Davao gulf is paradise for scuba divers

Coral reefs teeming with colorful tropical    fishes, which will provide excellent scuba    diving and snorkelling areas, cover the    entire coastline, but are particularly    concentrated in certain locations, such as in the Linusotan coastline, and along the    eastern and western parts of the Kaputian    coastline.

Ligid Caves: Off the northeast tip of Samal   Island lies Big Ligid Island.
On Ligid's west side, a night dive reveals hundreds of fine golden sea cucumbers densely littering the reef amid a rainbow of soft corals, hydroids and basket stars. The slender reef top, covered with leather
corals, drops sharply at about 15m. Several metres down are two caves, one of which has three entrances that lead to a corridor. Both are inhabited by small reef fishes, black corals, soft corals and sponge crabs.    Outside the caves, you may find several    species of crabs, tunicates, scorpion and    lionfishes, sleeping parrot and rabbit    fishes, morays and razorfishes hovering    vertically in a harp gorgonian.
Pinnacle Point: The southeastern tip of Big   Ligid has one of the more challenging dive,   due to the healthy current. Heading south    along the wall which has a nice    outcropping of gorgonians, many with    crinoids clinging to them, we encountered    morays and an octopus hiding in a few of    the many small holes, and many big eyes    and cardinalfishes in the larger ones. Off    the point are a trio of large formations    topping out at 8 to 15m below the surface,   each one slightly different. Schools of    pennant butterflyfishes swim about. Below   30m are schools of unicorn surgeonfishes,    emperorfishes and jacks.

Coral growth is varied and colourful. The    middle pinnacle's seaward side is covered    with pink soft corals. Slightly more    protected areas have large gorgonians,    black corals, lots of anthias and tubastrea,    angelfishes, scorpionfishes, lionfishes and    many invertebrates.

Small Ligid Island: Sometimes called    "Buenavista" after the resort it houses,    Small Ligid as mooring buoys marking the    dive site on its east side. Ideal for novices,    it offers two distinct environments. To the    northeast is a heavy, hard coral cover with   colourful reef fishes like coral trouts and    parrotfishes. The southeast offers large    boulders with sandy patches and lots of    shells, soft corals, nudibranchs and a few    sea snakes. Below 25m are schools of jacks and rainbow runners, with unicorns found a bit shallower. It bottoms out at around   40m. On the west side of the island are    some relatively shallow small caves.

Mushroom Rock: Dolphins are frequently    seen swimming off the southern coast of    Samal Island near Mushroom Rock.    Although the site is named not for the    terrain beneath the surface, but for a large    limestone rock nearby on the southeast of    Samal, it does have some dramatic    formations underwater. The shallows are    primarily covered with leather corals,    which become steep slopes, then walls    meeting a sandy bottom at around 35m.     Coral Gardens: Sometimes called    "Linosutan", the name of the barrio    fronting the site on Talikud Island, this is    an easy dive, with the best stuff above 20m. Below that is primarily a gradual sandy    slope. As its name implies, there is an array of coral species, both hard and soft, lots of   anemones with resident fishes and shrimps, anthias, damselfishes, fusiliers,    butterflyfishes, tube worms, sea stars, and    sponges. Enjoye watching the ribbon eels,    cautiously eyeing you and the flounders    covering themselves with sand.

Tambang: Sometimes called "Bibing", this    small offshore reef is a great night dive.    You may encountere pluerobranchs, lots of nudibranchs, pipefishes, and a spongecrab    with the biggest sponge you've ever seen -    at least twice the size of the crab itself -    making you wonder how he saw where he    was going. The reeftop is about 5m deep,    where we entered with very sparse coral    growth.

A short distance away, about 9m deep, is a   wall with deep crevices and large   overhangs that are full of life. There are    lots of scorpion and lionfishes, shrimps,   trumpetfishes, hawkfishes and    cardinalfishes, as well as the occasional    sleeping parrot or rabbitfish.

Marissa 1, 2 and 3: Three sites are close to   Pearl Farm Resort. The areas are    somewhat similar, with nice coral growth,    most of it above 12m, and a good selection   of reef fishes, lots of bubble corals, gradual slopes, some small walls and undercuts, moray eels, sea stars, tube worms and, if the season and currents are right, hundreds of jellies. These are all good for novice divers and maintained as a sanctuary by the resort.

Pindawon Wall: On the east side of Samal,   Pindawan has interesting topography with    crevices, overhangs, walls and slopes, some with great stretches of hard corals    including table corals 10m across, and   gardens of cabbage corals. Fauna includes black corals, razorfishes, sea snakes, nudibranchs and harlequin shrimps.

Angels Cove: A marine reserve, this area    has a good hard coral cover in the shallows, making it good for snorkelling as well as     diving. It is adjacent to Mansud Wall,    giving the site variety. The wall is to the    northeast and starts as a steep slope to    about 10m where it alternates between wall and steep slope. Close to the point    there are whip corals, gorgonians, large sponges and soft corals. We saw several lionfishes, razorfishes, juvenile sweet-lips, seasnakes, and colourful reef fishes. Turtles are occasionally sighted and there have been reports of whale sharks and even one    sighting of a dugong.

Malipano Sunken Wrecks: Inside the Malipano anchorage at Pearl Farm Farm are two World War II Japanese ships lying about 40m.