Halimeda ghost pipefish (solenostomus halimeda) photographed in Dimakya island, Palawan, Philippines

Snorkeling Dimakya Island, Palawan

Our final destination on our Philippines snorkeling tour was Dimakya Island, a tiny island north of Busuanga, Palawan. Dimakya Island is home to Club Paradise and possesses arguably one of the most consistent house reefs for showcasing the rare and wonderful critters that can be found on tropical coral reefs. The reef is essentially split into two parts with the boundary a channel of sand that juts out from the white sand beach. It’s in the sand channel that we can also see a lot of bizarre critters. On this trip, let’s see…pegasus sea moths, robust, roughsnout, ornate, and halimeda ghost pipefish (pictured above), a thorny sea horse, ribbon eels, and an abundance of forskalli sidegill slugs. This adds to the usually sightings of all the tropical reef fishes, including schools of bigeye scad and horse eye jacks, as well as rays and blacktip reef sharks. Whew. Now add that to the beautiful reefs of Dibubuyuan, Dimipac, and Caluit Islands and you can already tell we had one hell of a 3-day trip! Though we only saw Dugongs from the surface, we were treated to some barrel-rolling feeding behaviors of a group of manta rays. Not a bad consolation prize!

Part 1: Philippines snorkeling: Sogod Bay, Leyte
Part 2: Philippines snorkeling: Cabilao and Pamilacan Islands