We show you some of the best divesites in the Philippines
A small yet well equipped divecenter for beginners and experienced divers
Scuba Diving is the main attraction on Pandan Island / Philippines. The dive sites around the island vary from shallow coral gardens to deep drop-offs on the north side, ideal for all levels. Our fully equipped PADI dive shop offers dive courses of all level from Discover Scuba Diving to Divemaster.
Apart from diving around Pandan Island / Philippines, we are no doubt the experts when it comes to organize dive trips to Apo Reef.
Apo Reef can be reached with the big outrigger boats “M/B Karla” or “M/B Rainbow’s End” within ninety minutes. This forty square kilometer big atoll offers uncountable dive sites and a good chance to see sharks and other pelagics.
Another specialty are the four to five days safaris to Busuanga (Coron) to dive the Japanese wrecks from WWII.
For special offers on temporary dive insurance programs please check the website of www.diveassure.com
Divesites around Pandan Island
All divesites around Pandan Island are within short distance from the beach or accessible by our custom built dive-catamaran.
Below is a description of the main dive sites around Pandan Island and what you can expect to see:
- House Reef
Depths between 2 – 20m. Ideal for beginners or a warm-up dive. A wide variety of coral fish such as parrot fish, butterfly fish, trigger fish and sergeant major can be seen. Nearby ‘lion fish den’ consists of a couple of rocks overgrown with soft and hard corals and teeming with lion fish. - Coral Garden East and West
Depths between 5 – 25m. Another easy but beautiful dive. In a lively garden of hard and soft corals all kinds of marine life can be observed such as surgeon fish, trigger fish, coral trouts, stingrays, moray eels, sand eels, cuttle fish and an occasional turtle. In the deeper parts of the dive, large gorgonians and Neptune cups are abundant. - Napoleon Wall
Depths between 30 – 40m. On the edge of the wall at 30 m big schools of snappers and mackerels can be watched, although the big attraction of this dive site are the big napoleon wrasses reaching up to 1,5 m in length, which often come for a visit. Tunas and trevallys are common visitors to this reef that is overgrown with gorgonians. In the right time of the month drift dives can bee made until Coral Garden east. - Neptune’s Land
Depths between 18 – 30 m. This dive is a flat plateau connecting Napoleon Wall and the Coral Garden east. As the name indicates Neptune cups to a considerable size can be found. Also turtles seem to favor this place. - Anchor & Christmas Tree
Depths between 25 – 42 m. On a underwater hill at a depth of 32 m, completely overgrown by corals, a huge anchor has come to rest at least 50 years ago. Snappers, barracudas and pelagic fish can be seen. At the bottom of the hill is a tree-like sea nettle, all white. - North Wall
A sheer drop from about 7- 35 m makes that place an interesting dive site. Although not as many fish as in other parts of the island can be seen, the overhanging corals create a very special atmosphere. Pelagic fish such as tuna and mackerel are frequent. - Barracuda Deep
Depths from 30- 45 m. Probably the most advanced dive around the island. A wall at 30 m depth facing the South China Sea is the place to see big schools of trevallys, fusiliers, surgeon fish, spanish mackerels and unicorn fish. Eagle rays and napoleons are often seen as well as barracudas up to a size of 1,5 m. The whole wall is overgrown with hard and soft corals and the gorgonians reach a considerable size. - Corner
Depths between 5 – 30 m. This dive site on the SW-side of the island consists of a steep slope with occasional big rocks and canyons that offer shelter to a wide array of reef fishes and attract predators such as mackerels and trevallys. There is a variation of different corals and big sea fans up to 2 meters diameter to be found.
Courses
Mariposa Divers Pandan offers the whole range of PADI courses from Discover Scuba dives until Dive Master as well as specialties like Nitrox (EaNX) and Wreck Diver. We provide you with a high level education, customized schedules and a personal and relaxed environment to help you to get the most out of your dive course.
All our courses are held in either English or French
An overview over the courses offered:
Diving Guidelines
All divers are responsible for their own safety and dive profiles (including guided dives), following dive tables and/or computers. Safety stops are mandatory (5m, 3mins) on ALL DIVES.
Divers who have not been diving for 12 months are required to do a refresher course with an instructor or divemaster.
All divers are required to use a full set of SCUBA GEAR, including an alternate air source. Divers on Non-limit Diving packages or dive safaris please ask dive staff for dive computer rental.
Reserve starts at 50 BAR (750 psi), time for your ascent!! However, we do like you to make the most of your dive; provided you are not alone, you can still enjoy the coral gardens not deeper then 6m. Do surface with at least 30 BAR (450psi) tank pressure !!!
Always remain close to your buddy, even on guided dives. If you loose your buddy during the dive, search for no more than 1 minute in the immediate area, then inform your diveguide.
Pandan Island diving
We offer 2 guided dives daily at 9:30 and 14:30. Please inform the dive staff at least 1hour before your planned dive. Night dives need to be planned until noon and are at 18:00 with guide, or later without. On request, advanced divers (buddy groups) with more than 60 logged dives each and who dove with us already, may go on beach dives independently. Please consult our dive masters.
Apo Reef and Busuanga Diving
All divers are required to do a check-up dive around Pandan island before we take you out to dive Apo Reef or the Busuanga Wrecks.
Exempt from check-up dives are:
- Open Water divers with 100 or more logged dives
- Advanced divers or Rescue Diver with 50 or more logged dives
- Divemasters and instructors
A check-up dive is a fun dive on one of our excellent dive sites around Pandan Island, where we can assess the divers’ ability, make sure they have well fitting equipment and are properly weighted (more then 50% of the divers carry too much lead !). The purpose is to avoid dangerous descents and group seperations in case difficult situations (waves, currents) arise out on the reef.
HAVE FUN AND SAFE DIVING
MARIPOSA DIVE TEAM