Coral Triangle

29 May 2009 From summers 2000 to 2003, we prided ourselves in being the first to organize tours for European tourists to see whale sharks in Donsol. We stopped when we immigrated to Australia. We have not been back since, and tonight, we will make our long bus pilgrimage to the land of whale sharks […]

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 […]

11 – 15 May 2009 N11 08.170 E119 39.287 When we saw mariculture listed amongst the subjects WWF wished us to document, my first thought was Jewelmer. For many years, we have longed to photograph a pearl farm to see how the famed South Sea Pearls came to be. An organic jewel made by a […]

9-10 May 2009 N11 08.994 E119 19.267 Lunch in a resort such as MIR and LIR means you are spoilt for choice. When asked, “Where would you like to have your lunch, ma’am?” I’d scratch my head and ask, “Where would you suggest we go?” Every place sounds and looks like paradise, with palm trees, white […]

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 […]

2 – 4 May 2009 N10 46.959 E119 26.645 Typhoon Crising went past the Western side of Occidental Mindoro, causing a downpour in Taytay, Palawan. These were unusual times, the locals said. The town fiesta on May 1-4 had always been graced with sunny weather and Amihan (or northeast tradewinds) in the past. Now the […]

2 – 4 May 2009 N10 47.016 E119 24.122 Finally, we have good Internet connection! We’re back in Manila, and can backtrack and report on the last three weeks of our Palawan adventure. We’ll start with rare dolphins . . . We could not imagine going to Malampaya Sound for just a few days, thinking we would […]

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 […]