Daryl Laut
Also known as: Dari Laut, Dari-Laut, Darilaut
Open steel frame of a stripped structure on the reef slope off western Caban Island, tilted from about 12 m to 28 m, with a resident batfish school.
Last updated September 2026
The dive
What remains is a skeleton: tilted pylons and beams lying down the reef slope off the west side of Caban Island, upholstered in coral, sponges and tunicates. The boat drops you by back-roll and you descend straight onto the shallow end at about thirteen metres, then spend the dive working the structure.
Everything that could be salvaged was picked apart for scrap, which leaves an open cage. Divers fin in and out of the frame between the beams, and the whole thing runs downhill to its foot at twenty-seven or twenty-eight metres.
Batfish are the fish on the frame. The small life is spread through the growth: nudibranchs and flatworms in bright colours nearly everywhere, scorpionfish hiding in plain sight, a painted frogfish photographed here, trumpetfish, pipefish, squirrelfish and reef fish around the beams. Current is none to mild, and that is why divers describe it as a novice dive.
What makes it special
A school of batfish has been reported living on this frame by divers writing thirteen years apart, and one who dives it repeatedly says they always find it. On a coast whose draw is small animals over sand and rubble, a resident school of large fish over steel is its own kind of dive.
Divers know the structure as the remains of a former floating casino. What they dive is the frame that was left once the rest was stripped, now colonised from top to foot.
Know before you go
Cover your arms and legs even when the water is around 26 degrees. Coral grows over the beams and contact is easy, so streamline your gear for the same reason and keep your buoyancy clear of the structure.
The frame is open and nothing on the dive requires going inside it. Some divers do enter what is left; that is a trained wreck diver's call.
No recompression chamber is evidenced operating in Anilao, and the nearest one evidenced as working is in Metro Manila, hours away by boat and road. Hold insurance that pays for hyperbaric treatment and transfer, check the boat carries oxygen, and keep the DAN Asia-Pacific Diving Emergency Service number to hand: +61 8 8212 9242.
Set a turn depth before you get in. The frame follows the slope and the descent is easy to miss; a diver who comes back here regularly has gone deeper than planned on it several times. Check your computer while you explore and work the frame across the slope, not down it.
Why Dive Daryl Laut
What makes this dive site stand out.
- Resident batfish school
Reported on the frame by divers writing thirteen years apart
- Tilted down the slope
The frame runs from about 12 m at its top end to about 28 m at its foot
- An open steel skeleton
Picked apart for scrap long ago, so divers fin in and out between the beams
- Little or no current
The reason divers call it a dive for novices
Depth & Profile
Location
13.6834°N, 120.8408°E
Conditions & difficulty
Settled weather runs roughly November to May. In rough conditions the coast guard keeps boats in and operators switch to sheltered shore dives.
The shallow end at 12 to 13 m is an Open Water dive; the deep end at 27 to 28 m lies past the 18 m Open Water limit, which is why the site has served as an Advanced Open Water deep-dive check-out.
Summary
Easy conditions with little or no current, over a slope that takes a diver following the frame deeper than it feels.
Safety considerations
What can go wrong here, and what divers do about it. Conditions change - take the briefing from the operator on the day.
- Depth: The frame follows the slope downhill and the descent is easy to miss while you explore it. A diver who returns to the site regularly records going deeper than intended here several times, and the deep end is at 27 to 28 m.Set a turn depth before the dive, check the computer while exploring, and work the frame across the slope instead of down it.
- Overhead: Hard and soft coral grows over the beams of the open frame, and gear or limbs brush it easily.Streamline gear so nothing catches on the beams or coral, cover arms and legs even in warm water, and hold buoyancy clear of the structure.
- Overhead: Some divers enter what remains of the frame.The frame is open and the dive never needs you inside it; going in is a decision for a diver trained in wreck penetration.
- Surface and boat traffic: In rough conditions the coast guard does not let boats out, and reaching this site means crossing the strait.Keep a spare day, and expect the operator to switch to a sheltered shore dive when boats are held.
- Remote location: No recompression chamber is evidenced operating in Anilao; the nearest one evidenced as working is in Metro Manila, hours away by boat and road.Hold insurance that pays for hyperbaric treatment and transfer, and check the boat carries oxygen.
Marine Life
Regulations
The site carries no protected-area designation. Tingloy's named sanctuary is Batalang Bato, also called Pulang Buli, a different feature. A per-diver, per-day municipal conservation fee applies across the area and is normally added to the resort bill; confirm the amount with your operator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Daryl Laut really a floating casino?▾
That is how divers and at least one local operator know it: the remains of a former floating casino. Some call it a barge, and one diver who knows the site put the two words together, a barge that was a floating casino in a former life, so they describe one object. Beyond that it is a local account, and the people who tell it disagree. One version has it sinking after a lightning strike, another after it caught fire. One places it in the 1980s, another in the late 1970s or early 1980s. What you dive today is the stripped frame.
Is Daryl Laut the only wreck dive around Anilao?▾
It has been called that, and it is the structure most divers here know. One account from 2014 goes further and calls it the most frequented wreck in the Anilao-Bauan area, while describing a second wreck roughly an hour away by speedboat. So it is the familiar one, and there is at least one other.
Why is Daryl Laut listed for Open Water divers and also used for the Advanced deep dive?▾
Both are true of different ends of the same frame. One diver who has logged it several times gives Open Water as the minimum, and a Manila dive club described it as a favourite Advanced Open Water check-out site for the deep dive. The top of the frame at 12 to 13 m sits inside the 18 m Open Water limit. The foot at 27 to 28 m does not, and the slope makes it easy to arrive there without meaning to. With an Open Water card, stay on the upper part of the frame.
Is it Daryl Laut or Dari Laut?▾
Both spellings are in use for the same site off Caban Island, and Darilaut and Dari-Laut turn up on operator pages too. If your operator lists Dari Laut and you asked for Daryl Laut, it is the same dive.
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