Aklan - Boracay

Now if one were to ask me should I dive in Boracay... my unanimous and definite answer would be "your better off enjoying the party on the beach!".  Thats how I used to feel about the diving in Boracay with prices geared towards foreigners, and no real reefs to speak off boracay was never a diving destination for me growing up.

Spending time though in those water for work... my view on Boracay has changed; just a little!...
There are actually two dive sites of note in this area.  Yapak and Camia Wreck.

Yapak is what I would describe as a coin flip Divesite.  Because just like a coin flip its either a really good dive or a useless one.  First of all don't try to dive this site with the newbies. (sorry guys! im a big fan of all diving is for everyone but this is one site youve gotta sit out)

The reason for this is that its a negative entry dive that depends largely on the current.  Once in the water the group is trying to drop in and secure itself to a little area on the reef to watch what passes by.  I imagine the feeling of landing on yapak is sort of like the feeling you'd get from landing an f14 on an aircraft carrier.  Except on this dive you dont get to circle around and try again if you miss the zone abort ur dive and the boat will come and pick you up.

When its good lots of animals make an appearance here, sharks are not uncommon white tips black tips and sometimes a few greys will play in the current.  bigger fish are holding their positions around you and it makes for a great dive.

Only drawback is when there is nothing at yapak... there is just that nothing... you can make the perfect entry... with the group whole(that doesn't happen often) and you get down there and there's nothing... just like i said earlier... a coin flip...

On the other hand there is one dive site on boracay island that i would do over and over again given the chance.  that Dive site is Camia Wreck.  Laid down as an artificial reef about a decade ago, Camia sits in 30M of water upright.  The wreck is crawling with macro life to photograph, ghost pipefish are almost in every chrinoid, different types of flatworms and nudie are all over the wrecks hull i love just taking a camera down there and shooting till my gas runs out.

It does lie in 30Ms of water though so 32%nitrox is a must if you want to spend any considerable amount of time down there clicking away.

One day Im going to go back there and just shoot a whole album full of the life on Camia Wreck.

So if you ask me now what I think of the diving on boracay... I still think its mainly a party island, but if you must blow bubbles you have at least two sites to choose from.