Dive into the depths of this underwater haven and see for yourself why the Coral Triangle is called the nursery of the seas.

By Alya B. Honsasan 23 – 25 June  2009 N4 07.051 E118 37.655 I SHOULD have gotten the hint when I did my check-out dive the afternoon I arrived at the Sipadan Mabul Resort (SMART) on Mabul Island, one of the two islands within view of Sipadan. On that relaxed 40-minute dive in Paradise 2 […]

11 – 15 June N4 36.021 E118 46.884 – Pulau Bohey Dulang N4 37.586 E118 38.830 – Seaweed farming community N4 44.678 E118 40.712 – Purse Seiner fishing grounds Maybe it was our good vibes and positive aura.  We got lucky this time in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. On to the second leg of our expedition, […]

11 – 15 May 2009 N11 08.170 E119 39.287 Our pilot was none other than Jewelmer’s boss JB, as Jacques Branellec is fondly called. Upon hearing of approaching bad weather in the coming days, he immediately offered to fly us around the pearl farm and neighboring islands. He had the two back doors of the […]

7 May 2009 N11 11.064 E119 23.431 We first visited the El Nido Town to pay a visit to the dynamic Woman Mayor Leonor Corral. Mayor Corral took the time to give us an overview of her conservation efforts and initiatives and reiterated more than once the value of collaboration with NGOs such as the […]

6 – 8 May 2009 N11 08.994 E119 19.267 Shifting gears from on-the-ground land subsistence activities to first class tourism, we travelled from eastern Taytay islands to the posh Miniloc Island Resort in the western part of Northern Palawan. We have had to rough it for a full month now, and being warmly welcomed by […]

2 – 4 May 2009 N10 48.790 E119 37.216 The need or want to consume live reef fish is enormous for a Chinese. I talk from experience as I am Cantonese and have uncles and cousins who own Chinese restaurants in Manila.  Growing up, every lauriat or Chinese feast attended was a full meal of at least […]

The sting It’s been over a week since I got back from the first leg of the WWF Coral Triangle Initiative Photographic Expedition of J�rgen and Stella Freund to Tubbataha in the Sulu Sea, but it took a while to type out the tale. You see, I was a casualty of war – that is, the […]

27/28 April 2009 N10 16.195 E119 29.038 We spent an enlightening day and night on Green Island, Palawan. About 2,000 people, children included, live there. There are 360 households, and if you do the math, that’s about an average of 5.5 people per household.  One family has 14 children! You could walk this small, elongated fishing village […]

20 April 2009  N8 55.799 E119 59.790 Order of the day was an early morning group picture of the rangers with manager Angelique and WWF expedition visitors Alya, Yogi & I. After breakfast, we photographed WWF ranger Choy and TMO ranger Manny diving a coral reef near the station. They monitored through transects the health […]

19 April 2009 N8 55.799 E119 59.790 Woke up at 5:45am – gee it’s overcast. By 6:30, while I was using nature’s toilet, the heavens opened. We all thought it was a good thing the rains didn’t happen at night! Equipped with raincoats, we continued shooting after breakfast. Secille and Choy found a dead brown […]