DIVE SITES

ANGOL POINT

Type: Reef

Start Depth: 5 meters

Maximum Depth: 15 meters

Time to Dive Site: 5 minutes ( Station 3) 7 Minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations: Visibility after rains (river overrun from mainland).

This is an excellent dive site for beginners and training dives.The reef is covered with stony corals, leather corals, anemones, seastars, pipefish, tropical reef fish and sea cucumbers. It is also a favorite for night dives and is a good spot for macro photography. Good for snorkeling too.

CORAL GARDEN

Type: Reef

Start Depth: 5 meters

Maximum Depth: 12 meters

Time To Dive Site:  4 Minutes (Station 3) 6 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations: Visibility after rains (river overrun

from mainland)

This dive site is right off the main beach and usually has calm and clear conditions. It is ideal for beginners and training dives. Also spot for macro diving occasional frogfish loads of nudibranchs and sea snails. Reef  is covered with fairy basslet.

FRIDAY’S REEF

 Type: Reef  

Start Depth: 7 meters 

Maximum Depth: 12 meters 

Time to Dive Site: 10 minutes ( Station 3) 8 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: None 

Special Considerations: Timing for tide / current, visibility after rains (river overrun from mainland)  

A dive at Friday’s can actually cover two dive sites: Friday’s Reef & Friday’s Rock. Friday’s Reef is 7 to 12 meters. This dive site is right off the main beach and usually has calm and clear conditions. It is ideal for beginners and training dives. Also spot for macro diving occasional frogfish loads of nudibranchs and sea snails. Marinelife from nearby Friday’s Rock sometimes wander over to Friday’s Reef. See Friday’s Rock below.

LAUREL

Type: Reef  and  Wall

Start Depth: 5 meters 

Maximum Depth: 20 meters

Time to Dive Site: 12 minutes (Station 3)  16 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations: Timing  for tide/  current, visibility

after rains (river overrun from mainland)

Big Laurel and small Laurel are two separate dive sites which are very similar and quite close to each other. Big Laurel has a tunnel. Both Laurel are sloping walls with healthy corals and prolific fish life.

DINIWID

Start Depth: 10 meters

Maximum Depth: 22 meters

Time to Dive Site: 15 minutes ( Station 3) 10 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special  Consideration: Timing for tide/ current.

This dive site is also good for drift dive. Sloping bottom contour big table corals, chances to see green turtles and blue spotted sting rays. Triggerfish some shrimps like squat  shrimp and commensal shrimps and  crabs found on the bubble corals. Giant trevallies can be sighted occasionally.

CHANNEL DRIFT

Start Depth: 10 meters

Maximum Depth: 35 meters

Time to Dive Site: 12 minutes ( Station 3) 16 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Advanced Open Water Diver

Special Consideration: Timing  for tide/current, visibility after

rains(river overrun from mainland)

Strong tidal currents flow through the strait, taking divers on a joy ride through canyons and crevices. Patches of impressive coral. Growth can be found here, including numerous gorgonians, and  occasionally white tip sharks and trevallies are sighted.

FRIDAY’S ROCK

Type: Reef 

Start Depth: 7 meters

Maximum Depth: 18 meters

Time to Dive Site: 10 minutes ( Station 3) 7 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations:  Timing for tide / current, visibility after rains (river overrun from mainland)

A dive at Friday’s can actually cover two dive sites: Friday’s Reef and Friday’s Rock. Friday’s Rock is 12 to 18 meters. This famous fish-feeding station is a large boulder which provides photographers a chance to capture close-up shots of emperors, triggerfish, red bass, scorpionfish and surgeons.

CROCODILE ISLAND

Type: Reef

Start Depth: 5 meters

Maximum Depth: 20 meters

Time to Dive Site: 15 minutes ( Station 3) 20 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations:  Timing for tide / current, visibility after rains (river overrun from mainland)

From a distance, this small uninhabited island looks like the head of a crocodile. Currents can be fierce except at slack tide, during which a beautiful collection of corals can be admired at leisure. The dive site has  gently sloping wall with several canyons and caves containing a wide diversity of fish.

PUNTA BUNGA:

Type: Reef and Wall

Start Depth: 9 meters

Maximum Depth: 24 meters

Time to Dive Site: 16 minutes ( Station 3) 12 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations:  Timing for tide / current

This site is the start of a series of walls which connect to Yapak. The drop-off is filled with cubbyholes where moray eels, lionfish, groupers and triggerfish reside. Stingrays are usually seen on the sandy bottom at 24 meters.

BALINGHAI:

Type: Reef and Wall

Start Depth: 8 meters

Maximum Depth: 40 meters

Time to Dive Site: 16 minutes ( Station 3) 12 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Open Water Diver

Special Considerations:  Timing for tide / current

The Balinghai dive site consists of  two walls running parallel to each other. The deep wall features sharks and tuna while the shallow wall is pockmarked by small holes which house anthias, lionfish, triggerfish, bannerfish, puffers and gobies.

CAMIA

Type: Deep, Wreck

Start Depth: 18 meters

Maximum Depth: 30 meters

Time to Dive Site: 8 minutes ( Station 3) 10 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Advanced Open Water Diver

Special Considerations: penetration only for Wreck Specialty Divers

The Camia is Boracay’s house wreck. It is a 30 metre-long cargo boat that was sank as a Fish Attraction Device in January 2001. It has since developed very nicely as an artificial reef. Residents and transients include a couple of huge red bass, some bluefin trevallies, scorpion fish, trumpet fish, ghost pipefish,  squid, pygmy seahorses, frogfish,  a school of batfish,  and nudibranchs, among others.

Tri-Bird


Type: Deep, Wreck

Start depth: 20 meters

Maximum depth: 27 meters

Time to Dive Site: 8 minutes ( Station 3) 10 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Advanced Open Water Diver

Special Considerations: penetration only for Wreck Specialty Divers

This is a new dive site, created when a small passenger plane, a Yakovlev 40, also called a Tri-Bird, was sunk by the association of local scuba diving operators off White Beach in March 2012. The plane lies upside down with its landing wheels pointing towards the surface. Penetration is possible through entry and exit apertures. The generally good visibility in this area allows divers to have a good look at this new attraction.

VIRGIN DROP

Type: Deep, Reef and Wall

Start Depth: 18 meters

Maximum Depth: 40 meters

Time to Dive Site: 10 minutes (Station 3) 12 minutes ( Station 1)

Minimum Certification Level: Advanced Open Water Diver

Special Considerations:  Timing for tide / current

This wall dive is ideal for deep dive training. Large sea fans and crinoids provide colorful hiding spots for bass, moray eels, and nudibranchs.  Eagle rays are sometimes seen gliding through the thermoclines during tidal changes. White tip reef  shark  hiding  in the wall cracks can be sighted big turtles and pygmy Seahorse.

YAPAK 1 and 2*

Type: Deep, Reef and Wall, Complicated

Start Depth: 30 meters

Time to Dive Site: 20 minutes ( Station 3) 15 minutes ( Station 1)

Maximum Depth: 40 meters

Minimum Certification Level: Advanced Open Water Diver but requires check out dive with WaterColors dive pro

Special Considerations:  Waves, timing for tide / current, compass navigation, negative water entry, dive plan, diver skill (comfort, confidence, buoyancy and air consumption), dive computer, drop tank, water exit procedure.

Yapak 1 and 2 are two separate walls which begin at 30 meters and drop down to 70 meters. The most famous of Boracay’s dive sites, close encounters with white tip and grey reef sharks, dogtooth tuna, groupers, napoleon wrasses and giant trevallies are common. Surface conditions can be rough, and therefore a negative entry is often required, followed by a spectacular blue-water descent.

*Read:  Are You Ready for Yapak?