DIVE SITE
THE CATHEDRAL

This is a Marine Park Sanctuary and probably the best known Philippine dive site. Originally quite barren, it has been seeded with coral from elsewhere and is now, due to incessant fish-feeding, teeming with fish. From the pier of EAGLE POINT and 20ft down, you can vigorously swim to this spot in about 6-10 minutes depending on the direction of the current.

Then you swim down a little more and out across sand with small coral heads, soon to be met by hordes of fish hoping to be fed. The site itself resembles a roofless cavern consisting of two large sea mounts, between which is a small cross planted at 15m(50ft) by the current Philippine President, Fidel Ramos, in 1983. The site drops away in small steps, but becomes less interesting below 24m (78ft).When the current is running there are colorful feather stars and inflated soft corals everywhere. Lots of colorful sponges and nudibranchs, hydroids, sea squirts, Feather Duster Worms and algae coal the rocks in between stony corals with Christmas-tree Worms in the corals.The fish that pester you to be fed include all the smaller angelfish, butterflyfish, wrasse, triggerfish, Moorish Idols, surgeonfish, damselfish and putterfish. There are lots of parrotfish and hawkfish, some blue linckcia sea stars, sea cucumbers, small barrel sponges and anemones with clownfish.

NOTES

Location: just off Bagalangit Point
Access: off Eagle Point pier
Average Depth: 90 ft
Maximum Depth: 200 ft
Conditions: Calm but can have some strong currents that make photography difficult with visibility up to 80ft. The
site is best dived at neap tide.