Boracay

Boracay is a 10 km² island off the northwest tip of Panay in Aklan province, better known for White Beach than for its diving — yet some 20 dive sites ring the island, nearly all within a 5–20 minute banca ride. The western shore's gently sloping reef (Angol Point, Friday's Rock) is classic training and check-out terrain, Crocodile Island to the southeast is a macro-rich boulder reef, the Camia II cargo ship was purpose-sunk in 2001 as the island's first artificial reef, and off the north coast the Yapak walls drop from about 30 m into the abyss with sharks, dogtooth tuna and trevally — an advanced, negative-entry dive. Boracay's environmental story should be told honestly: decades of unchecked development and sewage discharge degraded the surrounding reefs (a JICA-supported study found coral cover declined by about 70.5% between 1988 and 2011), and the national government closed the entire island to tourists for six months from April 2018 to rebuild its sewerage and enforce coastal easements. Since reopening in October 2018 with daily visitor caps and beach-use rules, water quality has improved markedly, though the reefs remain in recovery rather than pristine. Diving runs year-round: the Amihan northeast monsoon (roughly November–May) brings the calm seas and visibility for the west-coast sites and the deep northern walls, while the Habagat southwest monsoon (June–October) shifts boats to sheltered eastern sites and rewards macro hunters with frogfish, ghost pipefish and nudibranchs.

• Yapak is Boracay's signature advanced dive: two deep walls off the north coast whose tops sit around 30 m, dived as a negative entry into blue water, with grey reef sharks patrolling, whitetip reef sharks resting on ledges, dogtooth tuna, giant trevally and barracuda — strong currents and depth make it strictly an advanced-diver site.
• The Camia II, a roughly 30 m steel cargo vessel, was deliberately sunk in January 2001 as Boracay's first artificial reef; it now hosts a well-known shoal of batfish plus red bass, bluefin trevally, scorpionfish and harlequin sweetlips, with cabins and engine room accessible to trained wreck divers.
• Boracay was closed to all tourists for six months from 26 April 2018 on the recommendation of a DENR–DILG–DOT task force after findings that most establishments discharged wastewater into the sea; a JICA-supported CECAM study had earlier concluded the island's coral cover declined by about 70.5% between 1988 and 2011, with the steepest loss in 2008–2011 as visitor numbers surged.