Philippines

Best overall months to dive: Mar–May

The Philippines sits at the heart of the Coral Triangle and packs a wide range of diving into one archipelago. Malapascua has near-daily pelagic thresher sharks; Anilao and Dauin are macro and muck destinations; Moalboal has a resident sardine baitball off Panagsama Beach; Coron holds a cluster of WWII Japanese wrecks; and Puerto Galera sits in the biodiverse Verde Island Passage. Donsol offers wild, snorkel-only whale sharks under a regulated non-feeding program, a contrast to the fed encounters at Oslob. Tubbataha, the country's remote UNESCO atoll, is liveaboard-only and open only from roughly mid-March to mid-June. Water is warm year-round and something is diveable most months, though March to May is the broad dry-season sweet spot.

Dive regions