I tested the camera and housing this morning on a dive on the Miniloc house reef and it was glorious. As with all new gadgets, it took some getting used to. For one thing, the camera itself was unfamiliar. Haha. The G12′s been with Kring since it arrived last year so today was the first time I’d actually used it for an extended period of time. Case in point: I plugged in the strobe plug in the camera’s hotshoe. The thing is, I didn’t have a strobe. HAHA. End result: I disabled the on-camera flash and left myself with no other light source *facepalm* Second, the housing is humongous compared to the Canon S95 ultracompact housing that I’m used to. You need both hands to operate it – not easy when you’re trying to line up your shot and the current has other things in mind. Ah well.  Every dive is a learning experience

I did manage to take some decent photos:

Red lionfish (Pterois volitans). General rule of the ocean: if it's colorful and moves slowly, it's dangerous.

Giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis). This guy can reach up to 1.7 meters long!

Bigeye scad (Selar crumenophthalmus). They're not particularly colorful but they're pretty impressive when you see them in schools.

Here’s to more outings with our new toy!

Related articles

• Enchanting El Nido episode 8 – giant trevally, scad, bumphead parrotfish (elnidoenvironment.wordpress.com)

One last photo of the whale shark seen last February 8:

Whale shark with Marine Sports Guide Vladimir (photo by Lee Goldman)

Hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings from Dilumacad on February 9:

Hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings racing towards home. Go go go!

Hauling our used oil to Puerto Princesa then on to Batangas for treatment on February 9:

Hauling our used oil in the dead of night

In costume for the first weekend of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D on February 11:

Philippine Rebel Legion and 501st represent! And whee! I have my Jedi protector with me

Then on to Aids’ 33rd birthday on February 14, which was celebrated with dinner with his family, a kick-ass movie in the form of “Chronicle” (go watch it! Witness the origins of a teenage supervillain!), and a gig in Saguijo with his band Stereodeal and his music family (Paranoid City and Stranger Danger). Yay hung out with Ruth! Had lunch and dessert with Danes in BHS.

February 14 and 15 also meant going to pole class with Polecats Manila! My body hurt after two successive days of class after a months-long hiatus @_@  I also went to UP to consult with Ate Mags regarding my thesis (Sir Perry wasn’t available). I got my new glasses too. Hooray for Transition lenses!

I’m now back on the island and working. Coming up: training, training, and more training! And ooh, Death Cab for Cutie in March! YAAAAAY!

*This blog post was written after eating several pieces of chocolate and a custard cake. The writer may or may not be on a sugar high.*

Yep, that is a freaking WHALE SHARK (Rhincodon typus) in front of Miniloc Island Resort. You can hear our excited squeals in the video Now, people have been spotting these whale sharks all around the bay starting December 2011 but those sightings tapered off in late January and this is my first time to see one. And I got to swim with it! How? I jumped into the water, not caring that I was in my full work uniform. No mask, no snorkel, no fins. Melo (one of our dive masters) was kind enough to lend me his mask so I could see. I swam with it for a good 10 minutes, treading water and realizing that I am severely out of shape. Sigh. It also wasn’t until later when I remembered that our uniform shorts turn transparent when wet >_< Raymond was kind enough not to say anything and just handed me a towel to wear around my waist until I got cleaned up.

The second part of what made this day awesome: my entry making it to the top 5 of the Philippine Travel Operators Association (PhilTOA) poster-making contest. YAY!!!! My entry:

Our company actually got 2 out of the 5 slots – our other entry featured my friend and coworker Rima’s turtle photo and my caption. Not bad for two Bio majors with no formal art-related training DOT Secretary Jimenez will be choosing the Top 3. I hope we win (and the prizes are awesome)!

1. Got something to say? Say it with a handmade card made of recycled materials.

Cheesy yet effective. And Earth-friendly too!

2. Sweeten the deal with locally-made chocolate.

Give chocolate with a Filipino twist. Theo & Philo sells chocolate made with cacao beans from Davao and sugar from Bacolod, with varieties like Barako (milk chocolate with organic barako coffee), Labuyo (dark chocolate with chili), and Green Mango & Salt (dark chocolate with dried green mangoes and salt). My friend Rima vouches for the deliciousness of their dark chocolate.

3. Flatter with organic flowers.

4. Give stuffed animals with more heart.

5. Cooking is caring.

6. Spend a day outside. 
This can tie in with #5. Cook your organic food early, pack a basket, and picnic in a nature park or other protected area. Your park entrance fees go towards the protection and maintenance of the park and their environmental education initiatives. Both the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center and the La Mesa Ecopark are within Metro Manila and are easily accessible. Other possibilities are the Hundred Islands National Park in Pangasinan and Apo Reef Natural Park in Mindoro Occidental. For the ultimate and Earth-loving romantic getaway, consider a luxury green hotel within the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area. Activities like snorkeling, diving, windsurfing, kayaking, birdwatching, and hiking maximize your enjoyment of nature’s wonders while minimizing your environmental impact. Their partner airline also offers a carbon offset program, where a minimum donation buys six seedlings that will be planted and taken care of in your name in the Brgy. Villa Libertad watershed area.

Aids and I got to watch the opening night of “Mamma Mia!” in CCP last January 24. It was so much fun! Have I mentioned how much I love musicals? Because I do. I really, really do I’d already seen the movie with Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried but as with all movie musicals that started from the stage, it’s much better in its original format.

I loved the cast! I could feel their energy even way in the back. For the record, balcony seats in the CCP Main Theater aren’t that bad. Yes you’re high up but you can still see the actors’ faces and expressions. Their dancing was just superb. No better tribute to ABBA than a kickass dance number.

We noticed a little something about the singing though. Taken individually, the actors’ voices sounded a bit thin compared to our local singers. It was especially noticeable during “Dancing Queen” and “Chiquitita”. However, they sound absolutely amazing as an ensemble. Their voices blend well and nobody’s trying to outdo anybody. Contrast this with our local singers, who try to out-belt each other at every opportunity. Perhaps there’s something to be learned there.

My favorite part was the encore, where the entire cast goes all-out in the singing, shimmying, and spandex. The variety show numbers for “Mamma Mia!”, “Dancing Queen”, and “Waterloo” got the entire audience on their feet and singing and dancing along. These last three songs completed my night

Details for Mamma Mia’s Manila run over here.

El Nido is classified as a first-class municipality because of its tax collection, but it’s a first-class municipality where electricity only runs from 2pm to 6am the next day. This means that the elementary and high school students attending public schools sit in classrooms with no electric fans. The windows are opened to let the sunshine in. Municipal hall has its own generator so they can have electricity during business hours. The rationale for the limited electricity? There aren’t enough paying customers for the electric company to justify running their generators full-time. Not enough customers means they lose money.

The road going out of El Nido and on to Taytay barely qualifies for the name. The “road” is just hard-packed earth with potholes, gravel, and dust the whole way to Taytay. During the rainy season, the bus you’re riding in is likely to get stuck in the mud. The road only gets better from Taytay onward to Puerto Princesa, Palawan’s capital. The reason for not spending the millions necessary for a good road? Again, not enough people using it.

El Nido is a first-class municipality with no hospital. The nearest hospital is in Taytay, two hours away by land. The best hospital in Palawan is in Puerto Princesa. If you want to give birth in a good hospital, you have to make the 5-6 hour land trip to Puerto Princesa. The Rural Health Unit as one doctor and a health center for over 30,000 residents.

El Nido has no centralized sewage system. Each household gets its water either from a deep-well or from a nearby stream or river. Sewage is either stored in underground septic tanks or discharged directly into the soil. Fifteen percent of the municipality’s total population lives in the poblacion (AKA El Nido Town), which leads me to wonder just how much fecal coliform is in the seawater directly fronting the poblacion.

The point of all this is that development and change are not inherently evil. I repeat, NOT EVIL. Development is not a bad thing. Development only becomes evil when it’s uncontrolled and the ones doing the developing don’t give a shit about the environment and the local community. Case in point: the dredging and pier extension in El Nido Town to accommodate the huge RoRo (roll on, roll off) barges. The barges would supposedly bring in more tourists but according to scientists from the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute, the dredging and pier extension will change the water circulation and sand deposition pattern in the embayment. You’d lose the sand on one side of the beach and still have to re-dredge the barge lane every 10 years.

But development has its upsides too. The influx of tourism resulted in increased income for the municipality. Not changing El Nido at all means limiting the opportunities of the people who live here. It’s in the delicate balance of development and preservation where success ultimately lies. I hope to be able to see it in the years to come.

Thank goodness for plastic molds that make building sandcastles so much easier!

This photo was taken way back in 2008 on the beach of Pangulasian Island. At present, the island is the construction site for the company’s most luxurious and ambitious property to date. Pangulasian Island Resort is set to soft-open this May 2012, with the formal opening in October. Not sure yet if I’ll be transferring once the new resort opens. Let’s see what happens

I was going to call this photo “Stairway to Heaven” just because it sounds so cool but Aids pointed out that 1) it’s not a stairway, and 2) it’s not going up. Boo. Way to ruin my fun

The pier at El Nido Airport, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

Lourdes Cruz says that motherhood is one of the main reasons for the lack of female academicians in the country and elsewhere. Many women in the Philippines get first degrees — for example, 60 per cent of chemistry graduates are women — but few stay on to pursue careers in science.

“Women have greater opportunities here than in most Asian countries, but only 30 per cent of awardees [recipients of prestigious awards] are women,” says Cruz. “Sometimes you have to choose between career and family.” Cruz says this is one of the reasons she chose to remain single.

I’m estimating that the female senior faculty members of MSI are about 50/50 on the single versus married front. What I really want to know is out of the ones who are married, how many got married before getting their PhD versus those who married after getting the PhD. Why is this relevant?

Getting a PhD takes 6-7 years (maybe even longer) on top of the bachelor’s (and possibly a master’s) degree. You’d have to be very talented and/or lucky to finish before you’re 30 years old. As Philippine society considers an unmarried 30-year-old female to be borderline “old maid”, with her chances of getting married decreasing exponentially with every year past 30, the “window of opportunity” for females to meet someone, start a relationship, and get married is between the ages of 21 and 29. For the women of Philippine science, this coincides with grad school – the years of your life where you’re too busy to do anything else.

Based on the people I know, female scientists who marry or otherwise have significant others either 1) met the guy during undergrad and they kept the relationship alive and healthy throughout grad school, or 2) met and dated a co-grad student (may or may not be in the same program). I’m not saying it’s impossible for a girl in grad school to nurture a relationship with someone who’s not in grad school. It’s just that people in the same boat as you tend to be more understanding when you say you can’t go out tonight because you have to finish looking at 2,000 more photographs from your transect. I give mad props to the people who stick with their grad students (whether male or female) through these tension-filled years. Remember: this is only the beginning! There’s also the tension to be had during grant-writing, manuscript-writing, and waiting for that tenure appointment

I’m very happy to note that the “30-year-old finish line” is loosening its grip somewhat. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting to get married and have your first baby before 30, but there shouldn’t be anything wrong with wanting to delay marriage for a few years in favor of a career either.