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Love Frogfish? Then you will love Atmosphere!

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Love Frogfish? Yes? Then you are going to love Atmosphere Resort & Spa! Located in Dauin, on the island of Negros Oriental near Dumaguete, in The Philippines, this is frogfish heaven. Whether you are diving the famous Apo Island, with its wonderful coral reef (more on this another time) or exploring the local reefs and muck dives, there are frogfish wherever you look. This is the capital of the world for Frogfish.

We love frogfish so much, we named our company after them. So, it was with some excitement that we headed to Atmosphere, as not only did we know that we would be spending lots of time with our favourite weird fish, but Atmosphere has another treat for all frogfish fans – a resident expert – Daniel Geary (or Dr Frogfish)!

Daniel wrote the PADI Frogfish Specialist Course and teaches it exclusively at the resort. The course starts with a two hour classroom session. Daniel goes into detail about the history of frogfish, such as the first ever drawings/encounters written in history, working our way up to the present and highlighting some of the important scientists that furthered our knowledge of frogfish.

He talks about general frogfish biology on subjects such as body morphology, predation, reproduction, movement, and distribution. The final topic is the identification segment, and, according to Daniel, that is the most important part of the course. He goes through a few main species in heavy detail, then talks about some of the rare species in moderate detail, touching on the super rare species just to show they exist and to see cool photos.

The course is centred around Indo-Pacific frogfish, but he can add frogfish from anywhere to tailor it to the diver taking the course. Participants then go for two dives, with the dive site chosen depending on the abundance of frogfish at that time of the year.

Daniel says: ” Normally we see between 2 and 5 species. We can expect anywhere from 1 to 30 frogfish during a course. My record is 36. During the dives themselves, our main objective is to locate the frogfish. We then measure them, take notes of habitat and any behaviour observed, and if brave, the students can guess identification underwater using hand signals. I bring my camera, and students are encouraged to bring theirs, so that we can properly identify the frogfish after the dive.”

After the second dive, the students have a debriefing session where they go through the photos. As a team, with the students leading, we identify each frogfish we spotted and look at their behaviour as well. The objective is for the students to identify the frogfish with minimal help. After the course, they get a free t-shirt, PADI certification, and a pdf file of Daniel’s custom Frogfish of the Visayas ID Guide.

Alas, there was not enough time on our trip for us to complete the Frogfish Specialist Course, but we did attend one of Daniel’s talks on his favourite subject of Frogfish, which are a popular evening event. We got to hear first-hand about his passion for frogfish, see some of his impressive images and learn plenty more about them, whilst sipping on a cool beer, after a great day of diving.

The diving was a real treat, and whilst we took in far more than just frogfish on this trip (more about this soon) it was amazing just how many different species and individual frogfish we encountered, from the miniscule ones, barely bigger than a grain of sand, to the very large ones camouflaged against sponges. Frogfish are incredible fish, with the ability to blend in to match their surroundings and then strike at their prey with ferocious speed. They use a special appendage to “fish” for their prey, dangling a lure out in front of their mouths. They tend to walk along the seabed and look clumsy when trying to move from one place to another. Be careful – they can become an obsession!

For more information please follow the links below:

Atmosphere Resorts & Spa

The Official UK Travel Guide for The Philippines


Underwater Photography Equipment Used:

  • Olympus OMD EM-1 MKII with 60mm lens
  • Nauticam housing
  • INON Z-240 strobes

and

  • Nikon D800 with 105mm lens
  • Nauticam housing
  • INON Z-240 strobes

Nick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology. They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered. Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus. To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com

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Palaemon Divers shortlisted for top Business Award

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North West-based Dive Centre, Palaemon Divers, has been shortlisted for Leisure and Tourism Start Up of the Year with Start Up Awards 2023.

Palaemon Divers is delighted to be named a finalist in the Awards which celebrate Start Up Businesses and what they have brought to the economy within three years of their launch.

Palaemon Divers was started by Leanne Clowes in the midst of COVID lockdowns. Leanne walked out of her well paid corporate sales job with no savings after a redundancy in a previous role and spending the majority of the year before COVID to follow the dream! After the redundancy and COVID, life struck just a little differently and the pull to become a full-time dive instructor became impossible to ignore!

So with that… notice was handed in, no savings, nothing physical to start being a full time dive instructor other than personal kit at the time – oh and the fact, Leanne was actually an Assistant Instructor at the time and hadn’t attended the instruction exam at that point as there had been none going on through COVID obviously!

However, the first Instructor Exam that was happening out of COVID was booked onto – no pressure at all with no full time job, no money as a back up, mortgage and bills to pay…

Leanne started freelancing as an instructor in the North West using various outdoor locations for training, and the business snowballed and quickly gained its first physical dive centre in January 2022 along with finding their own private in-water training facility at Princes Dock in Liverpool. Since then, 100s of new people from Liverpool and further afield have been introduced to the amazing sport of scuba, and experienced the abundant life under the surface of the dock itself.

In a time of no travel to outside your area or abroad, Palaemon Divers found something new and exciting to introduce the city of Liverpool to those who spend five days a week in the office looking down at the dock and not really being able to appreciate what the dock actually means to Liverpool!

It became apparent during 2022, that although Liverpool was fantastic, more growth was on the cards which came in the form of a second location, Palaemon Divers – Warrington. The second dive centre is an ex micro brewery in Warrington with a central location close to the M6, M62 and M56, spread over two floors which includes a classroom, workshop, compressor and a floor dedicated to retail.

The efforts in building this business have not gone unnoticed with the shortlist for Startup Awards, and also another shortlist which will be announced in the next month.

For more, email or visit: 

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Gear Reviews

Gear Review: Quilted Polar Hat from Otter Watersports (Watch Video)

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In a video shot exclusively for Scubaverse.com, Jeff Goodman reviews the Quilted Polar Hat from leading drysuit manufacturer Otter Watersports.

For more information, visit www.otterwatersports.uk.

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