Reefwander
White-eyed moray eel peering out from a coral crevice on Anda's wall

Anda · Philippines · Wall

Virgen Cave

A large overhang at the foot of a wall that drops to 32 m

Area photo: Ioannis Magouras · CC BY 4.0

Virgen Cave is a wall site on the Virgen stretch of the Anda coast, starting from a plateau at five metres and dropping to 32. The interest here is the shape of the rock rather than any one animal: a large overhang sits at the base of the wall, and below it the face keeps going in curves and canyons.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Virgen Cave: typical dive 5–32 m (15–105 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit5 m32 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

9.7165° N, 124.5500° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The site starts shallow. The plateau at five metres is the top of it, and the drop-off begins at the outer edge, so the first minutes are a short swim across reef before the bottom falls away. From there the wall runs down to 32 m, which puts its base past a normal recreational profile, and the usual plan is to look down at the overhang rather than settle under it.

The face is not flat. It drops in curves and canyons, with a large overhang at the bottom that is the feature guides point out, and the folds give shade and structure to work along at whatever depth you have settled on. Coming back, the five-metre plateau gives a long shallow finish over the top of the reef rather than a safety stop hanging in open water.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Virgen Cave
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
PrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodFairFairFairGoodPrimePrime

Season follows Anda: Nov–Jun is the main season; the south-west monsoon and typhoons make Jul–Oct unreliable on this exposed coast.

Sources

  1. Virgen Cave dive site — Scubago (SSI)

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