Dumaguete MuckDumaguete Muck: A Small But Savage World Photos & Text by Mike Gerken ©Evolution Underwater Imaging LLC 2015; All Rights Reserved
A male Harlequin Shrimp with its prey, a Sea Star. The much larger female harlequin shrimp is directly over-head waiting for its mate to return with its meal (lower left image).
Dumaguete, Philippines has become one of the premier locations in the world to experience macro marine life encounters such as I just described. The array of tiny critters that can be seen here often making homes in our trash is vast. Critters with an entertaining colorful names such as flamboyant cuttlefish, clown frogfish, ornate pipefish and of course the harlequin shrimp are found in tin cans, glass bottles or boat moorings. The ‘muck diving’ as it is called is world class. Its not a glamorous name but this brand of diving is interesting all the same. Scientists are regularly discovering new species and documenting new behaviors in Dumaguete. It is all very exciting.
A Flamboyant Cuttlefish hunts with its long pair of needles which are projected out from its mouth at lighting speed snagging the unsuspecting prey. It was for these reasons that my old friend Randy Randazzo of the Hampton Dive Center in Riverhead, New York decided to escort one of his dive groups to Atlantis Resort, Dumaguete in March of 2015. I was honored to accompany Randy and his people as their photo/video pro. As an established wide-angle photographer who occasionally dabbled with macro photography, I was excited at delving in to my first encounter with ‘muck’ diving. Armed with my brand new super macro 105mm Nikkor lens I was ready to get up and close detailed shots of fish species that are often hard to spot with a human eye; at least my human eye. This is where the experienced dive guides of Atlantis Resort shined. Follow the guides and within minutes they are pointing out wee critters with their underwater pointers to us blind tourists. Their highly trained eyes rarely missed a sighting.
In closing, I can highly recommend Atlantis Resort Dumaguete for delivering a wide variety of diving with the macro subjects as the highlights. The resort is a finely tuned establishment with top-notch local talent who will make your stay a comfortable and enjoyable one. There is no shortage of underwater subject matter with over 1500 documented fish species found in the Dumaguete area; a list that will keep you happily diving and searching for all of them for a very long time.
Photo Album
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