Manila Channel

Manila Channel is a reef dive site located a five-minute boat ride from Casalay, suited to beginners and underwater photographers alike. The reef begins shallow at around 5 metres and extends to a sandy bottom at approximately 22 metres, where two small walls are found. A fiberglass wreck sits at 21 metres, and the site is noted for its famous potato corals, gorgonian sea fans, green tree corals, barrel sponges, and whip corals concentrated around the walls.

Entry is by boat, and the direction of the dive depends on the tide. During a flooding current, divers drift into the channel from the shallow end. On an ebbing tide the dive is done in reverse, starting from the sandy bottom at depth, moving toward the small walls, and finishing at the shallow drop-off. The layout makes it well suited to both wide-angle and macro photography throughout the dive.

Marine life at Manila Channel includes stony and soft corals, nudibranchs, reef fishes, sea cucumbers, sea stars, feather duster worms, Christmas worms, anthias, butterflyfish, sergeant majors, cuttlefish, flamboyant cuttlefish, lionfish, scorpionfish, mantis shrimp, clownfish, and giant frogfish. Groupers are regularly seen around the walls. Around dusk, shrimps, crabs, and brittle stars become active across the reef.