Diving in the Philippines: where to start in 7,107 islands

The problem with the Philippines is not finding good diving. It is choosing. There are 7,107 islands, 18,000 kilometres of coast and 27,000 square kilometres of reef, all of it inside the Coral Triangle, one of the richest marine regions on earth.

The Wikivoyage guide to diving in the Philippines counts more than 450 species of hard coral and somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 species of fish. There are reefs, wrecks and caves. English is spoken almost everywhere.

So this is a post about picking. Each region below does one thing especially well.

First, the weather

Typhoons visit for about four months of the year. But the archipelago shelters itself: with so many islands, there is nearly always somewhere in the lee, and many sites stay reachable year-round.

Anilao, for the small stuff

Anilao, in Mabini on Luzon, is known for outstanding coral and a huge variety of small creatures. Mainit Point, on the southern tip of the Calumpan Peninsula, runs from 5 to 35 metres; a small cave at 6 metres sometimes holds resting whitetip sharks, and a pinnacle at 21 metres is where you watch for bigger fish passing.

Beatriz Rock, north of Sombrero Island, is a run of drop-offs with channels between them: barrel sponges, gorgonians, black coral, anemones with nudibranchs on them, turtles and octopuses.

Apo Island and Apo Reef, for the big stuff

Two different places share the name. Apo Island, off the southeast tip of Negros, has been protected for over 20 years and shows it: table, star and brain corals, giant clams, clownfish in anemones. Blacktip and whitetip sharks are common, and tuna, jacks, barracuda and mackerel come through.

Apo Reef, out in the South China Sea west of Mindoro, is a double lagoon 340 metres across with a channel through the middle. More than 380 species of fish live there and researchers have counted almost 500 species of coral. Hammerheads, whale sharks, mantas and bumphead parrotfish are on the guide's list, along with three wrecks: an old steamer in the shallows and two steel fishing boats.

Romblon and Bohol, for walls and hammerheads

Times Square, off Banton Island, is three to four hours by boat from Romblon Town, which is exactly why its reefs are described as pristine. Fusiliers and surgeonfish in swarms, nudibranchs and morays in the coral. It can be dived in every month of the year.

Bohol has Balicasag, southwest of Panglao, where steep coral walls hold schools of barracuda and jacks. And it has Cabilao, off the northwest coast, known for hammerheads in the deeper water off its point. The reef there drops to a ledge at 30 metres and then falls away again, dressed in gorgonians, barrel sponges and crinoids.

Cebu, for a first course or a wreck

Moalboal, on Cebu's southwest coast, is a small town full of dive schools, and the guide names it as one of the country's most popular places to take a first course. Just offshore, Pescador Island has sponge-covered walls, a drop-off, big tuna, Napoleon wrasse, and whitetip and hammerhead sharks.

At the far end of the island, off Malapascua, lies the Dona Marilyn, a passenger ship lost in a typhoon more than 20 years ago. She sits in 20 to 32 metres south of Masbate, almost entirely covered in soft coral and black coral bushes. Gato Island, north of Cebu, runs from 5 to 25 metres.

Planning it

These regions are far apart: Anilao is on Luzon, Apo Island and Bohol in the Visayas, Apo Reef off Mindoro, Moalboal and Malapascua at opposite ends of Cebu. Pick one or two. Boracay is also mentioned as a popular place to get certified. Background on the country comes from Wikipedia.

With this many species, the fun is in the list. Log your Philippines dives in Scubaspot and tag the marine life as you go: the hammerhead at Cabilao, the whale shark at Apo Reef, the nudibranch at Anilao you still cannot name.