CEBU CITY, Philippines – It seems National Geographic can’t get enough of Malapascua island.In its November-December 2008 issue, Malapascua is bannered in the National Geographic Traveler magazine’s Travel Talk section where readers contribute their favorite travel photos and the stories behind them. The gold-washed photo, part of a series of silhouette shots was taken by Jacob Maentz, a professional photographer and a diver. It shows two kids playing on an anchor rope with nearby Dakit-Dakit Island as backdrop. “The sun was setting on a January evening and I was watching one of the many bancas unload its cargo onshore,” said Maentz, who was on a dive trip to Malapascua when the photo was taken. “I was searching for a subject to shoot in the late evening sun when I noticed some children playing in the water on the other end of the boat.” Maentz decided to wade out into the water so he could be closer to his subjects: a group of eight boys and girls jumping off the boat using the anchor rope to climb back up. This is not the first time Malapascua is featured in National Geographic. In 2006, the “Your Vision No Limits TV vignette” was produced by and aired over National Geographic Channel (NGC) Asia for Hewlett-Packard’s professional photo printer. It featured Tim Laman, resident photographer for National Geographic, on an underwater photo assignment. The 36-seconder ad ran in June for about seven weeks and was part of the sponsorship package that Hewlett-Packard bought from National Geographic channel. The channel is aired in over 290 million homes in 164 countries and 27 languages. Although the advertisement does not mention Cebu, it has the word “Malapascua, Philippines” in the opening subtitle. What follows is a series of beautifully photographed images of Malapascua’s multi-colored underwater life – alternate flashes of still and video shots of a red and yellow pipe fish, a green, blue and orange tropical fish; a shrimp resting on a bed of soft yellow coral, a blue starfish, lush pink reefs, an orange and black sea slug; and the famed thresher shark the island is known for. Malapascua, off the northern part of Cebu, is one of the few places in the world where there are guaranteed thresher shark encounters, the reason why Maentz came to dive. In the process, he captured the Filipinos’ joie de vivre in his photo. “This particular image is one of my favorites because I see the true spirit and joy of Philippine children,” he said. National Geographic Traveler is one of five magazines published by the National Geographic Society in the United States, in addition to its flagship publication, the National Geographic. It was started in 1984 and is published in six languages other than English. | 
