Cogon

Apo Island, Negros Oriental, Philippines

Cogon runs along the eastern side of Apo Island and, like much of this coast, often carries enough current to be dived as a drift. The profile opens on a sandy slope that gives way to coral reef before building to a steep wall, with the moving water concentrating fish and feeding activity as divers are carried along. A resident school of bigeye trevally is one of the site's signatures, joined by reef sharks, blue-spotted stingrays resting on the sand, and turtles grazing the reef. As part of the Apo Island Marine Reserve, Cogon is dived under sanctuary rules with no reef hooks or gloves and no night diving.