Monkey Beach

Monkey Beach is a dive site located east of Sabang Bay in Puerto Galera, Philippines, reached by a 10–15 minute boat ride from Muelle Port. The site features a gradual slope down to 18 metres with a sandy bottom, where a 20-foot (6-metre) yacht rests on its port side. Beyond the wreck, the terrain extends into densely populated hard and soft coral reef with large rock formations, staghorn corals, and barrel sponges in the shallows, with the shallowest point around 5 metres used as a safety-stop and exit area.

The wreck and surrounding reef hold a wide range of marine life: anthias, damselfish, snapper, batfish, Moorish idol, gobies, basslets, wrasses, triggerfish, pufferfish, cods, and lionfish are present in abundance on most dives. Scorpionfish and nudibranchs favour the hull itself. When current runs, sweetlips, common jacks, and emperor fish patrol the area, while schools of fusiliers and long-jawed mackerel move through mid-water. Banded sea snakes, moray eels, and green sea turtles can also be encountered along the bottom. Drifting east with the current leads to a rock formation at around 16 metres where a giant grouper resides in a crevice alongside dense cardinalfish, small shrimps, and sometimes juvenile lobsters.

Entry and exit are by boat. The dive is typically conducted as a drift, with current flowing either east toward Ernie's or west toward Sabang Point, carrying divers along with minimal effort. Toward the end of the dive, divers make a short swim to the 5-metre shallow area for a safety stop before surfacing. Boat traffic is an active hazard on ascent; divers should look up and listen before surfacing and, once at the surface, may need to swim into deeper water to allow boat pickup.