February of 2012 found thirty divers headed off with UW photographer and Ikelite dealer David Haas of Haas Photography, traveling to the beautiful Philippines.

The Philippines are comprised of over 7,000 islands in Southeast Asia, forming the second largest archipelago in the world. Predominantly English speaking along with native Tagalogh, Philippinos love visitors and especially divers!

Terri Huber, Pacific Travel Specialist of Deep Blue Adventures, arranged all the details for my guests at the beautiful Atlantis Resort on Sabang Bay, Puerto Galera. Atlantis Resort owners Andy Pope and Gordon Strahan and their superb staff pulled out all the stops for our 26 Ikelite shooters during Ikelite's 50th ANNIVERSARY!

With boat rides starting at 60 seconds to the dive site and max-ing out at 8 minute away, we were able to get up to 5 boat divers in per day so everyone could shoot and shoot and shoot.... Warm water temperature at a comfortable 79°F (26°C) and minimal currents were perfect conditions for slow, lazy dives with a focus on the diverse macro photography in the area. The staff at the Atlantis go out of their way maximize your energy and bottom time. Meal times are scheduled conveniently around boat departures and the dive staff carried the burden of hauling gear around.

I shot my Canon 60D digital SLR using a a 60mm macro lens due to the fantastic critters! Whether using a DS Substrobe and TTL circuitry built into Ikelite's housings or the slave-TTL AF35 AutoFlash system, it's easy to light up corals, fish, crabs and all manner of mind boggling animals without troublesome manual settings. Dive guides repeatedly found us things that blew or minds.... like a Wonderpuss AND a Mimic Octopus on the SAME DIVE!!!!

Join us on our next adventure capturing great photos! :)

Equipment featured:

Canon EOS 60D

For more information on David Haas please visit: www.HaasImages.com

For more information on Deep Blue Adventures please visit: www.deepblueadventures.com

For more information on the Atlantis Resort please visit: www.atlantishotel.com

Thanks to the readers of Tauchen, a monthly dive magazine in Germany, for voting Ikelite "Best Underwater Housing" for 2012! We remain strongly committed to providing the best features and performance at the most affordable price.

New housing models for recently released cameras will be announced in rapid succession over the next few months so keep checking back with us!

For more information on Tauchen dive magazine, please visit: www.tauchen.de. For more information on Klaus Vanderheyden, please visit: www.digital-dive.de.

Ikelite's origin can be traced back to a man nicknamed "Ike" on a wreck dive with a group of friends in the early sixties. All of the dive lights either leaked or imploded that day. While driving home, Ike ruminated on this problem and began to imagine a better design—a dive light that was resilient, affordable and reliable. This product eventually became known as "Ike's light" and Ikelite Underwater Systems was born.

Moving forward, Ikelite continues to make innovative design accessible to every diver. Many Ikelite designs have now become so commonplace that we can hardly remember a time without them: the rotating bezel dive compass, the stainless-steel housing 'lidsnap', wireless TTL slave sensors, the strobe aiming light, a watch with integrated digital dive log, and more.

True to our roots, Ikelite remains a company of divers who celebrate community and truly enjoy the business. Thanks to all of our dealers and customers who have helped to make us a success!