{"id":66,"date":"2008-02-02T08:40:09","date_gmt":"2008-02-02T07:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southeastasia.fr\/blog-de-voyage\/2008\/02\/03\/retour-en-images-sur-la-faune-sous-marine-de-leyte\/"},"modified":"2021-02-21T13:49:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T12:49:29","slug":"reef-life-sogod-bay-leyte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/faune-recifs-sogod-bay-leyte-20080202\/","title":{"rendered":"The small underwater fauna of Leyte in pictures"},"content":{"rendered":"

For lack of whale shark, in Sogod Bay (Leyte), I fell back on the little people of the reef... And there's plenty to do and observe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I haven't written much since Leyte, where I started my trip to the Philippines (February 2008), because of the lack of a decent internet connection. But here I am now in Siquijor, where I write from Larena, the port and main city of the island. There is a relatively \"high speed\" internet center which will allow me to send more pictures. Here are some pictures I brought back from the reefs of Sogod Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reign of the \"little one<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So I was on the island of Leyte, in Lungsodaan near the town of Padre Burgos, to dive in the Sogod bay. On the spot, I opted for the nice little Sogod Bay Scuba Resort (SBSR)<\/a>This is the first of a series of diving courses, created by two divers, an Englishman and an Australian, living in the Philippines: Ron Sparkes and Phil McGuire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update.<\/span> <\/strong>Ron passed away in 2014, at the age of 66 or 67, as I found out years later, by visiting the page \"Our team\"<\/a> of the SBSR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My hope in Sogod Bay was to meet whale sharks<\/a>I was probably there a little too early, because they were not there yet. I was probably there a little too early, because they were not there yet...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there were plenty of other bugs to console me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A small family of clownfish. (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Snuggled<\/a>
Snuggled up against the reef, a \"tricot-striped\" snake. (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"This<\/a>
This scorpion fish is watching me bubble, impassive. (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"An<\/a>
A white antennae or \"toadfish\", standing on its fins among the coral (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
A crinoid, clinging to a branch of coral. (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"It's
Not easy to photograph a seahorse-pygmy... It is not bigger than the nail of my little finger (Sogod Bay, Leyte, January-February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On the \"small\" side, I also enjoyed nudibranchs<\/a>These little sea slugs have amazing colors (they wear their gills naked on their back, hence their name). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, nudibranchs are numerous, and their variety is spectacular... I photographed them endlessly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A beautiful flashy pink nudibranch! (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Horns<\/a>
Horns forward! (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Another<\/a>
Another one! (Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The sites of Leyte are splendid, the coral is remarkably preserved. At the moment, the visibility is not so good, which forces us to concentrate on the \"small\" more than on the \"big\". According to Ron, you have to come in summer, in July for example, to hope to have a 20-30 meters visibility. But at this period, no whale sharks to pass... <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the usual tropical fauna is there, in abundance. Max Climates, the house-reef (the part of the reef just in front of the dive center) is beautiful. The site of Napantao, on the other side of the bay, just in front of the center, with two drop-offs full of life, is my favorite, I think (sometimes the current is a bit treacherous, we are advised to be very careful, but the day I was there, nothing at all).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dive<\/a>
Dive sites in Sogod Bay. (Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Leyte, land side<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I stayed only four days in Leyte, and I think now that maybe I should have extended my stay a little bit. To do a few more dives and discover more of the surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I only found the time to push to Padre Burgos<\/strong> on a tricycle. I didn't see anything at all of Malitbog<\/strong>city located at about fifteen kilometers from where I was, where there is, if I believe my Lonely Planet<\/em>one of the oldest churches in the area, built with dead coral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The wind blows on the dead coral beach of Sogod Bay Scuba Resort. (Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a>
The road to Padre Burgos is very quiet. (Leyte, Philippines, February 2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the beach that the Sogod Bay Scuba Resort<\/a> share with the Peter's Dive Center<\/a> (the first diving center to have opened in this place, I think, at least the best known), there is a handful of shanties, half wood, half metal, and a few houses along the road, which make up the village of Lungsodaan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kids come back from school, school bags on their backs, uniforms with long plaid skirts for the girls, some of them already playing ball in the dust of the road. Everywhere, there are baskets and basketball courts, obviously more practiced than soccer, here. The American influence? The children (especially the girls, not intimidated at all!) are numerous to approach me, with the same eternal sentence, that they all had to learn in class: \"Hello! What's your name?\"<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I try to answer by articulating well. Nothing works. \"Corinne\" systematically becomes \"Cowine\" or \"Coquine\". It works better when I pretend to be called \"Corrina\", like in the song...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, a charming welcome everywhere, in this small town not much frequented by tourists. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For lack of whale sharks, in Sogod Bay (Leyte), I fell back on the little people of the reef... And there is plenty to do and observe!<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tpgb_global_settings":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[24,34,35,295,345,346,1630],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voyage-philippines-iles-visayas-2008","tag-hippocampe","tag-nudibranches","tag-philippines","tag-plongee","tag-leyte","tag-sogod-bay","tag-sogod-bay-scuba-resort-sbsr"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake.jpg?wsr","tpgb_featured_images":{"full":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake.jpg?wsr",1500,1000,false],"tp-image-grid":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake-700x700.jpg?wsr",700,700,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake-250x250.jpg?wsr",250,250,true],"medium":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake-390x260.jpg?wsr",390,260,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake-770x513.jpg?wsr",770,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/02-snake-780x520.jpg?wsr",780,520,true],"default":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/wp-content\/plugins\/the-plus-addons-for-block-editor\/assets\/images\/tpgb-placeholder.jpg"},"tpgb_post_meta_info":{"get_date":"2 February 2008","get_modified_date":"21 February 2021","category_list":{"category":[{"term_id":55,"name":"Philippines : Visayas - f\u00e9vrier 2008","slug":"voyage-philippines-iles-visayas-2008","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":55,"taxonomy":"category","description":"S\u00e9jour de 3 semaines fin janvier - d\u00e9but f\u00e9vrier 2008, dans l'archipel des Visayas, au centre des Philippines. \u00celes Leyte - Panglao - Siquijor - Negros - Cebu. ","parent":0,"count":19,"filter":"raw","term_order":"42"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":24,"name":"Hippocampe","slug":"hippocampe","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":24,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":34,"name":"Nudibranches","slug":"nudibranches","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":30,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":35,"name":"Philippines","slug":"philippines","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":35,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"L'immense archipel des Philippines est une destination de r\u00eave pour les plongeurs. Parmi les plus beaux sites : Tubbataha<\/a>, Sogod Bay<\/a>, Dauin<\/a>, Anilao<\/a>, Balicasag<\/a>, Cabilao<\/a>... Retrouvez sur cette page tous mes voyages aux Philippines.","parent":0,"count":30,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":295,"name":"Plong\u00e9e","slug":"plongee","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":38,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"La plong\u00e9e sous-marine est votre passion ? Moi aussi. Ici ou ailleurs, de la Bretagne \u00e0 l'Indon\u00e9sie, je vous emm\u00e8ne sous la surface faire des bulles et d\u00e9couvrir les merveilles de l'oc\u00e9an. Plongez \u00e0 travers l'\u00e9cran !","parent":0,"count":171,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":345,"name":"Leyte","slug":"leyte","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":350,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":346,"name":"Sogod Bay","slug":"sogod-bay","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":351,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"Sogod Bay (\u00eele de Leyte, Philippines) est un spot de plong\u00e9e magnifique, aux r\u00e9cifs coralliens pr\u00e9serv\u00e9s, gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 plusieurs aires marines prot\u00e9g\u00e9es (AMP). En saison, on peut aussi y observer des requins-baleines.","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":1630,"name":"Sogod Bay Scuba Resort (SBSR)","slug":"sogod-bay-scuba-resort-sbsr","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1635,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}]},"author_name":"Corinne Bourbeillon","author_url":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/author\/cbourbeillon\/","author_email":"corinne.pbda@gmail.com","author_website":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/corinne-bourbeillon\/","author_description":"Journaliste, plongeuse et\u00a0photographe sous-marine, Corinne adore faire des bulles avec les\u00a0poissons\u00a0! La beaut\u00e9 du monde et\u00a0de\u00a0l'oc\u00e9an lui ont inspir\u00e9 ce blog. \r\n\r\nEn savoir plus<\/a>","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Corinne","author_lastname":"Bourbeillon","user_login":"cbourbeillon","author_avatar":"","author_avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7542464a0f3c6a1baf2af7786ad5764b10f9d60908fb1278a969310cf533aedd?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","comment_count":11,"post_likes":0,"post_views":0},"tpgb_post_category":{"category":"Philippines : Visayas - f\u00e9vrier 2008<\/a> ","post_tag":"Hippocampe<\/a> Nudibranches<\/a> Philippines<\/a> Plong\u00e9e<\/a> Leyte<\/a> Sogod Bay<\/a> Sogod Bay Scuba Resort (SBSR)<\/a> "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petitesbullesdailleurs.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}