In August and September 2023 I did a three week long dive trip to the Philippines with my friend John. We spent the first week at Anilao staying at Buceo Anilao Dive Resort and the next two weeks at Sabang (Puerto Galera). A t Sabang, we stayed at Capt'n Greggs and dived with them as well.

There are a dozen or more dive sites located within 10 minutes run from Capt'n Greggs.

Unfortunately we had a Super Typhoon hit the northern Philippines when we were at Anilao and lost some days diving there. We were also delayed a day in getting to Sabang.

Sabang Bay Wrecks is a site about 200 metres almost due north from the resort. A GPS mark for the starting spot for the dive site is 13° 31' 19.434"N 120° 58' 34.079"E (using WGS84 as the datum).

A satellite photo from Google Earth of Sabang Bay. The location of the starting point for the wrecks is in a straight line from the end of the wharf (which is no longer there) near the small boat. Capt'n Greggs is bottom as shown.

This dive consists of a number of scuttled wrecks, ranging from a largish yacht and some smaller wrecks. There may be others we did not see.

We started this dive by dropping to the bottom at 16 metres. From here we go a bit deeper to 19 metres where there is a small boat. It is made of fibreglass and is like an aluminium "tinny". The bottom is sandy with coral bits like all of the bay.

The bow of the yacht	The broken stern of the yacht

We then go at the same depth where there is a 10 metre or so long yacht. It is made of either steel or aluminium, I could not tell which. The yacht is on its port side. There is a lot of fish around the wreck and on the top of the wreck (on the starboard gunnel) there is a black giant anglerfish.

You can go inside the yacht, it is quite open, if somewhat cramped. From here we head west and go a bit shallower to 16 metres and after five minutes drop back a little to 18 metres. As we go we see some mantis shrimps, including a few in the open. I end up being able to get a photograph of one too.

The black giant anglerfish	Another shot of the anglerfish

There are also some orangutan crabs and as we get closer to the reef, we see a large turtle. It has a very clean shell, I do not think I have ever seen one as clean. It becomes obvious why, there are three remoras on it, so they must be keeping the shell clean. We continue heading west.

After 35 minutes we start a very slow ascent shallower. We see more mantis shrimps, a small lobster, some lionfish and a few nudibranchs. A highlight is seeing a peacock razorfish - Iniistius pavo. These are pretty rare, I think I have only ever seen one before. They do a very funny "dance" as they move around.

A matis shrimp on the prowl	Peacock razorfish - Iniistius pavo

It takes another 20 minutes till we hit the mush shallower reef area and then over five minutes ascend to six metres where we spend the rest of the dive and safety stop. This is also a very interesting area. We end up off in the middle left of the aerial shot above, quite close to the shore.

The turtle has a very clean shell	Probably because this remora is cleaning it

This was another very good dive, with a few highlights (giant anglerfish, peacoks razorfish and the turtle). Water temperature was 29°C in September. The visibility was about 10 to 12 metres.

MORE PHOTOS

I think this is a black-margined glossodoris - Glossodoris atromarginata	Clownfish in an anemone
Black-saddled toby	Neon threefin