Anda · Philippines · Wall · Sand slope
Virgen East
A wall corner where pelagics pass, over sand at 25 m
Area photo: Ioannis Magouras · CC BY 4.0
Virgen East is a plateau at eight metres with a drop-off behind it running down to sand at 25 m. The deep part is where the macro is, and a big corner on the wall is the spot guides stop at to look outward instead of in, because pelagics pass along the face there.
Where it is and how deep
9.7263° N, 124.5547° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The top of the site is a plateau at eight metres, and the drop-off starts at its edge and runs down to a sand bottom at 25 m. Guides tend to take the deep part first, because the sand and the base of the wall hold the best of the macro here, and 25 m is shallow enough that a slow search down there does not eat the whole dive before it starts.
The other feature is a large corner on the wall. It is the place on this site to stop and look out into the blue rather than in at the reef, since pelagics pass along the face there, and hanging off the corner for a few minutes is a normal part of the dive. From there the route runs back up onto the eight-metre plateau, which gives the shallow end of the profile somewhere to sit.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Anda: Nov–Jun is the main season; the south-west monsoon and typhoons make Jul–Oct unreliable on this exposed coast.
Sources
- Virgen East dive site — Scubago (SSI)
More dive sites in Anda
Mandarinfish at sunset on a wall that starts at 3 m
A 24 m wall dived as two sites, north and south
Turtle City — greens and hawksbills on a wall to 30 m
Wall
A drift wall rated for beginners through advanced divers
Reef
Reef top at 5 m, sandy slope at the foot of the drop
Coral garden
A protected coral garden at 5–10 m above a canyon wall
Muck & macro
A sloping wall onto muck at 25 m, dived for nudibranchs
Wall
A large overhang at the foot of a wall that drops to 32 m
Similar dives elsewhere
The sheltered Lekuan site, and Bunaken's night dive
A north-pointing finger from 15 m down to 34 m
Shallow muck over a coral wall that falls to 60 m
A field of garden eels on the sand at the end of a shallow wall dive.