With a Spotlight on Adventure Diving the Verde Island Passage from Puerto Galera
The Philippines offers some of the richest and most varied diving on earth — from historic wrecks to towering walls, macro nurseries to pelagic-filled blue water. But for divers seeking true adventure diving, few places offer access to the Verde Island Passage quite like Puerto Galera, the closest gateway to what is widely regarded as one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on the planet.
Here, nutrient-rich currents, pristine reefs, and constant marine life movement create an underwater environment unlike anywhere else in the country. Among the Philippines’ many diving destinations, Mindoro’s waters stand out for their biodiversity, accessibility, and remarkable variety of marine experiences.
Below are ten of the best dive sites in the country — with a focus on what makes Puerto Galera and the Verde Island Passage an essential stop for travelling divers.
Widely cited as one of the best dive sites in the Philippines, the Pinnacles rise dramatically from deep water and are swept by nutrient-rich currents. These conditions fuel dense coral growth and attract large schools of jacks, fusiliers, snapper, and anthias. This is a high-energy site best suited for confident divers seeking an exciting, fast-paced adventure.
The island chain off Calapan — including Tatlong Pulo, Harka Piloto, and Anaganahao — is one of Northern Mindoro’s newest emerging dive areas. Quiet, uncrowded, and exceptionally healthy, these sites feature pristine hard-coral formations, coral ridges, channels, and scenic walls ideal for both macro and wide-angle diving.
Diving here is exclusively offered by Coral Reef Safari, giving guests rare access to remote reefs that remain largely untouched. With vibrant coral cover, minimal boat traffic, and a peaceful setting, the Islands of Calapan provide a refreshing contrast to Puerto Galera’s more established sites.
Schooling Jack’s at ‘The Canyons’ courtesy Gary Lotter
Kilima Steps is a multi-level coral reef with broad terraces ideal for relaxed exploration. Turtles, reef fish, nudibranchs, and vibrant hard-coral growth are common. Early-morning dives may bring pelagic surprises, as thresher sharks sometimes pass through the deeper blue beyond the final step. Kilima offers a calm, colourful dive with the added excitement of the unexpected.
Thresher shark at Kilima steps courtesy Cassandra Vandamme
Apo Reef is the second-largest contiguous coral reef system in the world, covering roughly 34 square kilometres. It consists of three islands — Apo Island, Apo Menor, and Cayos del Bajo — surrounded by vast hard-coral gardens, shallow plateaus, steep walls, and long sandy channels. Visibility often exceeds 30 metres, making it a favourite for wide-angle photography.
The reef attracts grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks, schooling barracuda, and batfish, along with large turtles and occasional eagle rays. Stronger currents along the outer walls draw in pelagic species, while sheltered lagoons provide gentle, scenic dives. Its size and relative isolation create a sense of diving in a truly wild marine environment, making Apo Reef a must-visit for any diver exploring the Philippines.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site lies in the middle of the Sulu Sea and is considered one of the Philippines’ most important marine reserves. Accessible only by liveaboard from March to June, Tubbataha protects nearly 100,000 hectares of reefs, atolls, and deep walls teeming with life.
Divers encounter steep drop-offs, enormous barrel sponges, and coral species that are rarely seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Shark sightings are common, including hammerheads, tiger sharks, whitetips, and grey reef sharks. Manta rays, whale sharks, and large schools of barracuda and trevally are also regular highlights. The park’s remoteness and strict management — with permanent ranger stations and year-round monitoring — help maintain one of the healthiest reef ecosystems in the region.
© Gregory Piper / Ocean Image Bank
Anilao is widely known as one of the world’s premier destinations for macro diving. Its network of bays and slopes provides an extraordinary range of habitats, from sandy bottoms and rubble fields to coral heads and shallow mangroves. This variety supports hundreds of nudibranch species, numerous frogfish varieties, flamboyant cuttlefish, shrimps, crabs, rhinopias, and pygmy seahorses.
Anilao is also famous for blackwater diving, where divers drift over deep water at night to observe pelagic larvae and juveniles rarely seen on reefs. Its close proximity to Manila makes it ideal for short trips and intensive photography workshops, drawing underwater photographers from around the world.
© Erik Lukas / Ocean Image Bank
The wrecks of Coron were sunk during a major air raid in September 1944, and today they form one of Asia’s most distinctive wreck-diving destinations. The wrecks range from supply ships and cargo vessels to fighter aircraft, lying between 6 and 40 metres and offering everything from beginner-friendly profiles to deep, technical swim-throughs.
Over decades, these structures have become artificial reefs covered in soft corals, sponges, and sea fans, attracting batfish, snapper, sweetlips, and schooling fusiliers. Highlights include the massive Akitsushima, Olympia Maru, and Irako, each with its own atmosphere and layout. Coron is a favourite for divers seeking a combination of history, marine life, and unique topography.
Malapascua gained global recognition for its early-morning encounters with thresher sharks at Monad Shoal — the only site in the world where sightings are reliably recorded year-round. These deep-water sharks rise to shallow cleaning stations at dawn, offering divers a rare chance to observe their behaviour at recreational depths.
Beyond the threshers, Malapascua offers colourful reefs, soft-coral gardens, white-sand shallows, and macro subjects including seahorses, frogfish, and mandarin fish. Nearby sites such as Gato Island add caves, tunnels, blacktip sharks, and excellent rock formations to the region’s appeal.
Dauin is one of Southeast Asia’s leading muck-diving destinations, known for volcanic black-sand slopes that harbour a remarkable diversity of unusual species. Divers can find mimic octopus, blue-ring octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, sea moths, pipefish, frogfish, and a range of shrimp and nudibranch species.
Shallow sites provide excellent opportunities for photographers, while night dives reveal even more rare behaviour and species. Just offshore lies Apo Island, famous for its vibrant coral gardens, turtles, and relaxed drift dives — making Dauin an ideal base for both macro lovers and coral-reef enthusiasts.
Our Ocean Safari travel packages combine guided adventure diving in the Verde Island Passage, hands-on marine research with our Reef Support Crew, and relaxed recreational dives across the reefs surrounding Puerto Galera.
