Just the vacation I was talking about! This is my third time here in Mindoro, I didn't see that much live corals but I found several uncommon fauna.On the rocky coral formation where our boat was anchored on, I saw what first seemed to be a cuttlefish. But when it changed colors (spotted to total black) and was strutting to and fro several crevices I was certain it was an octopus, by way of its web-like tentacles. I'd say the head was the size of a family-sized watermelon. I dunno if it was trying to catch some prey but there were damsels nearby. At close watch were a pair of large pipette fishes about 2 feet long (I'm unsure what they were but they were slender and transparent like pipettes). Later on in my snorkelling, I found a moray eel and a crown-of-thorns starfish, a voracious coral destroyer (comes second to man I guess).
It's the first time I saw a Moorish Idol (the one with the big scar on Finding Nemo, costs a lot from a petshop) about a foot long though, it appeared to be parenting a juvenile. Too bad they weren't interested in the bits of bread I was swooshing around. I still had enormous fish attention though - trust your good ol' damsels for that.
I think we haggled too much: the boatman must've decided the location (full of dead corals) was already worth our 1000 pesos. But it wasn't bad at all, the sea floor wasn't entirely dead, plus the sight of the octopus in action puts the entire experience a step further.
