Apo Island

Coconut Point sits at the northern tip of Apo, where the water flowing around the island meets the reef head-on. That makes it the island's classic drift dive: you drop onto a sloping reef and let the current carry you west along it, over soft corals, sea fans, feather stars and barrel sponges.

The moving water is what brings the fish. Big-eye trevally often gather over a sandy patch halfway along, while barracuda, snappers, Spanish mackerel and unicornfish patrol the edge of the reef and the odd whitetip reef shark rests below. Anthias and fusiliers fill the shallows.

The current here can shift in strength and direction during a dive, so Coconut Point is for divers who are comfortable drifting and holding their buoyancy in moving water. Most dives end in the calmer water at Largahan.

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Olo comes from ulo, the Cebuano word for head, and the site sits at the head of the island on its northeast corner. This is where the current divides, one branch running west towards Coconut Point and the other south along the east coast towards Cogon.

The reef is a slope of healthy hard corals and large sea fans falling away into deeper water. Facing the open sea, it draws schooling fish and now and then a bigger visitor in from the blue.

Olo is usually dived from around 15 m and only when conditions allow, which makes it a site for experienced divers.

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Cogon is named after the tall cogon grass, once the standard roofing material in the islands, which grows on the slopes above the site and gives its name to the small settlement on Apo's east coast.

Like Coconut Point, it catches the currents sweeping round the north of the island and is usually dived as a drift. The reef slopes gently, with coral outcrops broken by sandy patches, and the moving water keeps it busy with snappers, fusiliers, groupers and turtles. Look closer and you'll find moray eels and nudibranchs too.

On a mild day it's an easy, relaxed drift. When the current picks up, it's best left to divers with drift experience.

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Mamsa is the local word for jack, and jacks are what Mamsa Point is known for: schools of big-eye trevally hanging off the reef, sometimes joined by a hunting giant trevally.

The dive often starts on a sandy floor ringed by coral, a natural arena where turtles, moray eels and Moorish idols go about their day and frogfish hide in plain sight. From there the reef steepens into a slope and wall, with eagle rays and reef sharks passing by from time to time.

Currents run along this stretch of the east coast and can be strong, so Mamsa Point suits divers with some experience.

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Just north of the marine sanctuary, Kan-uran is a gentle wall dive on Apo's east side. The wall is cut with ledges, overhangs and small caves, all hung with hard and soft corals.

It rewards slow diving. The crevices hide nudibranchs, shrimps, crabs and moray eels, turtles rest on the ledges, and reef fish crowd the face of the wall. Sitting next to the sanctuary, it also gains from the fish that spill over from the protected reef.

Currents are usually light, which makes Kan-uran a comfortable dive for most levels.

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The no-take sanctuary on Apo's southeast coast is where the island's conservation story began in 1982. It covers 450 m of shoreline and reaches 500 m out to sea, and no fishing of any kind has been allowed here for more than four decades.

The result is some of the densest fish life and most intact coral on the island: a steep slope of hard and soft corals with large groupers, schooling fish and turtles. Long-term research on this reef by Silliman University helped show that a small no-take zone can rebuild fish stocks on the reefs around it.

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Rock Point East is a long finger of reef reaching out from the southeast corner of the island. Its position puts it in the path of the currents, and the reef shows it, with big coral formations, a steady flow of reef fish and passing trevally, tuna and barracuda.

The east side drops as a wall into a steep slope. When the current allows, the dive can carry on round the tip of the point and join up with Rock Point West. It suits divers with some experience who are happy to drift.

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On the southwest corner of the island, Rock Point West is a steep coral slope that leads out to a plateau at the tip of the point. The richest part of the reef lies between about 5 and 18 m, with dense coral, anemones and their clownfish, turtles and sea snakes.

Near the tip the current usually picks up. Depending on its direction, the dive either continues round onto the east side or turns back along the western slope. With a guide who knows the site, it suits most divers who are comfortable in some current.

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Katipanan lies on the sheltered southwest side, south of Chapel, and is one of the gentlest dives on the island. Local guides say it's named after the small cowrie shells found here.

A gentle slope runs from colourful soft coral gardens in the shallows down past huge brain corals and fields of lettuce coral, all alive with butterflyfish, angelfish, wrasses and damselfish. Turtles feed and rest here often.

With little current and its best corals in 5 to 10 m of water, it's ideal for new divers and snorkellers alike.

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Chapel takes its name from the island's chapel, which overlooks the site near the main landing beach on the west coast.

The dive starts on a gentle slope of white sand and coral heads, then drops at around 12 m into a wall full of cracks, overhangs and small caverns. Tube and finger sponges and big sea fans cover the wall, frogfish, ribbon eels and nudibranchs hide in its nooks, and turtles are regular visitors.

The shallow plateau gives newer divers plenty to see, while the wall offers more for those with experience. It's one of the most popular sites on the island.

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Boluarte is named after the striking rock formation on Apo's main beach, the island's best-known landmark. The site is also spelled Baluarte.

Underwater, the island's volcanic origins are easy to see. Steady streams of bubbles rise from the sand at around 10 m, catching the light as they float to the surface.

Around them, an easy slope of hard and soft corals can be dived in either direction, with turtles, sea snakes, trevally and groupers, and now and then a passing bumphead parrotfish. Currents are usually light.

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Largahan, on the northwest side, is one of Apo's most varied sites: hard coral formations divided by dark volcanic sand, ledges with deep undercuts, a short wall and a soft coral garden in the shallows. Towards the end of the dive, bubbles rise from a sandy patch.

Photographers love it for its small life, from scorpionfish and frogfish to nudibranchs, set among tube anemones and black corals. Turtles and sea snakes are often seen.

Sheltered and easy, Largahan suits divers of all levels. It's also where drift dives from Coconut Point usually finish.

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