2 Phl dive sites among world's best

MANILA, Philippines - Two destinations in Region 4B or MIMAROPA (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) have been listed among the best diving sites in the world, according to last week’s posting of the travel news website of CNN.

CNN’s list of best dive sites in the world ranked Tubbataha reef, located southeast of Palawan, in eighth place and The Canyons in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, in 45th place.

The website said one can feel a “super-size dive experience at Tubbataha, where everything comes in giant form.” It also said the main advantage of Tubbataha is that the water is “exceptionally clean, so the marine life lives much longer, making it grow to silly proportions.”

Tubbataha is made up of two coral atolls divided by an eight-kilometer wide channel. The Tubbataha National Marine Park was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1993.

About The Canyons in Puerto Galera, rated as a five-star diving site, CNN said: “Schools of spotted and ribbon sweetlips, shiny trevallies and weird-looking batfish make up the scene at this first-rate dive site. There’s also an explosion of coral and plant life including beautiful delicate gorgonian sea fans and hollow barrel sponges; look inside for critters lurking within.”

With a depth of about 95 feet to a maximum of 200 feet, The Canyons’ area was designated as a “Man and Biosphere Reserve” of the UNESCO in 1973.