Palawan

Apo Reef Natural Park is the second-largest contiguous coral reef system in the world and the largest in Asia, located in the Mindoro Strait west of Palawan. The outer reef walls host thresher and hammerhead sharks, schools of bumphead parrotfish, and spectacular wall diving from 5 to 40 m. The park's isolation from intense fishing pressure means fish biomass is dramatically higher than most Philippine reefs.

Barracuda Lake on Coron Island is a unique inland dive site accessible via a short scramble over sharp karst limestone. The lake has distinct thermoclines — warm freshwater sits above cool sea water — creating an eerie shimmering effect known as a halocline. The namesake pickhandle barracuda are joined by catfish and monitor lizards that swim in the shallows, making this one of diving's most unusual and unforgettable experiences.

Tubbataha Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the middle of the Sulu Sea, reachable only by liveaboard from Puerto Princesa, Palawan. The north atoll wall drops precipitously from the surface to over 100 m and is patrolled by hammerhead sharks, grey reef sharks, and Napoleon wrasse in extraordinary numbers. Conditions demand experience — current, depth, and open-ocean exposure combine on many of the park's best sites.

Coron Wreck Divers Philippines specialises in guided dives on the legendary Japanese WWII fleet sunk in Coron Bay — a collection of more than a dozen large wrecks that are now encrusted with corals and home to enormous schools of glassfish, lionfish, and batfish. The warm, sheltered bay conditions make these wreck dives accessible to Open Water certified divers, while the deeper vessels at Irako and Morazan Maru provide penetration diving challenges for advanced and technical divers. The centre provides full technical diving gear hire and runs PADI Wreck Diver and TDI Intro to Tech programs.

Palawan Blue Horizon Dive is headquartered in El Nido and focuses on the dramatic limestone karst seascapes of Bacuit Bay, where hidden lagoons descend into pristine coral gardens sheltering sea turtles, reef sharks, and dense tropicals. The Tubbataha Reef Natural Park liveaboard season (March–June) is their flagship offering, accessing UNESCO-listed reefs considered the best in the Philippines with walls dropping over 100 metres and hammerhead shark aggregations. Local guides hold deep ancestral knowledge of Palawan's waters, honed over generations of fishing and now redirected into conservation-led tourism.