Sabang Wrecks, Puerto Galera, Philippines

Site Overview
Site Type: Artificial reef, coral gardens and muck dive
Depth: Top: 8M Bottom: 22M
Location: Off Sabang Beach

The Sabang Wrecks are one of the most popular dive sites off Puerto Galera. Three scuttled boats are the main attraction at the Sabang Wrecks, but with coral gardens, muck and a wealth of marine life, you will want to do this site again and again.

wreck diving sabang wrecks at Puerto Galera The Philippines by Nigel Marsh for Diveplanit

Slipping below the surface I could already see the first wreck in the 15m visibility, a very open timber ship. On a slow circuit around the collapsed ship we saw batfish, moray eels, schools of cardinalfish, shrimps, gobies, wrasse, hawkfish and pufferfish. To attract even more fish our guide pulled out a bottle full of bread and squirted it into the water. This sent the fish into a feeding frenzy, snapping down the bread as quickly as possible. I could have spent the entire dive on this one wreck, but my guide beckoned me to follow him across the sand.

fish feed diving sabang wrecks at Puerto Galera The Philippines by Nigel Marsh for Diveplanit

Swimming over the sand I saw sea pens, anemones, shrimp gobies, flounder and a mantis shrimp. I would have liked more time to explore this zone, but we quickly arrived at the next wreck. This was a yacht and it was now decorated with black corals, sponges and home to a variety of marine life. Countless shrimps populate this wreck, but finding a frogfish sitting in a sponge I spent most of my time with this cute critter.

giant frogfish diving sabang wrecks at Puerto Galera The Philippines by Nigel Marsh for Diveplanit

Moving to the next wreck, another open timber hull, my guide pointed out two giant frogfish sitting together on the bow. Exploring this wreck I also encountered lionfish, moray eels, rock cods, pipefish and a shy octopus. A rarely seen snowflake soapfish was a nice find, especially when it calmly swam in front of my camera.

soapfish diving sabang wrecks at Puerto Galera The Philippines by Nigel Marsh for Diveplanit

With the wrecks finished we swam over more sand and through an area with scattered coral heads. This area was home to a good variety of reef fish and I was surprised to see two more giant frogfish. We ended the dive exploring the sandy shallows, with this muck zone home to sea stars, pipefish, mantis shrimps, cuttlefish, ghostpipefish and a school of shrimpfish. There is so much to see on the Sabang Wrecks that I dived it three more times during my week at Puerto Galera, and each time I seemed to find even more frogfish.

painted frogfish diving sabang wrecks at Puerto Galera The Philippines by Nigel Marsh for Diveplanit