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Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is Coron?
A bay of WWII Japanese wrecks sunk in 1944, now a wreck-diving destination. Many exteriors are recreational; many penetrations are technical. See wreck-diving.
Tubbataha?
A UNESCO (1993) and Ramsar park in the Sulu Sea with no island hotels. Liveaboards, a ranger station, and a short season. Etiquette is the brief.
Monad Shoal?
A seamount off Malapascua where thresher sharks are seen on early dives. Blue water, current, and a no-chase culture. Not a first ocean day.
Anilao?
A Batangas muck-and-reef coast, a weekend map from Manila, famous for critters more than walls.
Puerto Galera?
A Mindoro harbour and reef complex, a long-standing recreational scuba town with a busy channel.
Harm clusters on Coron overhead, Monad Shoal current, Tubbataha remoteness, and bangka weather. This is not medical advice.
A cancelled crossing is a safety decision.
Hazards
- Wreck silt and lost exits — Coron.
- Blue-water current at Monad Shoal — Dawn, pelagic, separation.
- Remote DCI on Tubbataha — A ranger station, not a hospital.
- Monsoon crossings — Bangka and liveaboard.
- Boat traffic in Puerto Galera — A working harbour.
- Sun and dehydration — Equatorial decks.
Rules
- Park and barangay briefs — Always.
- No untrained penetration — The wreck chapter.
- SMB on shoals and walls — The pickup rule.
- No chase on threshers — The shoal brief.
- Respect the Tubbataha calendar — There is no off-season hotel.
Red flags
- A guide selling a hold to OW cards — Walk.
- A bangka in a gale warning — Stay ashore.
- Someone herding a thresher — The dive is already failed.
- Chest pain a night from Puerto Princesa — Emergency path.
First response
- Boat oxygen and the nearest chamber pathway (Cebu, Manila, Palawan) — Not a DCI protocol page.
- Coral and wreck cuts — Clinic over folklore.
- Not medical advice — Remote care is a plan the operator should already have.
Philippine safety is a monsoon call and a no on the hatch. The Sulu Sea can wait for its month.