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Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is Coron?
A bay of WWII Japanese wrecks sunk in 1944, now a wreck-diving destination. Many exteriors are recreational; many penetrations are technical. See wreck-diving.
Tubbataha?
A UNESCO (1993) and Ramsar park in the Sulu Sea with no island hotels. Liveaboards, a ranger station, and a short season. Etiquette is the brief.
Monad Shoal?
A seamount off Malapascua where thresher sharks are seen on early dives. Blue water, current, and a no-chase culture. Not a first ocean day.
Anilao?
A Batangas muck-and-reef coast, a weekend map from Manila, famous for critters more than walls.
Puerto Galera?
A Mindoro harbour and reef complex, a long-standing recreational scuba town with a busy channel.
Bangkas and liveaboards supply tanks. Visitors bring conservative rec kit, a SMB, and, on wreck weeks, a light and a cutter. Sleeves handle sun on long crossings.
A drone over a sanctuary or a wreck is a permit problem.
Core kit
- SMB and reel — Seamounts, walls, wreck shotlines.
- Light and cutter (Coron) — Holds are dark and lined with the past.
- Computer — Wrecks and Tubbataha walls jump depth.
- Rash top — Bangka sun.
- Card and log — Liveaboards and wreck boats check them.
- Park or sanctuary receipt — Listed as kit.
Optional
- Nitrox — Common on Tubbataha and Coron stacks.
- Pointer — Muck sand, not coral.
- Hood for dawn Monad Shoal — Wind on the shoal.
- Dry bag for island hops — The trip is a bangka.
Care
- Rinse wreck silt — Coron eats zippers.
- Service lights — The failure is in a hold.
- No relics, no coral — Grave and sanctuary law.
- Dry O-rings in humidity — They fail in paradise folklore.
Budget bands
- Apo / Panglao week — Bangka, mask, park fee.
- Coron wreck week — Course, light, cutter.
- Tubbataha liveaboard — The berth is the cost.
- Skip — A penetration reel as a first-day souvenir.
Spend on the season that matches the park. The sanctuary shallows are already the product.