Coron · Philippines · Cave & cavern · Freshwater
Barracuda Lake
Fresh water over salt, and 38 degrees below the thermocline
Photo: Patrickroque01 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A limestone-walled lake on Coron Island, dived for its water rather than its life. About 4 m of warm fresh water sits over salt water, and a thermocline and halocline stacked at 14 m blur the view as you pass through. Below the layer the water heats to 38 degrees, and a 30 m cave sits near the bottom of a basin around 40 m deep.
Where it is and how deep
11.9563° N, 120.2171° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The entry is off the rocks into a lake ringed by sharp limestone cliffs, and the first 4 m are fresh water, warm from the surface down. The change comes at 14 m, where a thermocline and a halocline stacked together turn everything shimmery and out of focus for a few metres before it clears again. Below the layer the temperature climbs rather than falls, reaching 38 degrees at depth, which is warm enough to feel strange rather than comfortable.
There is not much to look at in the way of life. Gobies and shrimps work the rock, groupers hold in the deeper water, and now and then a barracuda turns up to justify the name, so the dive is really about the walls and the water itself. Visibility runs 10 to 20 m in the upper part. From around 35 m the water shifts from clear to dark brown and thick with silt, and a 30 m cave runs near the bottom of the roughly 40 m basin; entering it is cave diving, with the training and equipment that implies.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Barracuda
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
The lake is dived all year, so its months stay flat rather than following the dry-season peak of the bay outside.
Know before you go
- The thermocline and halocline at 14 m distort vision as you pass through, so expect a blurred few metres and take the descent slowly.
- Below about 35 m the water darkens and carries heavy silt, so a buoyancy error near the bottom can end the dive for everyone in the group.
- The cave near the bottom is a genuine overhead environment and needs cave training and equipment, not a torch and good intentions.
Photos from Barracuda Lake
André Héroux · CC BY 3.0
Madcel · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sailko · CC BY 3.0
Dive videos
Freediving Barracuda Lake | Coron, Philippines | GoPro · Omni Reef on YouTube
Barracuda Lake · Silke de Vos on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Why is Barracuda Lake so warm?+
The lake is layered. About 4 m of fresh water sits on top, and below the thermocline at 14 m the temperature rises instead of falling, reaching 38 degrees at depth.
Are there barracuda in Barracuda Lake?+
Occasionally. The usual residents are gobies, shrimps and groupers, with barracuda turning up now and then. Nobody dives it for the fish; the water layers and the limestone walls are the point.
Sources
- Barracuda Lake dive site — Divezone
- Coron Palawan diving — Divezone
- Coron — Wikivoyage
- Barracuda Lake dive site — PADI
Photo credits
- Sheer karst limestone walls rising over the entrance channel of Barracuda Lake with dive boats moored below by Patrickroque01, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Calm entrance lagoon leading toward Barracuda Lake, flanked by tree-topped limestone cliffs by André Héroux, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Dark still water of Barracuda Lake framed by a canopy branch and steep forested cliffs by Madcel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Swimmers dwarfed by the tall limestone cliffs enclosing Barracuda Lake by Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- What are thermoclines and haloclines?Ocean science · 8 min read
- Freshwater diving: lakes, springs and quarriesFreshwater · 15 min read
- Cavern and cenote diving without cave trainingCaves & caverns · 8 min read
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