Boracay Scuba Diving

Boracay Diving has a good variety of diving sites, from gentle dives to deep drop-offs and fast drift-dives, with good chances of encounters with big fish. Boracay's dive sites are also an ideal place to learn diving. Boracay Island and surrounding areas offer more than 30 dive sites, suited for beginners as well experienced divers and more than 20 dive centers offer their services.

There are 30 dive sites surrounding the island of Boracay and neighboring islands.
Most dive sites are between 10 minutes to one hour away.

Boracay: Corals & Fish

A big variety of colorful soft corals, particularly stag horns, large Acropora table corals, mushroom and boulder corals. There are also plenty of leathery and whip corals, Tubastrea cup corals, gorgonians, some black corals, bubble corals, blue and yellow sponges, large barrel sponges, lots of sea squirts, nudibranches, sea stars and sea cucumbers. The fish life includes most of the Pacific species, including sharks and occasionally Manta Ray and turtles. Shells, lobsters and sea snakes can be seen on some dives.

The best time to dive is from November till June, but good Boracay Scuba Diving can be experienced all year round. The Southwest Monsoon season (June till October) offers some of the best visibility and access to some of the more exciting dive sites.

Boracay Diving Sites and Schools

Although there are around 25 dive shops on Boracay, dive sites here are fair at best and incomparable to other superb Filipino destinations. Courses on Boracay however are quite cheap.

Most dive schools offer P.A.D.I. courses in English plus one or two additional languages. On surveying the various languages offered by the dive schools centred around Nigi Nigi on White Beach we find dive services and instruction in English, French, Hebrew, German, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.

For safety reasons it is preferable for beginners to receive instruction in their mother tongue. If you require detailed information about dive courses conducted in a language other than English, let Nigi Nigi select the most suitable dive school for you.

For certified divers Boracay and its surroundings offer a wide variety of dive excursions including spectacular coral gardens, deep wall drop-offs, drift and night dives. With a well planned dive schedule a qualified diver can complete up to four exciting dives a day. To expand your Boracay Scuba Diving enjoyment many schools offer overnight dive safaris to the surrounding islands, each with unique underwater treasures.

Boracay Scuba Diving Sites

Yapak Boracay Diving

This is the most exciting Boracay diving with a wall, rising to 30 to 50 meters. The wall is covered with large barrel-sponges, Linckia starfish, soft corals and gorgonians, and is home to a vast quantity of reef and pelagic fish: but the main object of the dive is to look out in the blue.

There, Grey Reef Sharks and White-tip Reef Sharks are common, and Hammerhead Sharks, Manta Rays and Eagle Rays have been seen. Large shoals of surgeonfish, pennant-fish, banner-fish, barracuda, jaks, tuna snappers, sweetlips and rainbow runners can be seen as well as the occasional large grouper and Napoleon wrasse.

Yapak 2 is just a 15 minutes boat ride to the north end of the island. The wall starts at 32 meters. Big fishes like the Grey and White Tip Reef Sharks and Giant Trevally feed in this area due to its natural upwelling. Experience is needed due to strong currents.

Chimney

The Chimney is just a 15 minutes boat ride. It is a deep wall and aptly called due to a huge swim through at 40 meters up to 32 meters.

Shark Cave

The Shark Cave is a deep drift dive with the cave at 36 meters. Diving is usually done on a falling tide.

Laurel

The Laurel dive site is 20 minutes away. This wall is like a series of small steps starting from 5 meters to about 25 meters. The wall is covered with soft and hard corals, nudibranches, and pipefish which are a dream for photographers.

Punta Bunga
This Boracay diving site is an easy dive with a drop-off from 9 meters to 24 meters. The drop-off is covered in soft corals, while the sandy bottom has patches of stony corals with jacks, stingrays, lionfish, sea stars and sea cucumbers.

Crocodile Island
This little island, a 15-minute boat ride to the eastern side of Boracay, resembles from a distance a crocodile. A shallow reef-top makes this dive site also a good place for snorkeling, although snorkellers must be aware of the sometimes strong currents. At the south end a drop-off goes down from 7 meters to 25 meters. The gorgonians are there especially beautiful. At the top of the drop-off many canyons hold a rich fish life: squirrelfish, soldier-fish, parrotfish, cardinal-fish, rainbow wrasse and bird wrasse. Garden eels, sea snakes and big whip coral, black corals and anemones with clownfish can be seen also.

Maniguin Island

Maniguin, a small Island south of Boracay rises like a little Atoll out of the water. Locally called "Maningning" or commonly known as Hammerhead Island.

It is 48 kilometres southwest of the main island of Boracay. Though inhabited, only a few bamboo huts, owned by local seaweed fishermen are build here. A lighthouse is also erected on the Island, warning big ships during darkness.

Big, fast dive boats only make the trip from Boracay to Maniguin, and it takes around 2-3 hours to get there. Due to the length of the journey it is always done as a day trip or as overnight stay.

12 miles offshore and surrounded by deep blue water, this place is regularly visited by large pelagic species. Jacks, tuna, wahoo, napoleon wrasse, turtles, barracuda, white tip and grey reef sharks are regularly spotted.

Mantas, eagle rays, whales and schooling hammerheads have been frequent visitors here. As an added bonus expect to see dolphins on the way on most trips.

Maniguin Island - North Face
Location: The northernmost point of the reef.

Conditions: Variable - can be rough in bad weather; in good weather it is calm with currents varying with the tide. Visibility can reach 100 ft; Average depth: 50 ft; Maximum depth: 150 ft.

Most of the reef-top is a gentle slope from 33 ft to 65 ft with a mixture of coral heads on sand. Here, you will find top-quality soft, leathery, stony and whip corals harbouring a myriad of reef fish.

These include most Pacific species of triggerfish, pufferfish, trumpetfish, cornetfish, parrotfish, batfish, catfish, Moorish Idols, angelfish, butterflyfish, Blue-spotted Lagoon Rays, cuttlefish, moray eels, garden eels, sand perch, nudibranchs, anemones with clownfish, sea stars and sea cucumbers. Every small hole seems to contain a Redtooth Triggerfish.

From 55ft there is a wall dropping to 150 ft though in some places it rises to 16 ft. Large spiny lobsters could also be seen. The wall itself is full of caves and crevices, many of which contain Whitetip Reef Sharks and Nurse Sharks. Overhangs are covered with large gorgonians and Tubastrea cup corals.

There are schools of surgeonfish, Midnight Snappers, jacks, sweetlips, batfish, Bumphead Parrotfish, bannerfish, pennantfish, fusiliers, barracuda, tuna, trevally, Eagle Rays, Whitetip Reef Sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, soldierfish, squirrelfish, sweetlips, parrotfish and Napoleon Wrasse. Hammerhead Sharks and Manta Rays have been seen here.

Maniguin Island - South Face
Location: The south face of the reef; Access: By boat.

To find the greatest number of sleeping Whitetip Reef Sharks in caves, line up the lighthouse with the prominent large white rock while ovr the drop-off;

Conditions: Variable - can be rough in bad weather. In good weather it is calm, with currents varying with the tide. Visibility can reach 100 ft.

Average depth: 65 ft; Maximum depth: 150 ft. Drifting west with the current, it can be possible to cover most of the face in one very long dive.

The wall and reef-top are very similar to the North Face. Majority of the dive despite blast-fishing, is beautiful with abundant reef and pelagic fish life. There are caves, crevices and overhangs on the wall, many of the caves contain Whitetip Reef Sharks.

There are lots of large Spiny Lobsters and a large school of Bumphead Parrotfish, plus Napoleon Wrasse, large groupers, Eagle Rays, Whitetip Reef Sharks, Grey Reef Sharks, tuna, barracuda, snapper and trevally, as well as a myriad of reef fish, particularly in the center of the face.

At the western end of the face the top of the wall becomes shallower; the reef-top offers excellent snorkeling when there is no surf running.

Panagatan Keys

3 small islands, which are surrounded 20 sq. km atoll.

Walls starting at 20 meters depth to about 120 meters, with unimaginable fish life.

Countless amounts of Sharks, Rays, Turtles, Barracudas, Trevallies and Whale Sharks make this place like a divers dream come true. An absolute must for experienced divers.

 

 

Sources:
Philippine Dept. of Tourism
Boracay Foundation
Wikipedia and Wikitravel
HotelClub.com
World66

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