Danjugan Island - Tanigue Reef

Just coming off of 4 days of diving Danjugan and Sipalay, I thought Id write a short write up of one of my favorite dive sites so far.  Tanigue reef; Tanigue is a sunken reef on the north west side of the island.  It is a reef whos top starts at a depth of about 18M with its walls sloping down to 40++M.  It is a dive which I do suggest you take a 30-32% nitrox mix on for longer bottom time.

With the reef top being approximatelly 300M long on the ridge of its peak then sloping down forming a sort of underwater hill covered in coral (and i do mean COVERED in dense colourful live coral).   Tanigue is best done by starting down in the deep end and then slowly circumnavigating the reef moving towards the top.  

Depending on the tide, Tanigue is caressed by a moderate current from either north to south or vice versa.  Fishlife is pletiful on Tanigue it is just a lively reef fiesta with fish all around dancing like confetti at fiestas.  Schools of red toother triggers, different colored anthiases, big groups of fusiliers as well as a large school of Banner fish are all present and in large numbers.  Small schools of sardines just traversing the reef over and over make this a really lively dive.  And that mixed with the colorful coral and close to 40M visibility make this one of my favorite Danjugan Dive sites.

During feeding time, alot of hunting action is going on, sorties of blue fin Trevally can be observed hunting and feeding on the large fish population.Resident turtles are constantly spotted but they still seem to be a little wary of dive groups going by.  

The Dive professional can choose to just drift down one side of the reef and then swim against the gentle current back on the other side; getting back to the starting point and drifting down the reef again at another depth.  

I personally can imagine this being a hook on dive where you just pick a spot on the crest of the reef hook in and just watch all the different marine life around you and when the air is gone just letting the gentle current take me up into the blue for a bluewater safety stop.

On more recent exploratory dives I've discovered that the reef extends to far deeper than 50M and even at this depth the coral life is still abundant.  Also as I research and interview old time Danjugan divers; they all seem to say that on early morning or late afternoon dives Tanigue is; or used to be the hunting grounds of bigger sharks.  Plans for more exploration are in the works to find out if they're still around. 


Tanigue is only one of the many Sunken Island type reefs in the Danjugan Island Area.  Ill write about some other ones on another day.  

Till then Best Dives!  - Marco

Thank you to Tanya G Burnett for the Beautiful Photos.