Crazy Frog Underwater

[Hasan Fogg]

Okayso, I know what you're thinking: is this a troll post? I want to assure you that this is done in good faith, and I'm genuinely part of an argument concerning this in a discord. I figure if anyone can figure this out, it'd be Comicvine.

All of the Archangels and Angels/Archdemons and Demons and churning legions of Hell and the holy host of angels depicted in Darksiders. Furthermore, the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse, including Death, War, Strife, and Fury, are involved in this battle on the side of Heaven & Hell.

I'm not entirely sure how to describe the feats of the angels and demons, but in general, Angels are depicted as unfathomable beings, or in this case golden and white warriors with giant wings, flaming swords, and the ability to cast holy fire upon sinners.

Demons are terrible, corrupted beings that seek to destroy angels and mortals, born of sin and evil. Demons tend to vary in size, but they are depicted here as red-skinned, horned, winged beasts that wield flaming weapons of hellfire, and can withstand an ungodly amount of mundane damage.

Crazy Frog is some sort of froglike being capable of riding an invisible motorcycle that is able to ride up virtually any surface and function underwater. Crazy Frog is particularly known for being a trickster, having defeated some sort of killer robot designed specifically to destroy him and outsmarted some sort of shady government organization hell-bent on his destruction.

Crazy Frog has demonstrated the ability to move at insane speeds both on his invisible motorcycle and on foot. On his motorcycle, Crazy Frog was able to clear a skyscraper and soar across a city. Furthermore, on foot, Crazy Frog was able to react fast enough to not only dodge a heat-seeking missile but land on the back of it and ride it.

Crazy Frog has also been shown to be able to effortlessly survive the crushing pressure of the ocean and due to his amphibious nature was able to survive for a prolonged period underwater while avoiding water-based robots.

The places I go that are on the list, are highly sought after by hard core scuba fans who want to experience a wide variety of underwater wonders, and I am trying to show them what each and every one looks like. My other hope, with so much climate change, is that I can show the world what our most pristine reefs and critters look like before they are gone.

The point I am trying to get across here, is that I have dove all over the world now, just searching for new and cool things to show my viewers, and the Philippines is in the top 3 countries that impressed me the most when it comes to their marine world. Its also beautiful above water, making for some amazing surface intervals ( I wrote a comprehensive guide to all of the best scuba diving in Philippines here).

Before I show you the rest of the photo essay, check out my latest vlog, from when I last visited Dauin. This video gives a great visual about what you can expect to see in Dauin, including tons of crazy looking frogfish.

This photo essay is dedicated to some of the exotic, beautiful, and rare macro critters that I have run into during my many dives around the country. From rarely seen nudibranch species to flamboyant cuttle fish to baby ornate ghost pipe fish, I am in awe every minute underwater here.

The Philippines is the country where I really started to learn about frogfish. I had seen them in a few other countries, but the huge variety of these cute/ugly little creatures in the Philippines really got my attention. Now on dives, I am always looking for them. Even after 700+ dives, last week was the first and only time I have ever seen a HAIRY frogfish, and a cute little baby at that. Such an awesome species.

My passion for our surrounding natural resources also extends far beyond marine habitats. After graduating in 2020, I was fortunate enough to go on multiple cross country motorcycle trips, camping and hiking in countless national parks and forests, which may just be the only thing I would be willing to entertain instead of being underwater. Little did I know many of the places I visited, such as Yellowstone National Park, are not beyond the scope of the Submerged Resources Center. Whether I knew it or not diving was still in the background of my adventures and my newfound intrigue for our national parks would eventually find its way back to me.

Over twenty thousand miles and numerous national parks later, I found myself on a ten-mile-long island in the middle of the Caribbean, Little Cayman. This was my first opportunity to gain hands on field experience researching mesophotic reefs and sea mounts while on a remote field station. It also gave me a taste for what it was like to conduct research operations while applying my passions for technical diving and utilizing the photogrammetry principles I learned in my undergraduate degree to examine mesophotic reefs.

I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn from some of the best photographers and filmmakers in the industry, meet some incredible people, and have been given the honor of carrying on the legacy of Paul L. Schutt as the first Paul L. Schutt Underwater photography intern. I intend to continue on with my ambitions to become a wildlife filmmaker through more training, experimentation, and hard work. I would like to extend a huge thank you to the Backscatter crew for not only putting on such an incredible event but for inviting me into their community, and supporting the next generation of photographers and filmmakers through this internship.

Sea otters were eradicated from the Channel Islands long before the park existed, but since the inception of the park, data has shown the population of abalone, rockfish, and spiny lobsters declining dramatically from overfishing. More recently, sunflower stars have all but disappeared from California due to sea star wasting syndrome. The loss of these species has a cascading effect on the whole ecosystem, disrupting the balance. All of this can be seen from the data collected by the Kelp Forest Monitoring crew over the last few decades. One of the most significant changes is the boom in purple sea urchin populations because of the loss of keystone predators like sea otters, sunflower stars, lobsters, and California sheephead. The out-of-check populations of urchins can overgraze a kelp forest easily, leading to urchin barren sites with relatively low species diversity and low biomass.

I mention all of this just to prove how important a long-term monitoring dataset can be. Using data from the parks, California closed the commercial abalone fishery in 1997. Information collected by KFM was instrumental in establishing marine reserves in 2003, placing nearly 20% of park waters into state marine protected areas thus granting complete protection from fishing and extractive activities. A 2008 review of data demonstrated positive trends in these new marine reserves including greater overall biomass and larger body size of species like the spiny lobster. All goes to show that data is needed to hold humans accountable for our out-of-proportion impact on the planet and our obligation to protect the places we have set aside as national parks.

On my second day, I was able to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, USS Missouri, USS Bowfin, and Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. At the end of the day, I joined a tour of Ford Island to also visit the Utah and Oklahoma memorials. Too much to experience and learn about in a lifetime let alone all in one day. Nonetheless, a powerful day of learning and contemplation. Scott, thank you for going out of your way to show me a snapshot of operations at the park. I appreciate the effort and I wish I could have spent more time.

The team is made up of Kelly, Glauco, and two interns Addisen Antonucci and Noah Hunt who fly in from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We were also supposed to be joined by Anne Farahi, the lead aquatic biological technician who usually collects all the freshwater fish data. Unfortunately, she cannot make it, so we will continue with the surveys without any fish data this year. While Glauco organized most of the equipment already for our trip, we spend a day packaging up all the camping gear, food, survey instruments, and personal gear which we put in dry bags and coolers. We load all the gear into a cargo net that will be flown out to our campsite by helicopter.

The mouth of Waikolu is framed by tall sea cliffs on either side. We hop across the stream and set up camp in a nice flat spot tucked up against the headland. It is likely a built terrace from early settlers because, of course, native Hawaiians lived in this valley. We will see evidence of rock walls and terraces all the way up the valley. Long before the state was diverting freshwater from this stream, Native Hawaiians were diverting it for their taro patches. This was also the original source of fresh water for people sent to Kalaupapa. The community gets its water from another valley nowadays, but the old, rusted water pipes are still present running along the beach. At first glance, one would assume the valley is untouched but of course, people have been altering this area for as long as they have been here. It is still absolutely breathtaking, and I have to take a second every now and then just to look up and admire our surroundings. We set up camp and make sure to really stake everything down because the wind whips through here.

After we set up camp, we hike a short way up the stream to our first survey site. There are more than 15 sites from the mouth of the stream to about 3 miles up the valley. At each site, we are surveying hihiwai (snails), mapping stream habitat type, estimating substrate size, testing water quality, and measuring the flow of the stream.

We follow an overgrown trail, weaving our way through the jungle foliage, the sun streaming down through the canopy, and the deeply spined green cliffs peaking through. Glauco points out shampoo ginger and the white ginger flowers that we pick and suck on for a bit of nectar. He navigates us to the site with a GPS and then runs a 30m transect tape the length of the stream. The stream is small and gentle, usually only a foot or two deep. A volunteer taro has found a spot to live. I join Kelly to learn how we are going to be surveying the hihiwai. As soon as I dip my masked face underwater, I am taken aback by the number of creatures. The crystal clear, cold water is filled with colorful gobies, hihiwai, and prawns.

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