Top Snorkeling and Scuba Diving in Philippines

Gorgonians, black coral, turtles, rays, jacks, snappers... NE side end of Maricaban island (Named Sombrero cos of its shape).

This dive site is good for macro photography with schools of jacks, trevallies, small barracudas, snappers and batfish but also clownfish. It deserve at least two dives. Twin Rocks is a marine sanctuary located right in front of the Planet Dive Resort. There is a big effort to conservate this place which is considerated one of the best dive place in Anilao area.

Sabang Beach is the site directly in front of the Sabang resorts in Puerto Galera. The entry is complicated by boat mooring and traffic and there is lots of debris in the water, but once you get out to the wrecks, the dive is quite worthwhile. Between the wrecks are many isolated coral bommies and small stretches of reefs. An hour underwater here will deliver most of the usual Pacific marine life and dozens of macro subjects worth photographing. I recommend hiring a guide the first time out to find the highlights of the dive. Rather than driving, taking a boat from the Luzon mainland at Batangas harbor to Puerto Galera is the usual route. There are streets and cars in Puerto Galera and a thriving, if somewhat seamy, nightlife but neither is a necessary part of the adventure.

Immature white-tip reef sharks, surgeonfish, triggerfish and moray eels. Off Mindoro Island's Sabang Beach

Sabang Wrecks is a 5.0-star rated scuba dive and snorkel destination in Philippines, Mindoro, Puerto Galera which is accessible from shore based on 1 ratings.

Location of the structural remains of a casino that sank many years ago. Average depth is about 16m (~50ft) to 35m (~120), but the site's maximum depth can drop off to 45m (~148ft). Western side of Caban Island. Daryl Laut is also known as Dari Laut.

Gradual/Steep slope & drop off. Hot spring with bubbles coming from under.

I dove the site twice and was moved by the grandeur of the coral formations. Entering from the nearby site, Kang-Oran, is especially impressive since you move from a very impressive wall to a sloping mass of coral structures that are on the scale of California's Redwoods. They make most other coral reefs look like second or third growth forests in comparison. I've been diving in the best that Indonesia, Palau and Fiji have to offer but nowhere have I seen hard coral structures to match these. You can't drive to this location. There are no roads and no cars on the small island, but there are coral gardens older and more majestic than Wakatobi's.

Mainit Point school is a 5.0-star rated scuba dive and snorkel destination in Philippines, Luzon, Anilao and Batangas which is accessible from shore based on 1 ratings.

Municipality of Dauin, Negros Oriental Island. Easy shore entry, medium sized reef in relatively shallow water (top part of reef is in 30ft of water, bottom part of reef is in 75 to 80ft. of water). Lot's of marine life, large snappers, rock cod, sweetlips, trumpetfish, schooling jacks, barracuda, batfish, garden eels, a very large resident turtle with remoras, and tons of reef tropicals. This is a must dive for the area.

Monad Shoal is a Thresher Shark Paradise. Monad Shoal, also known as Shark Point, has now become a World famous dive site. It is the best place in the world and in the Philippines to see the rare and timid Thresher Sharks! This is actually the place that made diving in Malapascua Island famous, with a sunken coral plateau about 20m deep! Here you have the chance of spotting Thresher Sharks which use Monad Shoal as a cleaning station. These sharks normally live in deep water but come here early in the morning to the cleaning station. It is important to stay as quiet as possible when diving there as the Thresher Sharks are very shy creatures. Sightings are not guaranteed but if you dive there for a few days, you have quite high chances to encounter them several times! If there are no Thresher Sharks in sight, you could also keep your eyes out for the the superb Manta Rays gliding around the reef. Or you could always keep your eyes out for Monad Shoal. It is also a great location for Underwater Macro Photography and for critter lovers! Pygmy Seahorses, various species of Nudibranchs, Mantis Shrimps and so much more! The conditions are generally pretty good with 10m to 15m visibility, however with a maximum depth of 24m and occasionally quite strong currents, Padi Open Water Advanced divers will fully enjoy this wonderful dive! It takes about 30min by boat to reach Monad Shoal from Malapascua Island. This is a dawn dive around 6am!

The Cathedral is one of the more famous dive sites around the Anilao area. It became famous when former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos placed a concrete stone cross which was even blessed by Saint John Paul II. This cross is located between the 2 giant rocks making the view look like an altar in a cathedral. It is a relatively easy dive site and is it where most diving students do their check-out dive. I did a night dive here before during my check out dive for my advance course few years back.

The dive site is located in front of the Dolphin Resort, NW of Moalboal peninsula.

20 min fron marine Station by banker boat Cordova White Sand is also known as Cordova.

You can meet Dolphins sometime in the area! W of Olango island. 20 min from Kon-Tiki.

10km S of Olango island. 27min from Kon-Tiki. Nalusuan Island is also known as Nalusuan Island Resorts and Marine Sanctuary.

SW side of Apo Island.

Current may be strong sometimes... Take care! SW of Olango island. 12min from Kon-Tiki. Bas Coral is also known as Cathedral.

Maribago, Mactan island. 2min from Kon-Tiki.

Top of the shoal is only 5m deep. E from Villanueva, Siquijor Island. 2h30min from Alona Beach by Banca.

clownfish, lionfish and altheas. Off the western side Cebu Island of the Visayas group.

S of Panglao Island, Danao. W side of Alona Beach (approx 100m).

Habagat wreck is S from the great wall, at 36m deep. This banca was sunk by the Seaquest Dive Center in 2000. SW of Panglao Island.

S of Balicasag Island.

Libaong. 4km E from Alona Beach.

Eastern side of the north point of Boracay Island.

San Juan, W of Siquijor Island.

W side of Siquijor, S of Paliton Staghorn dive site

San Juan, just in front of the dive shop, W Siquijor Island.

Nice coral structures. W side of Siquijor Island (Just S of West Point)

clownfish, lionfish and altheas. Off Cebu Island of the Visayas group, next to the shore diving resorts.

Interesting stuffs between 10m and 20m. Soong, Mactan island. 6min from Kon-Tiki.

W of Moalboal peninsula. The dive site is in front of two appartments (one white and the other yellow).

This dive site is normally calm but there can be very strong curents sometimes... There is a gentle slope down to 12m that leads to a huge drop-off that goes more than 65m ! Many beautifull corals (including leather corals, soft-corals), fansand sponges and lots of colorful fire hydroids. Pelagic fishs can be seen deeper... Tonga point is located at the northern end of the southwest arm of Siquijor Island. Tonga Point is also known as Tongo Point.

SW of Moalboal peninsula.

Very nive corals at 10m deep. Wall is great. For all divers. Biodiversity is great! Watchout for Frogfish, Mandarin fish, Ghostpipe fish, Blue ring octo etc. Hadsan Beach Cove, Maribago, Mactan Island Kon-Tiki is also known as Kon Tiki.

Gradual slope from large semi-submerged rocks. Lots of invertebrates such as butifull corals, soft corals and also staghorns, pipes, tunicates and sometime blue spotted rays and turtles. West from Maria city.

Type: Cargo ship Size: 140m long Superstructures are very nice, covered with soft corals and bushes of black corals. Many lionfishes lives around. Olympia maru is NOT Taiei maru NW of Sangat Island, close to Busuanga Island

Maribago, Mactan island. 3min from Kon-Tiki. Dive the NE part of the rocks. Whale Rock is also known as Dakit Dakit.

Turtles are often seen at Tongo point S point of the Copton Peninsula

NE of Siquijor island (NE from Villanueva). Tulapus is also known as Tulapus Sanctuary.

750m N of Badian point

Off white beach, just south of Copton Point and Airport point. White beach is also known as Saavedra.

Nice dive site for second dive. There is small caves at 27-30m deep. S of Dolphin house

This site is well known for its large fish shoals, sponges and gorgonians. Lot of Lion Fishes are on the S side. A must! This is the site where the 1st underwater wedding ceremony in Asia was officiated by a Catholic parish priest in Sangi Sunken island, Badian, Cebu, Philippines. Underwater plateau located S of Copton peninsula, SW of Badian Point. Sunken island is also known as Sunken Island Cebu.

Impressive wall ! There is a larger cave at about 30m... Gentle slope with sandy channels on the E side of the dive site. Just in front of the village of Cambakis, NE of Cabilao island.Start on the S side of Cambaquiz beach. Cambaquiz is also known as Cambakis Point.

Nice dive. The larger of the two islands has an 8m wide swim-through tunnel. Southeast of Boracay, after Crocodile island.

Interesting wreck with tight entries. Allowed for CMAS** / AOWD only due to depth. Many large fish, can find pigmey seahorse, other rare species. Western side of Boracay Island, in front of White Beach

Two great walls. Probably the best dive site but for advanced divers only (depth, current). Pelagic fishes. Yapak 1 is less well known and less frequently dived than it's more famous brother Yapak 2 and is for experienced divers only. We will jump in at the northwest tip of the island and make a head first descent to 35m where we will find the top of the wall which drops vertically to 55m plus. We will swim along the top edge where we can see cactus, black and fan corals and the larger reef fish. Sharks, rays, tuna and jacks are common and there is a nice chimney 3m wide which we can enter at 38m deep and exit on top of the wall at 32m. Northwest side of Boracay Island

This is a protected marine site, with large jack shoals. W part of Balicasag island, starting just S of the BIDR resort. Fish Sanctuary is also known as Marine Sanctuary.

NNE of Balicasag island.

Great wall with big Gorgonians. Small caves and overhangings. NW of Cabilao island, just S of shark point view.

Nice wall and sandy plateau. Numerous varieties of hard and soft corals, invertebrates... In front of Looc village, N of Cabilao island. Looc is also known as Talisay Wall.

Rock point borders a protected underwater area. W side of Cabilao island.

Nice sandy slope. Many small invertebrates to look for. E side of Cabilao island

From the shore of Boracay opposite of Calypso Diving Center

Black forest is the main attraction of Balicasag island. A nice slope full of small fishes, and deeper, the black forest. Except the black coral, you also can see large schools of silver jacks / surgeon fish, and turtles. SW of Balicasag island. S from the school. Black forest is also known as Northeast slope.

Don't miss the large schools of barracudas! SW side of Cabilao island

Akitsushima is the only warship sunk in Coron Bay. Boat type: Japanese Navy Seaplane Tender Size: 113m long, 16m wide W of Lusung beween Lajo island and Mangalet close to the Okikawa Maru wreck

Nicely populated steep wall with a panoramic view into the open water. 29 min from Flower Beach Resort

Great site for Macro-photography. Near Marine village.

The top of the shoal is about 12m deep. W from San Juan, Siquijor Island.

By boat from Boracay

W of Sangat island, close to some pearl farms. Tangat wreck is also known as Morazon Maru (?).

Suba Basbas, Mactan Island. 22min from Kon-Tiki.

Soong, Mactan island.

A classic dive of Mactan island. Ghost pipefish can be seen there. Only 5km from Kon-Tiki. NE of Mactan island.

W side of Apo island (Near Paul's Diving).

West point of Siquijor Island (Paliton).

Wreck type: Japanese civilian tanker / oiler Size: 180m long This tanker left Coron partly sunk September 24th, 1944 and definitly October 9th. S of Conception (Busuanga Is.).

Start in front of the guard house, then dive along Gato to the south. There are large rocks covered of gorgonians. A nice dive. Located N from Cebu, Gato Island is a small deserted island. The houseguard is located on the northeast side of Gato island.

Sharks may be seen in deeper water. E point of Apo island.

Maribago. 3min from Kon-Tiki.

Similar as Agus dive site. Agus, Mactan island. 5min from Kon-Tiki.

The Dona Marilyn sunk in 1984. It lays on its starboard. Top of the wreck is 17m, bottom is 35m. SW of Manoc-Manoc island Doña Marilyn Wreck is also known as Manoc Manoc.

This is the best dive of Mactan area. Don't miss it! 7km S of Mactan Island, 20min from Kon-Tiki. Hiltongan Island is also known as Hilutungan Island.

Two dives are possible at Rock Point: The E side and the W side of the cape. The E side goes deeper... Extreme S of Apo Island.

As far as I know, this dive site is still FORBIDDEN ! Extreme N of Moalboal penninsula.

Napantao is a Fish Sanctuary where fishing is forbidden. There is a tax fee (approx 200 pesos). This is a fantastic wann cover by black corals, with an incredible density of fishs. Pelagic can be seen off the wall. The top of the wall is covered by Tubastrea sp. The dive site is very different in the morning and in the afternoon. You really have to dive several time napantao. There is also a cave; entrance is near 40m deep ! Marine life: Great gorgonians, black corals, turtles, barracuda, groupers, batfish... Napantao Fish Sanctuary is located on the west side of Panoan Island, in front of padre Burgos. Napantao Fish Sanctuary is also known as Napantaw, Ilijan Point, Rio's Wall, Toshi's Wall.

Suba Basbas, Mactan island. The dive site is a litle bit after Marigondon Public Beach. 15min from Kon-Tiki.

E point of Apo island, just S of Mamsa Point.

Torch is strongly recommended, as well as a serious deep dive experience! N from Malapascua Island

The current may be very strong in this area. Take care! Only for diver with current experience. Extreme N of Apo Island.

NW side of Apo Island