Romblon · Philippines · Reef · Sand slope
Bangug Island
Reef from two metres down to sand at twenty
Area photo: krokodiver · CC BY 2.0
A small reef system running parallel to Bangug Island, 15 to 20 minutes by boat from Romblon Town or Lonos. The dive starts in two metres of water and works gradually down to a sandy bottom at 20 metres, past the sea grass fields and blocks that Wikivoyage flags as the places with most to find. It is listed as suitable for divers of any level.
Where it is and how deep
12.5686° N, 122.2379° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
You start shallow, in about two metres of water at the top of the reef, and the whole dive is a gradual descent from there. The reef runs parallel to the island rather than out from it, so the route is a straight line along the structure with the ground dropping away slowly on one side. That is easy to follow on the way out and easy to reverse when it is time to come back.
The reef ends on the sandy bottom at 20 metres, which is as deep as the site goes. Wikivoyage points at the sea grass fields and the ground under the blocks as where there is most to discover, so this is a dive to take slowly rather than a swim down to the sand and back. Because the profile starts so shallow there is no pressure on the descent, no special skills are required and no site-specific hazards are reported.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Romblon: Nov–Jun is the settled season; typhoons and the south-west monsoon make Jul–Oct unreliable for the boat crossing.
Sources
- Diving in the Philippines — Wikivoyage
More dive sites in Romblon
Channel & pass
Often-strong current turns the channel into a drift
Reef
Three to fifteen metres over the corals off Logbon Island
Coral garden
A shallow coral canyon on the tip of a rocky islet
Fields of big gorgonians at the 35-metre end of the slope
Sand slope
Giant clams scattered across the sand of a protected bay
Reef
Walk-in house reef that doubles as the training and night dive
Romblon's turtle reef, with whale sharks on the record
Wall
A field of garden eels below vertical walls and boulders
Similar dives elsewhere
Coral to 15 m, then sand with barrel sponges, fans and whip corals.
White sand to 15 m, no current, twenty minutes from town
Coral blocks on sand, with schooling fish over a slow slope
Resident turtles around an old wooden boat wreck on the slope