undercuts with soft corals and sea
fans along the wall areas. Huge
barrel sponges start shallow from
about 40 ft. (12m) to the depths.
Look closely at the sponges for the
tiny hairy squat lobster (Laurea
siagiani) that lives in the deep folds
of some of these giant sponges.
The South Shark Airporthas a
manta ray cleaning station where
divers can see mantas cleaning.
The Washing Machineis a current
drift starting almost under the boat
mooring and following the current.
The term refers to the surface chop
seen here, not the conditions
beneath the surface. Lots of
Napoleon wrassse can be seen
along the wall and in the upper
coral gardens as well as masses of
schooling tangs. On all of these
sites, look for shallow schooling
bigeye jacks. Often you will see
giant trevally harassing the school.
There’s an old wreck here dubbed
the Malayan Wreck. Right now it is
pretty well broken up and is quite
shallow at low tide. It has become a
large cleaning station and attracts a
wide variety fish both resident and
passing through for a cleaning. It
has two kinds of sweetlips, groupers
and even a mature resident
Napoleon wrasse.
Shallow and a bit jagged in places,
the wreck has a couple of swim-
throughs but mostly it is a great fish
refuge. The nearby reeftop is aTubbataha water so clear the
ship and sky can be seen