Moalboal · Philippines · Wall
White House / Mermaid Statue
Wall edge 30 m from shore, its foot at 60 to 70 m
Area photo: Ken Suarez · CC0
A steep wall on the stretch of coast north of Panagsama, fronting the White House lodge. The reef edge sits only about 30 m out from the shoreline and the face below it runs down to 60 or 70 m, which is far past any recreational plan, so the dive is worked as a shallow band along the top of a very deep face.
Where it is and how deep
9.9553° N, 123.3662° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
There is very little swim to this one. From the entry in front of the lodge the shallows run out about 30 m before the reef edge arrives, and past that edge the wall goes down in one steep face whose foot is at 60 or 70 m. The short approach is the reason the site is dived from shore at all, and it is also the reason to have your depth plan settled before you leave the shallows, because the drop arrives quickly and nothing about it stops you.
The dive is a wall swim in a chosen band, not a descent: pick a depth well above the foot of the face, hold it along the wall, and turn on gas or time rather than on landmarks. Nothing below your band is within a recreational plan, so the discipline is to stay level and let the wall do the work. Come back along the face shallower than you went out, and finish in the shallows between the reef edge and the entry, which double as the safety-stop ground.
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 | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Moalboal: Diveable year-round; the sardine school is present nearly every day regardless of season.
Sources
- White House / Mermaid Statue — Scubago
More dive sites in Moalboal
Wreck
A two-seat aircraft sunk on sand at 20 m, with a wall beyond
Reef
Coral slope that steepens into a wall at about 20 m
Wall
Coral shelf, a wall to 40 m, and a 140 m cave at its foot
A coral wall running from a 5 m shallow top down to 55 m
Muck & macro
Shallow sand and boulders in 5 to 10 m, minimal current
A million-plus sardines holding a short swim off the dive shops
An open-top cave in the northwest wall of a limestone island
Protected wall from 18 m to 55 m, hung with gorgonian fans
Similar dives elsewhere
A wall from 20 m to about 73 m off Olango's north-west side
Coral outcrops one side of the village, a wall past 40 m on the other.
A vertical face dropping from 5 m to 30 m off Gili Air
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North-east wall dived from a 10 m coral plateau to 40 m