Paliton Sanctuary is a wall dive on the Paliton reef, starting at a depth of 5 metres and running down to 50. Because the top of the wall is so shallow, the site works for every level: the coral gardens along the upper face are intact and full of small life, and the depth below is optional rather than part of the dive.
Where it is and how deep
9.1768° N, 123.4547° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The wall begins at a depth of 5 metres, which is what makes this an ideal dive site for every level rather than a deep-only one: you can spend a whole tank in the top few metres of the face and see the best of the coral, or follow the wall down towards the 50 metres it eventually reaches. Most of the interest sits where the light still is, so there is little reason to hurry down.
Along the upper wall the coral gardens are intact, soft and hard coral together, and the small stuff is the point here - lots of little macro critters tucked into the growth, with a big variety of them and schools of colourful reef fish moving over the top. Divers log visibility between 15 and 22 metres through the year in water of 26 to 29 degrees, so the pace is set by how closely you want to look rather than by cold or depth.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
- Reef fish swarms
- Pristine corals
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Siquijor: November to May is the main season; from June to October the south-west monsoon moves the diving from the western walls to the sheltered north-east coast.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Paliton Sanctuary?+
The wall starts at 5 metres and runs to 50. The shallow top means the site is listed as ideal for every level, with the deeper face optional rather than necessary.
Sources
- Paliton Sanctuary - Scubago — Scubago (SSI)
More dive sites in Siquijor
Coral garden
Two different dives from one walk-in entry
Staghorn fields at depth, and frogfish after dark
Seamount
A submerged island from 12 m to 40, with current and big fish
Wall
Sea fans on a vertical face, dived as a guided drift
Reef
Leather and soft coral across a slope that runs to 65 m
Seagrass, dense reef and wall on one protected slope
Wreck
A well-preserved wreck at 30 to 35 m off the Larena pier
Artificial reef
Sunken concrete crosses grown into an artificial reef
Similar dives elsewhere
Stacked table corals over a wall dropping to 50 m
Bumphead parrotfish schools and a wall of gorgonian sea fans
A hundred metres of coral wall from 5 m to 60
Reef top at 5-10 m, then a wall to a 70 m sand floor