Take a magical diving trip in the underwater world of Apo Island
Apo Island is located about 5 km off the southeast coast of Negros Island and south of Dumaguete City. You can reach Apo Island by boat from Silliman Beach, on the North side of Dumaguete.
Some 72 hectares of volcanic rock situated in the Mindanao Sea, the island has a marine sanctuary that was started in 1985 by Siliman University.
Experienced dive masters can take you to magical trips in the underwater world of Apo.
The John G. Shedd Aquarium in Lake Shore Drive , Chicago Illinois has spent some US$ 47 million for this interactive state-of-the-art project that covers a 27,000 sq. ft. recreation of Apo Island.
Eight years of planning five research trips, three years of infrastructure construction (since 1999) have gone into this ambitious project. The Philippine Wild Reef Exhibit was opened on 2003.
The permanent exhibit gives visitors a diver's eye view of the Philippine coral reefs, the most populous and diverse aquatic ecosystem in the world.
Shedd's experts found an idyllic community where humans, animals and habitats co-exist in harmony.
Some 540 aquatic species nearly doubling the aquarium's existing species will inhabit the new exhibit.
Apo Island Diving Sites
CHAPEL POINT (15m)
Location: The buoy off Apo Island Diving
Attraction:good coral heads and the fish life is profilic
It's a drift dive under the buoy. You can see good coral heads, soft corals, sea stars, several sources of nudibranchs, gorgonian sea fans, whip corals and basket sponges.
Fish life such as tuna, barracuda, black and white snappers, Vlaming's Unicornfish, trumphetfish can also be seen in this site.
ROCK POINT (10m)
Location: by banca from Apo Island Diving
Attraction: good fish life
This site is normally gets some heavy weather, but it has a good fish life.The dive begins with a gentle slope made up of rocks and coral heads, green Tubastrea corals, Dendrophthya soft tree corals.
Variety of fishes can also be seen such as Picasso Triggerfish, Black and White Snappers,moray eels, Blacktip and Whitetip, Sharks and large Bumphead Wrasse.
MARINE SANCTUARY (10m)
Location: The buoy off the marine sanctuary to the east of Rock Point
Attraction: Giant Clams, turtles and manta rays
Marine Sanctuary has a mixture of walls, slopes and sandy patches with
black corals. The western side of the sanctuary was seeded by giant clams,
nudibranchs, sea star, feather stars and clownfish. The fish life includes
the Vlaming's Unicornfish, shoals of jacks, turtles, Mlack and White snappers
and Manta Rays are common.
MAMSA POINT (15m)
Location: Off Mamsa Point
Attraction: Black and Whitetip Reef Sharks
Mamsa Point is named for its schools of jacks. There are some nice gorgonians on the wall and other pelagic species, groupers, scorpionfish, lionfish and Black and Whitetip Reef Sharks.
Scuba Diving vacations
COCONUT POINT (25m)
Location: West Centre of the north side of the island
Attraction:Sarcophyton soft corals, Dendrophylia soft tree corals,sweetips,
Vlaming Unicornfish and White Reef Sharks
Coconut Point has a usual strong current. It attracts fish such as barrracuda, sweetips, jacks, tuna,Vlaming unicornfish, Whitetip Reef Sharks. The slope has a variety of soft corals.
Other Interesting Activities
Although Apo Island is a primarily a diving destination, there are some other interesting activities that you could do in the island.
One of these is trekking to the lighthouse, visiting the lover's beach or
going to Malatapay Market during Wednesday to shop for all sort of
goodies from bolos, native handbags and ukay-ukay products (second hand
clothing) and other native activities such as live animal auction.
Getting There
There are daily PAL and Air Philippines flight going to Dumaguete. The flight from Manila takes about an hour.
Dumaguete is also accessible throught Cebu by taking a Supercat Ferry.
From Dumaguete, you can take a two and a half pumpboat going to Apo Island.
The dive industry here is well run and there is no shortage of great and diverse dive destinations to choose from.
Sources:
Philippine Dept. of Tourism
Apo Island Foundation
Wikipedia and Wikitravel
HotelClub.com
World66
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