Philippines 2023

Stayed at the beautiful Salaya Beach Houses, an amazing dive resort with big rooms, great food and an amazing staff!  The dive team does a great job of finding the little things in the muck, and are very helpful with guests.  Highly recommended.

Me on the glass bridge overlooking the valley
Salaya Resort Pool
Salaya Resort Rooms
Resort Grounds
Resort Grounds
Salaya Resort Rooms
Inside our Room
Kitchen
Outside the Room
Token Clown Fish
Ornate Ghost Pipefish
Marine File Snake
Apo Island Coral
Apo Island Coral
Apo Island Coral
Turtle
Bioluminescent Coral
Sunrise
Stonefish
Ribbon Eel
Painted Frogfish
Painted Frogfish
Nudibranch
Fingered Dragonet
Brown Mantis Shrimp
Dragon Nudibranch
Whale Shark
Swimming with Whale Sharks
Skeleton Shrimp
Orange-margined Amina Nudibranch
Emperor Shrimp (I think)
Fimbriated Moray
Waterfall
Waterfall
Salaya at Night
Salaya Buffet
Me on the glass bridge overlooking the valley (May 2, 2023)

Me on the glass bridge overlooking the valley (May 2, 2023)

Salaya Resort Pool (Apr 25, 2023)

Salaya Resort Pool (Apr 25, 2023)

Salaya Resort Rooms (Apr 25, 2023)

Salaya Resort Rooms (Apr 25, 2023)

Resort Grounds (Apr 25, 2023)

Resort Grounds (Apr 25, 2023)

The beautiful grounds right behind the swimming pool

Resort Grounds (Apr 25, 2023)

Resort Grounds (Apr 25, 2023)

Salaya Resort Rooms (Apr 25, 2023)

Salaya Resort Rooms (Apr 25, 2023)

Inside our Room (Apr 25, 2023)

Inside our Room (Apr 25, 2023)

Kitchen (Apr 25, 2023)

Kitchen (Apr 25, 2023)

Outside the Room (Apr 25, 2023)

Outside the Room (Apr 25, 2023)

Token Clown Fish (Apr 28, 2023)

Token Clown Fish (Apr 28, 2023)

They were all over, so might as well have a token picture of one

Ornate Ghost Pipefish (Apr 28, 2023)

Ornate Ghost Pipefish (Apr 28, 2023)

Hard to find

Marine File Snake (Apr 28, 2023)

Marine File Snake (Apr 28, 2023)

That is algae growing on its head.  It took a few days to get an identification of this, the divemasters had never seen it before, or others familiar with the Philippines

Apo Island Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Apo Island Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Lettuce Coral in the foreground

Apo Island Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Apo Island Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Organ Pipe Coral on the left, 

Apo Island Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Apo Island Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Turtle (Apr 29, 2023)

Turtle (Apr 29, 2023)

Feeding on the reef and sea grapes.  The little green nodules are sea grapes, and apparently are safe for humans to eat.

Bioluminescent Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Bioluminescent Coral (Apr 29, 2023)

Sunrise (Apr 30, 2023)

Sunrise (Apr 30, 2023)

Stonefish (Apr 30, 2023)

Stonefish (Apr 30, 2023)

Very poisonous, highly toxic

Ribbon Eel (Apr 30, 2023)

Ribbon Eel (Apr 30, 2023)

Juvenile.  The body turns blue as an adult, the yellow ribbon remains

Painted Frogfish (Apr 30, 2023)

Painted Frogfish (Apr 30, 2023)

This was about 3 inches long, but the diopter helps to make it look bigger.

Painted Frogfish (Apr 30, 2023)

Painted Frogfish (Apr 30, 2023)

Juvenile. This was about 1/2 inch, taken from no more than 2 inches from it with a diopter.

Nudibranch (Apr 30, 2023)

Nudibranch (Apr 30, 2023)

Philippines is home to very large number of nudibranchs,

Fingered Dragonet (Apr 30, 2023)

Fingered Dragonet (Apr 30, 2023)

Brown Mantis Shrimp (Apr 30, 2023)

Brown Mantis Shrimp (Apr 30, 2023)

Dragon Nudibranch (Apr 30, 2023)

Dragon Nudibranch (Apr 30, 2023)

Whale Shark (May 1, 2023)

Whale Shark (May 1, 2023)

Swimming with Whale Sharks (May 1, 2023)

Swimming with Whale Sharks (May 1, 2023)

Yeah, that's me

Skeleton Shrimp (May 2, 2023)

Skeleton Shrimp (May 2, 2023)

Super small, maybe the size of fishing line

Orange-margined Amina Nudibranch (May 2, 2023)

Orange-margined Amina Nudibranch (May 2, 2023)

Emperor Shrimp (I think) (May 2, 2023)

Emperor Shrimp (I think) (May 2, 2023)

Fimbriated Moray (May 3, 2023)

Fimbriated Moray (May 3, 2023)

Waterfall (May 4, 2023)

Waterfall (May 4, 2023)

This was in the interior of the island

Waterfall (May 4, 2023)

Waterfall (May 4, 2023)

Salaya at Night (May 4, 2023)

Salaya at Night (May 4, 2023)

Salaya Buffet (May 4, 2023)

Salaya Buffet (May 4, 2023)

The buffet set up for the last night at Salaya