Atlantis Hotel House Reef
The chorus of the old sad song goes, "send in the clowns."
And by the looks of things just off the sandy, coconut palm-laden shores of the Atlantis Dive Resort in Dauin, on the island of Negros Oriental in the Philippines, those clowns -- or at least clownfish -- are all here. They're here in all their orange-and-white, orange-red-and-white and orange-and-black glory, living comfortably in white, pillowy anemone to protect themselves from predators. Their childlike faces show a little apprehension when hulking humans approach them with cameras and who can really blame them?
This is the House Reef at Atlantis Hotel and all guests begin their diving trips on this site, doing a checkout dive, utilizing a shore entry, to test for proper buoyancy, weighting and to clear up any issues that may exist with gear and comfort. To start this dive, divers simply wade in chest-deep, strap on their fins, do a short surface swim, then descend along a modestly slpoing sand channel. And who wouldn't be comfortable, though, in 80-degree waters?
The House Reef features numerous discarded tires, which were set up to be artificial reefs and they're now encrusted with soft coral growth. They serve as the perfect hiding places for wildlife like the sweetlips, pictured above. But elsewhere, there's natural growth, such as the common anemone where the clownfish are playing. Here in the Philippines, as in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries' waters, there are several different kinds of clownfish, including the pandas, pictured above. As you'll discover, there are also Clark's anemonefish, pink anemonefish, saddleback clownfish, tomato anemonefish and others. And contrary to the sweet, innocent vibes of the world's most famous clownfish, "Nemo," there are some kinds which are aggressive toward divers -- or anyone or anything else they suspect are intruding on their homes.
Elsewhere in this reef, there are unusual creatures, such as the bannerfish (top left) and more common tropicals like the schooling goatfish (top right). This dive was quite a nice introduction to eight dive days here in the Philippines.
Dive Buddies: Rick and Kathy Stratton, founders and publishers of Northwest Dive News
Dive Guide: Marco Inocencio.
Max Depth: 56 feet
Total Bottom Time: 51 minutes
Water temperature: 81 degrees Farenheit
Exposure Protection: 3mm wetsuit
Air source: Enriched Air Nitrox, 32% oxygen
Photos Copyright Gil Griffin, 2009. From top, clockwise: bannerfish; a school of goatfish; a trio of panda clownfish in anemone and a sweetlips.
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