Apo Island – Coconut Point
A drift dive on the island's northwest side, known for unpredictable multi-directional currents. Soft corals, schools of jacks and barracuda, and whitetip reef sharks resting on a sandy plateau at about 28 m are the draw. Only for confident divers comfortable with drift.
Facts
- Region: Dauin, Apo Island & Bohol – Philippines
- Area: Apo Island
- Depth: 15–30 m
- Level: advanced
- Current: strong
- Type: drift, reef, soft coral
- Coordinates: 9.0835, 123.265 (approximate)
- Highlights: jacks, barracuda, whitetip reef shark, soft coral, unicornfish
- Permit: Apo Island is a community-managed marine sanctuary (Apo Island Protected Landscape and Seascape). Visitors pay an island entrance/conservation fee and a diving or snorkelling fee in the sanctuary, and a licensed guide is mandatory for the turtle sanctuary. Reported amounts differ and are not official: around PHP 300 for entrance (docking, swimming and snorkelling), a diving fee of about PHP 300, and a guide of about PHP 300 per group. Dive operators from Dauin normally pass these on and ask for cash. Access to the sanctuary (southeast side) can be restricted, with a daily diver cap reported.
- Issuer / contact: Apo Island Protected Area Management Board / Apo Island community (fees usually collected via your dive operator)
- No official phone or e-mail for the fee office was found; ask your dive operator.
- Unverified: OpenStreetMap also maps a 'Coconut Point Dive' at the south of the island, which conflicts with the northern location in operator descriptions; I used the northern position. Fee: see the Apo permit text.
- Tips: Carry an SMB; high-season currents intensify around the full moon. In monsoon swell the north side may be inaccessible.