Verde Island, Batangas is the epicenter of the World’s Marine Biodiversity.
Verde Island lies between Mindoro Island and the main island of Luzon. The actual passage way is called Verde Island Passage. Verde Island is part of Batangas Province.
For scuba divers access to the beautiful waters of Verde Island is best from either Puerto Galera or Anilao on Luzon. Verde Island diving is about a 45 minute to 1 hour banca trip from either place.
The two standout dives on Verde Island Philippines are the Pinnacle and Washing Machine. Both these dives are extremely different.
Pinnacle: This dive is also known as the Drop Off. A huge underwater reef that comes to the surface on the eastern side of Verde Island, the pinnacle is like a column that that starts in about 60m of water a rises, narrowing as it gets to the surface.
You have to watch the conditions here as the currents are ferocious with some down current. Your banca will drop you real close to the pinnacle in the lee of the current. The idea is to get as close to the pinnacle as possible and then descend to your agreed depth (with Dive master). The dive will then zig zag up the pinnacle exploring the fantastic corals and marine life that inhabit the pinnacle. If you look out onto the blue you can be rewarded with schools of pelagic fish which is always a bonus. With the current running fast you cannot circumnavigate the pinnacle as you will just get wash away with the current.
Take your time exploring the reef, there are some really healthy gorgonian fans and on occasion you can site sea snakes sleeping amongst the coral. This is a world class dive with brilliant visibility, if you diving in Puerto Galera make sure you request a day trip to Verde Island diving.
Washing Machine: Now the first thing you must know about the Washing Machine is that there are two ways of diving the location. The first is in slack water and the other is during the ebb tide where the current turns the location into the Washing Machine.
The site is a number of small canyons and swim through’s which do not get much deeper than 15m, the canyons are all interlocking. It is imperative that you have a good guide for this dive during the current. As the current runs through these passages and canyons the water rushes in from all directions and then due to the directions of the passages, the current runs into itself creating a washing machine effect. One second you are being pulled one direction the next the other, quite exhilarating and not for the inexperienced who would not enjoy this dive at all.