With more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines can offer tons of diving opportunities for you—from stunning caves, ravishing coral reefs, and ecstatic marine beasts—the Pearl of the Orient have it. Here are our top picks on where you can best experience the Philippines:
Diving with whale sharks in Donsol
The Philippines is notable for its whale sharks sightings and the best place to see them is in Donsol. A lot of divers see a couple them per trip—but some see 20 to 40 in one journey. Interactions with the gentle giants plus a good diving at Manta Bowl off Ticao Island will surely make your excursion to the Philippines incredible.
Diving with thresher sharks in Malapascua
Malapascua is one of only a handful of spots on earth where you can plunge with thresher sharks. This pelagic species invests the vast majority of its energy in the deep waters of the continental slopes— so they are very rarely spotted—except at Malapascua where two submerged islands near deep water trenches go about as cleaning stations for these sharks.
Diving with dugongs in Palawan
The Dugong or ‘sea cow’ is one of the most peculiar creature in the vast ocean. They are extremely rare having been chased for a great many years for their meat and oil. It is said that dugongs could be found all through the Philippines at one point, and were normal in the 1970s. This is not true anymore—one of their last feeding grounds is in the island of Coron Island in Palawan. You are in with a decent possibility of seeing them here as the population of people here is just around 20.
