Mainit Corner

This is a boat dive onto the corner at the southern tip of the peninsula, and the current decides how it runs. The reefs here form a triangle, and depths across it range from 5 to 35 metres. When the water is moving, the submerged pinnacle at 21 metres is the structure to get behind: it is a good vantage point from which to watch pelagics passing, and holding there costs far less gas than swimming into the flow.

Fish life along the reef includes Moorish idols, barracuda, sharks, pufferfish, snappers, surgeonfish, wrasses, angelfish and jacks, with schooling wrasses, snappers, anthias and groupers over the sea fans and soft corals. Shallower, a small cave at 6 metres is occasionally graced by resting whitetip sharks, which makes it worth a look on the way up rather than a target at the start. The shallow end of the range gives somewhere to finish the dive once the deep part of the profile is spent.

The site can be challenging: strong currents, down currents, upwellings and depth all combine here, and they are the reason it is not a site to dive on the first day of a trip. Its geography keeps it accessible all year round, but the conditions on the day decide the dive, so the briefing matters more than any general description of the route.