28/10/2025
An Unexpected Shoal
On the 2nd day of the dive festival, Vladimir Elazegui of Scuba de Oro, our Camiguin dive operator for this year's Camiguin Dive Familiarization Tour called me up early and said what many divers dread to hear, "Bai, waves are big, we can't go to our target sites today." . He further said, that they can't even go out of the bay where their boat was moored safely and so the only dives, if we are diving in this condition, it would be in that part. But he said, there is a nearby shoal within that small bay called Cantaan Shoal, BUT PLEASE MANAGE THEIR EXPECTATIONS. Coming off from a Mantigue Island Dive the previous day, I would get why he wanted me to make sure that the guests would not be expecting too much of this site so I told the group to be safe, IT'S GOING TO BE A MACRO DIVE but I got lazy in changing my already prepared wide-angle set-up... and boy was being lazy right.. :-D :-D :-D Cantaan Shoal is another wide-angle paradise. At a top of about 15-16m, it slopes down gently but what is interesting with the shoal is that it has multiple "flavors". Fancy a bed of soft corals, click click click, a row of foliose corals, click click click, a field of branching corals, click click click, and all within a single dive. The conditions weren't perfect (gray overcast skies resulting to darker waters) but the diversity and colors of this dive site is absolutely amazing. Another hidden gem Beneath the Waves of Camiguin.
Shot on location during the recently concluded 2025 Camiguin Isle Dive Familiarization Tour.
Thank you to the Department of Tourism - Northern Mindanao Office , CAMIGUIN TOURISM OFFICE, Dive NorthMin for another opportunity to showcase the beauty Beneath our Waves.
With buddies RD Elaine Unchuan, Ram Yoro , Cajapin of DivePlan.Ph , Nielsen , Diver Bliss , Dennis Corpuz Photography , cee of explorers travel and tours , , ocampo , and Andy Pope.
Gear used: scuba , Garmin Philippines mk3i, Philippines G9ii with Olympus 8mm pro FE inside an Ikelite Underwater Systems DL200 housing with dome port and lighted by 2x
Underwater Video & Photo hybrid flashes.
