive Sanctuary during our night dive. I thought it was a flounder, turns out it was a lobster, well a variation of one, with flattened bodies and no large claws. Must be why they are easier to eat and commonly considered the lower kind of lobster. Nevertheless ….
They are also known as mitten lobsters and usually hide during daytime. They hunt at night, sorry bud, were you hunting? They eat oysters, squid and get eaten by…humans and so it seems triggerfishes (when the triggerfishes are not munching on your wetsuit or fin).
They generate around July to August when the females carry around 100k eggs …orange eggs that turn to dark brown right about 16 days in total. Faster than a bamboo regen, but still controlled than bamboo cos they generate only once a year but again that’s 100 thousand eggs.
In the ph they are commonly called
Pitik pitik in Cebu
Kupapa in Surigao
Kupakpahon in Sorsogon
And Palpal in Ormoc

01/12/2021

Ingat ingat

28/11/2021

The Bubble Coral

Grape sized and also called the branching coral because they have tentacles that reach out to capture food at night. Their spines elongate when a new polyp develops, a budding method quite rare for corals, even the soft corals. Scientific name Plerogyra sinuosa, this jelly like species is near threatened according to International Union for Conservation of Nature.

I found this beauty near Twin Rocks in Anilao Batangas under a little rock. Her stinging long tentacles hidden because they are retracted during the day, I did my dive at noon. They sting their neighboring corals which is why they need at least 6 social distance.

It is considered an Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered Species or EDGE. Haribon Foundation https://haribon.org.ph/ has been studying our local Bubble Corals and conservationists like Reef Check Philippines are just a few Conservationists assisting in keeping our Philippine Corals alive and flourishing.