Planning a trip?
Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Apo Reef location page.
Overview
Apo Reef is the second-largest contiguous coral reef system in the world. Shark Ridge is a sloping wall along the western edge where whitetip and grey reef sharks rest on sand ledges and schooling jacks form tornadoes overhead.
Briefing note
Marine park fees apply; remote location requires liveaboard or multi-day boat charter.
What you'll see
4 species curated- year-roundWhitetip reef shark
- year-roundGrey reef shark
- year-roundHawksbill turtle
- year-roundSchooling jacks
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceWhitetip reef shark
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- Wildbook (Sharkbook, Whale Shark, Manta Matcher) — Wild Me
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | moderate |
| Feb | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | moderate |
| Mar | 27–29 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Apr | 28–30 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| May | 28–30 °C | 25–40 m | moderate |
| Jun | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Jul | 27–29 °C | 10–20 m | strong |
| Aug | 27–29 °C | 10–20 m | strong |
| Sep | 27–29 °C | 10–20 m | strong |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Nov | 27–29 °C | 20–30 m | moderate |
| Dec | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | moderate |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kitNext step
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