Tubbataha - Philippines Aggressor

 Hi!  We have not had internet since last Saturday ... so, you have to hear about a whole week of diving in one blog... LOL

But first, something I forgot about in Puerto Princessa.  When we went to see the Underground River we had a traditional Filipino lunch. On offer was "wormwood" - something of a slimy delicacy.  Sheri gave it a try:

.. slimy, yet satisfying ... very similar to raw oysters - Austin & Jamie would like - Marieke & Alex ... not so much! 

Anyway, back to diving.

We boarded the Philippines Aggressor on Saturday afternoon and set off overnight to Tubbataha National Marine Park with 23 other divers.

We had 5 days of wonderful diving!
Here are some of the highlights:

A couple of small, colorful clams


cute fish .... you don't expect me to know the names of all of them, do you????

turtle
another cute fish
trumpet fish


this is a little blurry but it is a crab in a soft coral.  it is hard to hold still when the current is pushing you.  Carsten did such a good job as our photographer!

clown fish - Nemo's cousins.
just pretty coral
we saw so many reef sharks! (they are not dangerous mom!)
pretty fan coral - purple!
these looked like beads - no idea what they are called...

we only saw 2 manta rays the entire trip - here is one Carsten saw here.  I was not on this dive because I had either food poisoning or a virus (as did 6-8 other guests) so ... (I'm fine now Mom!)
this is called a "nudibranch" they are weird little critters.
eel

this is a "bumphead" parrot fish.  they are quite large and strange
marbled ray
nudibranch

cool fish schooling
starfish
ok, you see the white thing just left of center that looks like coral or a little fern? that is a "ghost pipefish" fun & rare to see!
pretty blue
i called this the Hershey-kiss starfish
seahorse - about 5 inches long.  he is the biggest one we saw...

this is a juvenile clown trigger fish

this coral garden looked just like a flower garden with white flowers everywhere


just some divers hanging out at the safety stop (Mr. Safety's favorite part!)


so, we had a great time on the boat and saw cool stuff!
Tomorrow we head home - it will take us 6 flights to get home.  We know there is a more direct way but we are using a "round-the-world" ticket so we have to finish circumnavigating the globe to get home.

On Tuesday we will get TACOS!!!!!! Yahoo!

See ya soon (if you are in Houston)!

Sheri & Carsten 


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