The Esplanade, in front of the enormous Mall Of Asia, will be the venue for the first Sea Expo in the Philippines, in March of 2009. Aiming to be a showcase for boat builders, marine equipment suppliers and everything water sports, the Philippine marine industry has finally found what they hope will be a wining formula for promoting fun on and in the waters around the 7107 tropical islands that make up the Philippine archipelago.

From marina pontoons, to catamarans, trimarans and power boats, manufactured in all corners of the Philippines, to sailing clubs and purveyors of jet skis, assorted chandlery, sunblock and bikinis, th

According to dive shop operators that we spoke to within the last ten days, in Puerto Galera, Mactan Island and Subic Bay, the Philippine scuba diving business is solid and shows no signs yet of suffering from the global recession.

Part of the reason for the resilience of Philippine scuba diving was put down to the fact that most international arrivals in the past month had already booked and paid for their Philippine diving vacations long before the recession took hold in the rest of the world. But along La Laguna and Sabang Beaches in particular the resilience was attributed to the “value for money” that scuba divers can find in the Philippines. Apart from the Great Barrier Reef in Australi

Photo by Jijo de Guzman - Caliraya Lake, Laguna province, “just past Pagsanhan Falls” was the venue last weekend for the last of five legs in the national windsurfing championship season of 2008. The Caliraya Lake Commodore's Cup attracted both Filipino and international windsurfing participants; breezes of 25 to 30 knots across the lake ensured some fantastic competition and super-fast action.

The windsurfing season kicks off next year in Boracay. Between the 11th to 17th of January, 2009, you need to be at Bulabog Beach, Boracay Island, where the 21st International Fun Board Cup is almost guaranteed to surprise in the extreme. Concurrent with the windsurfing there is also