Apo
APO REEF NATURAL PARK
Apo Reef is the second largest contiguous coral reef in the world and with 15,792 hectares, it is one of the largest coral atoll in the Philippines. It was declared a National Park in 1996. The Apo Reef Natural Park is 28 km off the west coast of Mindoro Island and consists of three islands: the Apo Island, Apo Menor (Binangaan) and Cayos del Bajo (Tinangkapang). Apo Island is the largest among the three islands and houses the ranger station. It is 22 hectares with a 35 meter lighthouse and a shallow lagoon surrounded by mangrove forest which serves as source of food, nursery and spawning ground of several coastal and marine species of fauna and sanctuary of birds. Its diverse corals are approximately 34 sq. km. of reef where different species of fish, marine mammals and invertebrates thrive. The Apo Menor or Binangaan is a rocky limestone island with relatively few vegetation and Cayos del Bajo (200-300 sq.m.) is a coralline rock formation with no vegetation.
Apo Reef diving has some spectacular drop offs and walls with some of the best visibility in the country. There’s also big fish action with sightings of schools of trevally, tuna and barracuda’s, as well as hammerheads, white and black tip reef sharks, manta, eagle and sting rays and turtles. There’s also close to 500 coral species as well as 385 species of marine fishes found in Apo Reef.
REFERENCE: whc.unesco.org, www.philippines-travel-guide.com, www.asiadive.com
2004 TRIP
PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert, Angie & Paz (Apo Reef, Mindoro, Philippines)
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kelan tayo punta? tara!
cige Muny set up ko…tatagal ka pa naman dito…pati coron. long weekend ang August 18-20!!!! Coron anyboby??
Good day Kuya Dave,
Game kami sa Coron. Kelan ba eto if ever?
The Coron trip is tentatively scheduled Aug 17 to 20. The ferry usually departs Friday afternoon (3:45 pm) and arrives in Coron early morning (5 am) then departs Coron Sunday evening (10:45 pm) and arrives in Manila Monday noontime.
Hi Tita Paz,
Nakupo GAME kame jan
YES… CORON… TUKOOO….
Hi guys, new to this site, it’s looking familiar actually, LOL! Were making something similar but you guys definitely have something great going on already. Good idea. Have you guys heard of Moalboal, Pescador Island? or been to? Or a place called Bato Batoan? - comprises of 3 sunken islands connected together at a min depth of just 10ft to a maximum recorded depth of 330ft with a scuba tank. It’s a fantastic place with a remarkable view mountain view in front of you but a heaven for fish below you on open water. When I get the chance I’ll send you guys some pics.
In case YOU GUYS ARE INTERESTED TO JOIN AS WELL…
http://www.divebuddy.com?User=Satya
If you guys are interested I’d like to invite you guys to join our dive group one day here in CEBU and join us in diving some sites we discovered ourselves- undeveloped and some that are untouched by scuba. Were free divers, but we also teach and do scuba. I’m sure you guys would love it. Canyoning, Exploration, great food, white beaches, climate pool and more!
Quintin Jose Garcia Gomez III
Aquaholics - Aquaholic Divers Inc.
Club Serena Resort, Moalboal, Cebu Philippines
http://www.clubserenaresort.com - website under construction
E: quintgomez@gmail.com - Business
Mobile: 0920 - 927 - 82 -77
Thank you for visiting our site Quintin. Moalboal is a great place to dive with it’s fabulous walls, sunken island/reef, colorful soft corals and a great variety of fishes. I went diving there in the late 90’s (1998 to be exact) and saw my first Spanish dancer during a night dive. We will surely get in touch with you when we visit Moalboal again. I would love to feature it in our blog in the near future. Anyone for Moalboal?
Excellent, Thank you for welcoming me, appreciate it. I personally, will assist you all in your expedition plans and will hand out your Discount Cards for fellow dive group members more than 5. Nice to meet you PAZ. Hope to see you guys soon! Safe Diving! If it’s any consolation, on October 25th 2007, Negros - longan, the Island infront of us, 60km away from moalboal, is a sanctuary that has been kept preserved for more than 4 years. On october the 25th 6:am, it will be open to few dive groups to investigate and see what developments have been made. A marine biologist who has visited us in the resort, has been overseeing the development of this sanctuary and has spotted 2 manta rays, length 7ft across from wing tip to wing tip, just 30ft while snorkeling at 7:30-8pm at night. I magine if we had tanks?
I can make arrangents for your group to join us this year. It’ll be great! a 4 year sanctuary untouched will be open to diving the whole day. It will take us only 1:30mins by banca to get there. If interested please let me know. It’s great to meet other dive teams as well.
Take it easy!
Satya
- Your Aquaholic Buddy, making bubbles!
Thanks for the offer Satya. We would love to visit Longan too. I will get in touch with you via email soon to plan out details