Mactan & Olango · Philippines · Reef · Wall
Santa Rosa (Olango)
A drop-off at 15 m running down to 50, off Olango's pier
Area photo: ＤＡＶＩＤ · CC BY-SA 3.0
Santa Rosa lies off Olango's main town and pier, the landing point for the usual crossing from Mactan. The dive opens over a sandy bottom covered in soft corals and runs out to a drop-off at 15 metres that descends to 50. There is a good variety of reef fish in the shallows; fusiliers, catfish, jacks, snappers and sweetlips hold further down the face.
Also known as Santa Rosa.
Where it is and how deep
10.2690° N, 124.0462° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The site takes its name from Olango's main town, and the crossing from Mactan lands at the pier there — the most-used route runs from the pier next to the Hilton on the Lapu-Lapu side. The dive itself begins shallow, on a sandy bottom covered in soft corals, and that sand is what a team follows out toward the edge of the reef.
The drop-off starts at 15 metres and descends to 50, so how deep the dive goes is a choice rather than a given. There is a good variety of reef fish in the shallows over the soft corals; further down the face the fish change over to fusiliers, catfish, jacks, snappers and sweetlips. The upper part of the wall is where a recreational team can spend real time, with the deeper ground below it left as depth rather than as a plan.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
- Trevally & jacks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Mactan & Olango: Mar–May, the hot dry season, is the usual window; the Jun–Nov rains cut visibility on the house reefs, and typhoon risk runs highest around Nov–Dec, as Typhoon Rai showed in December 2021.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Santa Rosa dive site?+
The dive starts over sand and soft corals and reaches a drop-off at 15 metres, which descends to 50. Most of a recreational dive is spent on the upper part of that face.
Sources
- Olango Island Group — Wikipedia
- Olango Island — Wikivoyage
More dive sites in Mactan & Olango
Reef
Table corals from 3 m down to 40, and nudibranchs on all of it
Wall
A wall from 20 m to about 73 m off Olango's north-west side
Wall
A channel wall to 35 m with a current that runs hard
Sharks at 35 m off Olango's northern tip, hammerheads among them
A blue opening in the wall at 25–27 m, depending on the tide
Cave & cavern
A 29 m roof, a 40 m floor, and a chamber full of flashlightfish
Wreck
A ship at 50 m that a typhoon stood back upright
Reef
A wide shield reef with the wall starting at 5–7 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Green turtles resident year-round on a 5-to-50 m drop-off
The protected shallows where Balicasag's turtles are thickest
Schooling barracuda and trevally when a current is running
A coral ridge known for large frogfish, then macro on the fringing reef