April 19, 2026
If you have been following along, you know I really hoped to see an active
Octopus here, swimming through the water. What I didn't specify is what size the
Octopus
would be in that wish! Here in
Raja Ampat we have noticed that our dive masters and guides are really focused on the tinest creatures, in these huge oceans. They carrying writing boards to tell us what we are looking at, because we are talking things the size of a finger tip! So I did
technically get my dream of seeing an
Octopus in flight! Meet the rare and deadly (their sting can kill you in 3 minutes)
Blue Ringed Octopus! He is the small purple and yellow dotted piece cling to the corals below (on the bottom right). You would think just another coral - until you see him move in videos below. Enjoy!
He really is kinda fascinating - he changes colors between flying and landing to better blend with the corals he stops on - somtimes he is white body other times yellow. We watched him for several minutes and it's a good thing I didn't know about the poisonous venom until we were out of the water!
Somewhere in the South China Sea, i n a galaxy far, far away ... was the Odyssey and a bunch of fun loving travelers....who had an idea for a fun cocktail party!
Yesterday we joined in with many of our fellow residents to take in some of the many water spots around Coron . We signed up through Get Your Guide, others used Trip Advisor and they both contracted with Psalms Travel Services in Coron. As I've explained before, figuring out our excursions in each port, is a big time suck for me. We prefer to find local venders without having to go through the big agencies (because you usually can get better service, pricing and customization) but sometimes it is just easier to stick with the big guys, when the excursion is super popular. Psalms turned out to be an excellent operator and I laughed when I saw they had used the below images on their Facebook page today. Didn't realize my pink dry bag stood out so much!
We are currently docked at the port of CORON , in the Palawan archipelago islands, of the Philippines . While the port itself is nothing special, and the surrounding town is hardly thriving, the people here are amazingly friendly, joyful and so happy to be around! You can see from below, they have a ton of hotels and restaurants but mostly it's their water actives that attract a fair number of tourist. Known for their crystal clear water, dramatic limestone cliffs and powdery white sand beaches. June is the start of the rainy season, but so far the weather has been good.