Now that our swimming pool is completed (still doing a bit of landscaping, so photos will be coming soon) we decided it was time to give our staff the opportunity to try their hands at scuba diving! It was good fun, and we are very proud of you all for taking the leap to get a taste of what it is we are all so passionate about. Well done guys!

Click on images to enlarge

Check out this beautiful example of our namesake, the Blue Ribbon Eel. The juvenile and sub-adult males are jet black with a yellow dorsal fin and then turn blue when reaching maturity. This is the first time we were lucky enough to catch one making the transition in colour. We found this guy and a fully blue one at the Sabang Point dive site. Very cool to see

Marco and his group were lucky enough to spot a Thresher Shark at Kilima Drift on April 1. This will be the 20th thresher shark sighting for Marco in the past seven years, although it has been 2 years since he last saw one here in Puerto Galera.

Know your fish?

 
Named for and easily recognised by their exceptionally long, thresher-like tail or caudal fins (which can be as long as the total body length), thresher sharks are active predators; the tail is actually used as a weapon to stun prey. The thresher shark has a short head and a cone shaped nose. The mouth is generally small, and the teeth range in size from small to large.

Although occasionally sighted in shallow, inshore waters, thresher sharks are primarily pelagic; they prefer the open ocean, venturing no deeper than 500 metres (1,600 ft). Common threshers tend to be more common in coastal waters over continental shelves.

Blue Ribbon Dive Resort is pleased to announce we are the owners of 2 brand spanking new Apollo AV-2 Evolution Diver Propulsion Vehicles (DPVs/Scooters)!
These little beauties have 260Watt motors, speeds up to 2.6mph and an open water cruising range of 2.25 – 4.5 miles!

Enquire about doing your DPV Speciality Course with us an experience the thrill and exhiliration of zooming around underwater and making others divers green! They also help you conserve energy and air when diving which means you can cover a longer range and have a longer dive. Great fun!

Fitness freaks …. Blue Ribbon Dive Resort is proud to now be able to offer you a convenient opportunity to maintain your fitness while on vacation with us. Our newly constructed gym has a multigym machine, free weights and a full size punching bag, so you can keep burning off those calories (which we probably helped you put on in the restaurant!)

Our swimming pool is also under construction, so keep an eye out for more updates on that.

Blue Ribbon Dive Resort is now offering different international cuisines every night of the week. At only P395 per person, our food is sure to delight your pocket as well as your taste buds!

Mexican Mondays	Chicken Fajtas Beef Burritos Quesadillas Tacos el Pastor Mexican rice, Tomato-Chilli Salsa, Sour Cream
German Tuesdays	Creamy Kartoffel Soup Bread & Liverwurst Pork Schnitzel Kartoffel Salad Sauerkraut Rodkol
Thai Wednesdays	Tom Kai Gai – Spicy Shrimp Soup & Prawn Crackers Red/Green Thai Curry Creamy Beef Curry Jasmine Rice Vegetable Spring Rolls
Indian Thursdays	Papadoms with Mango Chutney & Pickles Chicken Tika Masala Beef Madras Pork Vindaloo Korma Curry Onion Bajis Pila Rice Naan & Chapati Bread
Seafood Buffet Fridays	Paella Seafood Risotto Marinara Pasta Seafood Curry Baked Tuna Mussels in Celery & White Wine sauce Make Your Own Salad (prawns, olives & much more)
Stateside Saturdays	American Style Pork Baby Back Rib BBQ! Mash Potato & Chunky Chips Mixed Veg
Sunday Roast	Roast Lamb / Beef / Pork Yorkshire Pudding Roast Potatoes Broccolli / Cauliflower Gravy / Mint Sauce / Apple Sauce

A couple of weeks ago Marco and his dive group were lucky enough to see a Bryde’s Whale in Manila Channel! Unfortunately nobody had a camera with them at the time Hopefully this will not be the last we see of this majestic creature.

In case you are wondering, Bryde’s Whales are baleen whales or great whales (which are characterised by having baleen plates for filtering food from water, rather than having teeth). They prefer tropical and temperate waters over the polar seas that other whales in their family frequent, and are largely coastal rather than pelagic. Bryde’s whales are very similar in appearance to sei whales and almost as large. Females average over 42 feet (13 m), ranging between 40–50 feet (12–15 m). On average females weigh 26,400 pounds (12,000 kg), weighing up to 55,000 pounds (25,000 kg). Males are usually slightly smaller than females.

We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled in case this beauty shows up again, and maybe next time we will be lucky enough to get some photos.

Ok, so we took our sweet time getting this article out, but we figured better late than never, seeing as we have the photos of some of the delicious Valentine’s Day meals, we still want to share them with you!

Shown above are:

• Creamy vegetable Soup
• Asian infused Seafood Platter with sushi, fish saty, vegeatbel tempura, baked mussels and grilled prawns.
• Beef tenderloin in a red wine and mushroom sauce, served with broccoli, cauliflower and mashed potatoes.
• Exotic rum Banana Split.

As many of you will already know, the waters of Puerto Galera are famous for dive sites with amazing opportunities for macro photography (close-up, usually very small subjects). In this guide we aim to provide you with some helpful advice on the preparation for, and shooting of, excellent underwater macro shots.

Choosing your macro subject

Before you even get in the water, you should do some research about how to plan getting some great macros. Talk to some of the dive guides about which sites may provide you with the best opportunities. What sort of depth are these sites at? What kind of current and visibility can you expect? See if it’s possible to see some photographs already taken at these sites, and get some idea of what subjects are producing the best results. If you already have some idea of what sort of lighting and composition works best, your task will be far easier when you encounter the subject you wish to photograph.

Once you enter the water, you should have an idea of what it is you are looking for, and in what sort of habitats to be looking. Should another photographer already be shooting something you want to photograph, remember your manners, and keep some distance away and take care not to stir up any silt. If you can get in the photographer’s line of sight he/she will know you are interested in photographing that subject.

When to Shoot

Once you have found a subject you wish to shoot, you need to think about the composition and the moment at which you want to shoot. Take a moment to observe your subject to see if it is exhibiting any behaviour. Will it change position/posture/colour? Is is likely to ambush another animal? I little bit of patience while observing your subject will pay off great dividends if you know when will be the best moment to capture your image.

Composition, Lighting, and Focus

There are 6 things to keep in mind when looking for that perfect macro shot: Composition, Lighting,  Background, Focus, Exposure and Depth of Field.

• Composition
  Try to get as low as possible without stirring up silt, and start evaluating different compositions. Do you want a head-on shot? Full frame? Diagonal? Or even from underneath? Getting a good composition can often be the most difficult part; not only will you need to decide on which angle has the most aesthetic appeal, but your skills as a diver will also be put to the test. Controlling your body position and buoyancy is crucial. No hanging onto reefs!

• Lighting (Strobe position)
  Think about your strobe position based on the texture of the subject, and the water visibility. What lighting is going to produce the best results?  Front, side or back lighting? Do you need to worry about backscatter (strobe light reflecting on particles in the water, causing ‘orbs’) Do you want  to position your strobes for a black background? Most macro photographers will have diffusers on their strobes,  giving the light a softer look that looks often looks better in macros.

• Background
  Your background can make or break your shot. Think about the colour: Black, blue or green? Do you want it in focus or blurred? Is there an interesting object nearby that can be incorporated in the background? Is it possible  to carefully move the subject to a better background without stressing the subject? Sometimes a lembeh stick can be used to carefully reposition crabs or shrimps. Don’t use your dive gloves, they may injure or stick to the subject. Do not risk injuring a subject or causing it to flee its habitat just to get the shot you want.

• Focus
  Usually you will want to focus on the eyes or rhinophores. Lock the  focus on them and recompose your shot. If your housing/camera allows it, you may wish to switch to a continuous focusing mode, which will allow you to shoot without the camera “locking” focus. This can be very helpful when shooting supermacro, especially if you or your subject are moving.

• Exposure
  You will need to check your display and/or histogram to ensure a proper exposure. If you are using a TTL Converter (automatically sets the exposure of your strobes when they fire) you will almost always have a proper exposure, but sometimes you may need to adjust it up or down. If you are shooting manual, you’ll adjust your strobe power up or down. A TTL converter is a big help in shooting macro, and you really won’t need to worry about exposure most of the time. Shooting macro without a TTL can be a big disadvantage.

• Depth of Field
  Closely related to the background;  How much DOF do you need, or want, for the composition you have chosen? Do you want a blurred or sharp background? Is the ambient light so strong I need a small aperture to help block it out? (Common in clear, shallow water at mid-day). All these factors will help you determine the proper f-stop to use for the shot.  Remember – there is no best F-stop for macro photography. A large aperture (small f-stop) will blur the background, and a small aperture will bring more of the background into focus.

After The Shot

If there is another photographer waiting for the subject, show them exactly where the subject is before leaving the scene. Be careful that you don’t loose the location of a subject; you can plant your lembeh stick next to the subject, so you can retrieve another photographer and bring them to the exact location. Your lembeh stick can also be used to stick in the ground when a current is sweeping you towards another dive taking a photograph. This way you can stay out of the way without kicking up silt.

We hope you found this article useful and informative. Feel free to leave any comments or questions below.

Bookmark us and keep an eye out for more articles helping you to become a better diver. Follow the link if you’d like to see more of our great underwater photos.

We would like to thank all of the MAD team, and especially Alex Siegel for organizing what turned out to be an Awesome weekend of diving at Blue Ribbon Dive Resort.

MAD (Manila Aqua Divers) is a diving group of mainly Manila expats living in Manila, that all share the love for diving. We here at Blue Ribbon Dive Resort have had the pleasure of diving with quite a few of its members before, yet this was the first true MAD organized trip.

MAD arrived early on the morning of the 21st Jan, all eager to get back in the water. On the first day we dove at Dungon Wall, Alma Jane, Dalaruan Wrecks then Giant Clams as a night dive.

Due to the colder waters at the moment (down from 30 degrees Celsius to around 26 degrees at present), a lot more critters seem to come up from the cooler water. Flamboyant Cuttlefish seem to be in abundance at the moment. Marco our new Instructor who had only ever seen 4 in his life, managed to find 2 on one dive at Sabang Wrecks. We also had a lot of pipefish, such as the Ornate and the Robust Ghost Pipefish.

There are lots more great photos, so be sure to read the whole article!
In the evening we enjoyed the ‘MAD Buffet’, a selection of our dishes served at our International Restaurant. Everyone had quite an early night after the talking of the day’s dives.

The second day, we all went to Verde Island. The sky was blue with only a few clouds on the horizon. Verde was epic. Visibility of around 30-40m, on the wall side of the ‘Drop Off’ it was Nudibranch galore, along with a school of Jacks seeming to attack a very large Octopus. On our second dive, the volcanic activity was very visible, with bubbles of gas streaming from the ocean floor from about 20m to 25m. After we came up shallow towards the wall, we found shoals of Barracuda, Trevallies, Jacks & Sweetlips, along with the schools of Redtooth Triggerfish that are in their thousands at Verde.

Then we headed to the Sawang Beach Camp, where we found our BBQ readily cooked for us. We ate, refreshed ourselves, then left for our last dive.

We headed over to ‘The Washing Machine’ . No surface current, and no signs that the washing machine was ‘on’. So we all jumped in and had a slow drift dive towards the mini canyons. It then, as can happen at Verde, picked up quite quickly, and gave us all a bit of an exhilarating dive. Alex before the dive had told me he’d never seen the current strong at the Washing Machine. This time we all did!

We headed home, and the few of us that still could handle meat after the BBQ, had an English Roast at Blue Ribbon, while others had Pizza.

On the Monday, we did a couple of dives. Hole in the Wall, a drift dive where you often see schools of Giant Trevallies and sometimes Tuna hunting in the current, and then back to Dalaruan Wrecks for one final muck dive.

It was a great weekend, and was a pleasure having MAD diving with us.

Thank you all for coming.

Jon and the entire Blue Ribbon Team