I spent a week at the Tuburan Baybay Dive Resort, on Panay Island in the Philippines as a guest of my friend Beppe Lauria and his partners. Half an hour away from Caticlan-Boracay airport, the resort consists of 8 comfortable and well aired cottages, almost invisible among the vegetation of the hill overlooking a beautiful white beach. The restaurant offers a great cuisine and there is a spa for a regenerating massage. The dive center sitting on the beach provides all the required diving gear. A long bamboo bridge takes you to the boats, the typical local bancas with their wide outriggers.

Dives are surprising and certainly the best I ever had in the Philippines. As soon as you get in the water, you realize that this sea is a major biodiversity dispersion center. Gorgonians, black corals, soft corals, barrel and pipe sponges, and a myriad of multicolored fishes and invertebrates are found in any crack, on any surface, on plateau and cliffs. The water is clear, with an occasional light suspension, but the visibility is always optimal. Easily you feel embarassed whether to concentrate on the underwater landscape and on the more conspicuous subjects, or to engage in the search for the small: nudibranchs, shrimps or miniature frog fishes.