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Overview
A small rock islet about 16 km northeast of Malapascua in the Visayan Sea, designated a sea snake and fish sanctuary in 1997. Its signature feature is a roughly 30 m tunnel that cuts through the southern flank of the island between about 6 and 15 m, where divers swim past whitetip reef sharks resting on the sand floor and exit onto a coral wall on the far side. Outside the cave, the walls drop to 25–30 m with abundant macro life: painted and giant frogfish, mandarinfish at dusk in the shallow rubble, pygmy seahorses on red gorgonians, blue-ringed octopus, and yellow-lipped sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina) hunting over the reef and ascending to the surface to breathe.
Briefing note
The tunnel swim-through is dark and narrow in places; bring a torch and stay off the bottom to avoid silting. AOW certification is recommended for the cave passage and the deeper wall sections. Yellow-lipped sea kraits are extremely venomous but docile — do not touch or handle them. Boat crossings can be rough during typhoon season (Jun–Nov); some operators cancel Gato trips when northerly winds push swell into the channel. Nearest recompression chamber is in Cebu City.
What you'll see
7 species curated- year-roundWhitetip reef shark
- year-roundYellow-lipped sea krait
- year-roundPainted frogfish
- year-roundMandarinfish
- year-roundPygmy seahorse
- rareBlue-ringed octopus
- year-roundCuttlefish
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 We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.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 | 15–25 m | mild |
| Feb | 26–28 °C | 15–30 m | mild |
| Mar | 27–29 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Apr | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| May | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Jun | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Jul | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Aug | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Sep | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Nov | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Dec | 26–28 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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