Text by Imee Endelman

Photography by Gutsy Tuason

Your first encounter with a frogfish might be quite confusing, not knowing whether they belong on land, sea or outer space. You may even wonder if you’ve seen it featured in a horror film. Nevertheless, many divers have a natural affinity towards these fish, and are unarguably one of the most intriguing creatures ever created.

Because of their camouflage, frogfish are hard to find and even more difficult to identify. They mimic objects in their surrounding such as sponges, rocks and corals by changing to another colour, and can do so in a matter of days or minutes. Other concealment tricks include spots, stripes and fringes. Since frogfish are neither poisonous nor aggressive, their best defence is to avoid being seen.

The most interesting aspect of the frogfish, apart from his perfect camouflage, is the way he attracts his prey. Other fish wait until the prey swims close to their mouth, but the frogfish lures the prey (fish, crustaceans) to where it can strike. The lure is sometimes shaped like a worm, shrimp or a small fish therefore making it highly vulnerable to loss or damage by attacks or nibbling of potential prey as well as predators. Frogfish can regenerate their lure but might undergo a time of fasting until completion.

Dive Southern Leyte, Philippines
Text by Rio Cahambing
Photography by Rio Cahambing

  Herrera, about the forthcoming encounter which should not be missed. He understands me and as the ray passes to our right, he soon realizes that diving in this undiscovered underwater world is worth the trip. The current is pretty strong but we manage to locate the wall and focus our attention on a crevice full of large sweetlips, groupers, snappers and angelfishes about 120 feet below the surface. The wall is adorned with black corals, sea fans, sponges and soft corals of every conceivable color and hue. We drift and find ourselves staring at a green turtle grazing on the reef as thousands of fusiliers and other reef fishes go about their daily routine. For just one short dive, such an encounter with large marine animals is certainly a bonus – aided simply because we are on uncharted, less explored waters – we are in Southern Leyte in Eastern Visayas.

Found After 56 Years

On September 14, 1944 the USS Perry, an American Destroyer Minesweeper, hit a mine and sunk 700 yards south of Anguar in the Palau Archipelago.

56 years later, an expedition organized by Fish 'n Fins, the pioneer dive shop in Palau and led by owner Navot Bornovski, found the USS Perry at its resting-place, 240 feet deep. Navot and PADI OWDI Jeff Wonnenbert were the first to dive the newly found wreck on May 1st and 2nd 2000.

The Saga began on September 14, 1944, when the DMS-17, USS Perry (along with 6 other minesweepers) cleared the water around Anguar Island prior to the invasion.

At 14:07 the USS Perry struck a mine and sunk in less than 2 hours. Nine sailors were killed in the explosion.

Within 20 minutes, the Perry was listing at 30 degrees and the "Abandon the Ship" order was given.

Text by Jay Maclean
Photography by Juergen Freund

DITO Show 2001 -- Plans are well underway for the DITO Philippines Dive Travel Show to be held next May 2001.

As of press time, a venue has not yet been decided upon. Possible sites include Cebu (SM) or 'somewhere in Manila'.

Several key industry players, such as PADI SE Asia, Aquaventure, Scuba World, Dive Buddies, Whitetip Divers, Asia Divers, Savedra, Sea Explorers and others have expressed their willingness to participate.

It is envisioned that the show will take place just after the ADEX 2001 show in Malaysia. This will give trade visitors to ADEX the perfect excuse to pass by the Philippines to see for themselves the facilities and professionalism that make up the diving industry here, as well as allowing equipment manufacturers to conduct repair seminars to local dive operators attending the show.

Text by Jay Maclean
Photography by Juergen Freund

  There's a website you can visit that provides the experience of being on a jurassic reef (www.paleo.de/edu/jrp). Actually it's rather dull, and basically lets you know there were coral and sponge reefs present in the late jurassic, 160-135 million years ago. None of the wonder and thrills the diver experiences. I wondered how scuba diving would be then—what perils would enliven the scene? One you might not expect would be the probable ancestor of snakes—no, not just sea snakes, all snakes. Scientists agree that snakes evolved from lizards but have not found any convincing intermediate stages between them, probably because the scientists were looking in the wrong place. A recent article in the journal Nature makes a good case for pinpointing a group of marine lizards called mosasaurs as the precursors of all modern snakes. Sea snakes are 'new', having evolved in the last few dozen million years or so from land snakes. Divers should be grateful that this circuitous evolutionary route included great reduction in size.

Text by Asia Divers

The second visit by Asia Divers to Truk Lagoon, Micronesia, is now set for May 13-20 2001. Aboard Aggressor II, and again lead by IANTD Instructor Trainer Dave Ross, this charter will be unique in that it caters exclusively to Technical Divers. Of the 45 or so WWII Japanese ship, aircraft and submarine wrecks lying pristine and unsalvaged in Truk, many are in the range of 40-60m (130-200ft), and combined with almost ideal water conditions, make this Pacific Lagoon unparalleled in the world of Wreck Diving.

Beyond all the usual Aggressor creature comforts, the vessel will be providing twin tanks and stage bottles, a surface supplied decompression station feeding high nitrox mixes, and full surface support. Don't miss this opportunity, for full details contact Asia Divers at tel. no: +632 8342974 or e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Text by Heneage Mitchell

Seven Volcanoes, five towns. Quite an impressive statistic for an island not much larger than Mactan!

Camiguin, known by the locals as "The Island of your Imagination", is probably one of the friendliest places to visit in Asia. The people are simple, genuinely friendly and hospitable and travelers sing its praises long after they have left.

Camiguin is also one of the most beautiful destinations in the Philippines, both above and below the water. The island is endowed with far more than its fair share of natural wonders, from volcanoes, hot springs and waterfalls to stunning coral reefs and talcum powder fine white sand beaches.