I was diving with Sea Explorers who has a very good infrastructure to serve the needs of underwater photographers.
Cabilao is located at the west side of Bohol island facing Cebu island. The reefs around Cabilao are rich in coral growth and macro life. But, accidentally you can also spot bigger marine wildlife such as mobula rays, eagle rays, turtles, or sharks.
And there are several places to see for example several species of pigmy sea horses (hippocampus bargibanti in different colors, hippocampus denise).
Currents are quite predictable in the area so that dive guides can very well adapt to skill of divers, or whites and interest of their guests.
There can be found some very rare to spot species too.The pigmy sea dragon, or pigmy pipe horse on the right is only one of them.
This is a species incredibly difficult to photograph.
It is very small. The sea dragon shown here was not longer than 5 mm and constantly moving.
This one was living in a coral hidden in a little cave where it was hard to position camera and strobes.
The hardest part is actually finding the subject in the view finder of the camera, or if you are using a compact camera on the display.
This one was feeding on star fish and living quite local.
Also here, the photographic challenge was to get the right point of view and correct positioning of the light without destroying the reef.
Taking macro pictures under water needs patience, good diving (buoyancy) skills, a buddy assisting, and most important diving in a very small group. There is nothing more annoying than photographers queuing behind subjects and stressing each other to get equal exposure to opportunities.
More images can be found at my website at www.andreasrmueller.com
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