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crabs, shrimp and gobies. Nudibranchs are also a common sight, but the reefscapes are the highlight. From Dumaguete and Apo Island, we headed northeast toward Bohol and spent an amazing day diving the reefs of Balicasag . These slopes and walls boast a variety of soft corals, gorgeously colored anemones with resident anemonefish and gorgonians. Green sea turtles are seen regularly, and small schools of mackerel hang in the blue.

On one dive, several of us were chased by an aggressive titan triggerfish guarding eggs, a sight one diver didn’t notice until — too late — he got a warning nip on the leg. We did a few more dives off Bohol’s Alona Beach , a marine sanctuary that yielded fantastic opportunities for macro photography, including starfish with commensal shrimp, crocodile flatheads, gobies and blennies. Our next stop was Cabilao Island , a small landmass

between Cebu and Bohol marked by a large lighthouse. The steep walls within the marine sanctuary here boast mind-blowing soft corals in every color, red sea whips crawling with crinoids, large fans containing pygmy sea horses and schools of mackerel and bigeye trevally — as well as the best visibility of the whole trip. When the wind came up in the afternoon, our captain navigated away from the lighthouse and into a small

bay adjacent to the village of Cambaquiz. My buddy and I looked at each other with disappointment, but then we noticed the dive guides grinning at each other. We entered the water to discover an amazing white-sand muck site, and within minutes one of the guides was banging his tank frantically to alert us to the presence of his first notable find — a wonderpus. We also saw flying gurnards, a variety of tiny shrimp and crabs, razorfish and