Diving in Apo Reef

Whitetip reef sharks are the usual sighting on a dive at Apo Reef, a 34 square kilometre coral platform that stands alone in the Mindoro Strait, 30 to 35 kilometres west of Sablayan. Grey reef and blacktip sharks, and the occasional hammerhead, are reported in deeper water.

The platform is a northern and a southern reef split by a channel that opens to the west, running from 1.8 to 30 metres over fine white sand with mounds and patches of branching coral1. Whale sharks and short-finned pilot whales are reported in the channel between Apo Island and Apo Menor2. Three islands break the surface: Apo Island, 22 hectares of mangrove with a shallow lagoon, a boardwalk and a lighthouse; rocky Apo Menor, also called Binangaan; and Cayos del Bajo, a couple of hundred square metres of bare coralline rock. Published centre-point coordinates for the park differ by about 9.5 kilometres across a park roughly 15 kilometres wide.

The dive map names eleven sites, and they sort by where you are on the platform. Shark Ridge lies off Cayos del Bajo at the north end, mapped at 5 to 40 metres, and Shark Encounter on the east side starts at 25. Around Apo Island, Ego Wall runs along the west side from 10 to 40 metres, Aladin along the east from 5, and the southeast corner from the surface down. The south carries Apo 5 and Apo 29, the latter at 30 to 40 metres, and San Antonio, a shallow wreck at 5 to 12. Current is the thing to respect: strong at times, able to turn mid-dive and hardest along the north side.

Coral cover runs to 63 genera, about half of those recorded worldwide, alongside 481 fish species2. Napoleon wrasse, known locally as mameng, and bumphead parrotfish are among the larger residents, and green and hawksbill turtles are reported on the reef. Mantas are reported and are not reliable.

The park has been a Protected Area in the Natural Park category since a proclamation of 6 September 1996, and the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018 wrote it into statute as one of 113 protected areas2. It went onto the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 16 May 2006 and has never been inscribed as a World Heritage Site, and the line about the second largest contiguous coral reef in the world is the nomination's own claim1.

Every trip starts at the Sablayan Tourism Office, where all visitors register on arrival under the town's 2021 eco-tour ordinance3. Press coverage reports that visitors cannot enter the park without an accredited guide. Park fees are collected in cash at the environment department station on Apo Island, usually after the day's diving, cards and transfers are not taken, and the fee sits on top of whatever the boat charges. Boat hire is quoted per booking through the tourism office.

Two park rules change what you pack. Everything living is protected, with fishing, collection and harvesting banned park-wide since 2007. Single-use plastics have been out since 13 June 2023 under a management board ordinance, with a one-year ban from the park at a fourth offence4; the full list is in the questions below.

Our minimum for Apo Reef is Advanced Open Water. Dives commonly reach 17 to 30 metres and the current can reverse mid-dive, a combination that suits a diver with some depth and current behind them.

Sablayan is the base, and reaching it costs a day. Fly Manila to San Jose in about 45 minutes and continue roughly three hours by bus or van, or take a bus to Batangas, the roll-on ferry to Abra de Ilog and a few hours by road. Puerto Galera centres sell the trip as a multi-day package with long transfers each way. From Sablayan the bangka crossing takes two to three hours, often a little quicker coming back. A few operators run day trips; the usual shape is two or three days, camping on Apo Island or sleeping on the boat's top deck, and liveaboards call in as one stop on routes between Busuanga and Puerto Galera or Anilao. Nothing on the reef offers a bed indoors or a shore dive, so every dive starts from a boat. December to May is the dry season and March to May the calmest part of it. Briefing standards on budget bangka trips vary, so ask for the site, the depth and the plan before you kit up.