Milestones in order. This is history, not a weekly activity grid.
- Barangay water
- Coron fleet sunk
- Apo Island organising
- Tubbataha UNESCO
- Puerto Galera / Anilao towns
- Malapascua threshers
- Panglao / Balicasag
- Park fees and liveaboard codes
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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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.
Philippine reefs were fished under barangay and ancestral rules long before sport diving. The destination era is 1970s-80s Apo Island organising, a Coron wreck map, a 1993 Tubbataha listing, and a 2000s Malapascua thresher product.
The history is a village sanctuary and a ranger station.
Timeline
- Barangay water
Customary rules, not a brochure.
- Coron fleet sunk
US aircraft hit a Japanese supply fleet.
- Apo Island organising
A community sanctuary becomes a global citation.
- Tubbataha UNESCO
A Sulu Sea park as a listed name.
- Puerto Galera / Anilao towns
Luzon and Mindoro storefronts.
- Malapascua threshers
Monad Shoal as a dawn product.
- Panglao / Balicasag
Bohol as a second Visayas map.
- Park fees and liveaboard codes
Tubbataha as an audited week.
Eras
- Customary — Barangay — Reefs as food and law.
- 1944-1980 — Wrecks and first clubs — Coron plus storefronts.
- 1980-2005 — Sanctuary and UNESCO — Apo, Tubbataha.
- 2005-now — Thresher and heat — Malapascua, codes, bleaching.
Milestones
- Apo Island sanctuary — Community as a global template.
- Tubbataha 1993 — A park without a hotel.
- Coron as a fleet — A bay of wrecks.
- Monad Shoal dawn — A seamount as a product.
The Philippines as a destination is a village sanctuary wearing a UNESCO plaque. The archipelago is older than both.