
Malapascua · Philippines · Pinnacle · Reef
Dakit Dakit Pinnacle
A 20 m-wide coral pinnacle topping out at 5 m
Area photo: Petter Lindgren · CC BY-SA 3.0
Dakit Dakit Pinnacle is a single coral-covered rise off the southwest of Malapascua. Its top is about 5 metres deep and roughly 20 metres across, and it stands up from 12 to 14 metres. Hard and soft corals including table corals cover it, and big rocks carry growth of their own, so the whole dive fits inside a small, shallow piece of ground.
Where it is and how deep
11.3221° N, 124.1073° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The pinnacle is a contained dive: about 5 metres deep at the top, standing up from 12 to 14 metres, with a top some 20 metres in diameter. Most groups drop onto the shallow crown, work down one side to the base and then circle, which on a structure this size means several unhurried laps rather than a single pass. Keeping the rock on one shoulder is the simplest way to stay oriented on a site with no reef running away from it.
The cover is nice hard and soft corals including table corals, and big rocks carry growth of their own, so the deeper part of the dive has structure rather than bare sand. Because the top sits at 5 metres, the safety stop happens on the pinnacle itself, in the shallowest and best-lit coral, and there is usually gas and time left to spend there once the deeper laps are done.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Malapascua: Threshers visit Kimud Shoal all year. March to May is calmest and clearest; October to January brings rough seas, green water and the most cancelled crossings.
Sources
- Dakit Dakit Pinnacle - Scubago — Scubago/SSI
More dive sites in Malapascua
Wall
A 12 to 14 m wall with ground running down to 28 m
Coral garden
A gentle coral slope from 5 to 20 m inside a protected area
Muck & macro
Muck ground averaging 5 to 8 m, with a maximum near 16
A 5 to 13 m coral and seagrass slope off the resort beach
Reef
Blue-ringed octopus and frogfish among coral boulders
Wreck
An upright WWII Japanese wreck reserved for technical divers
The old thresher shoal, now dived for tigers and mobulas
Seamount
Where Malapascua's thresher sharks moved in 2022, at 12–22 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Whitetips, blacktips and marble rays on an atoll pinnacle
A coral-covered submerged island from 10 metres down to 30
Three large rocks and six smaller ones in a current-swept cluster
Trevally and tuna in numbers that block out the light



