- Washing Machine
Icons:
Location: Verde Island’s West Tip
Depth: 10-50 ft. (3-15m)
Verde Island is a small island
across from Puerto Galera between
the provinces of Batanagas and
Mindoro. Verde Island Passage is a
very busy shipping lane. Bamboo
covers most of the island.
This dive is located at the island’s
northwest tip and is great for big
barrel sponges. As the name
implies, the current here can be
pretty wild and mixed-up, putting
the diver through wash and rinse
cycle during the course of the dive.
While this site may not be
everybody’s cup of tea, when the
current is running at full tilt, the
Washing Machine is like a crazy
amusement park ride. For those
who would like to slowly explore a
nicely decorated reef with big
barrel sponges, spiny pufferfish, lots
of colorful crinoids and a bunch of
sea anemones, go at slack tide.
- Verde Island Wall
Icons:
Location: SE Point of Verde Island
Depth: 15-100 ft. (4-30 m)
This is one of the best dives in the
country. The wall itself is easy to
find: Look for the two rocks jutting
out of the sea off the island’s
southeast point. Drop in south of
them, then head north. The visibility
is usually excellent. The wall itself
has lots of cracks and crevices to
duck out of the current, but
remember that it falls away to great
depths. Most divers remain above
80 ft. (24m) and there is no good
reason to descend any deeper.
The wall itself is festooned in an
impossible array of colorful corals.
Whitetips and other sharks,
occasional mantas, eagle rays, tuna
and jacks, rainbow runners, wahoo
and Spanish mackerel are among
the pelagics along with Napoleons,
parrotfish, unicornfish, batfish,
tangs, sweetlips and emperors
throughout. There are clouds of
anthias everywhere making the
whole place move with color.
At the safety stop on top of the
reef, there are some very nice
shallow coral gardens with chromis
in thick clouds. Also, the reef
belches occasionally, literally! Look
for the bubbles of volcanic gases
escaping from cracks in the reef.Chromis at Verde Wall