Manila Channel

Manila Channel is a dive site in Puerto Galera, Philippines, situated on the west side of Medio Island and separated from Boquete Island, roughly a five-minute boat ride from Muelle Pier. The channel serves as a main passage for motorised bancas travelling between Batangas and Puerto Galera, making it one of the busiest waterways in the area. A small sailboat wreck about 12 metres in length lies on the sandy bottom in the middle of the channel at around 21 metres depth, encrusted with hard and soft corals, tree corals, coral whips, barrel sponges, and gorgonian sea fans.

The terrain runs along a gradual slope over rock formations, featuring two short walls — the first at 12 metres and the second at 18–20 metres — with large gorgonian sea fans, barrel sponges, and whip corals growing along them. The bottom composition is sand, rubble, and stony hard corals, with a maximum depth of around 20 metres. A mooring line descends to 5 metres and can be followed down at the start of the dive.

Marine life at Manila Channel is varied: snapper, batfish, sweetlips, wrasses, and schools of fusiliers are common along the walls, while crabs, mantis shrimps, and nudibranchs are found along the bottom. Blue-dotted stingrays, moray eels, and banded sea snakes are also present. The shallower sections hold anthias, damselfish, cardinals, and blackfish, and sea turtles are occasionally seen there. The wreck hull hosts lionfish, stonefish, scorpionfish, and frogfish, all of which are well camouflaged and require a sharp eye to spot. Rays and large volcano sea cucumbers are sometimes encountered on the sandy bottom near the wreck.