Down to the dive site: Monkey Beach
Dive site name: Monkey Beach
Dive type: reef dive, wall dive, wreck dive, drift dive
Depth: 6m – 20m
Viz: 10m to 30m
Skill level: beginner and up
Getting there: four minutes by boat
Jump on our speedboat and head out across Sabang Bay to Monkey Beach, one several superb dive sites which sit cheek-by-jowl along an extended coral garden which slopes down away from the wall of the Sinandigan promontory to the east of Sabang.
Some local divers will keep a straight face when they tell you they have seen actual monkeys in the trees which rake the mountainside above Monkey Beach itself, but it’s below the water that the wildlife is most abundant.
The beautiful coral slope begins at around 6m and wends its way down to around 20m.
It is home to a diverse marine ecosystem, with hard and soft corals providing a home to thousands of crinoids and nudibranches, while above them the waters teem with reef fish.
The site has a series of walls, ridges, overhangs and miniature cliff formations which step off to deeper waters (“Deep Mpnkey Beach” lies further offshore for tec divers) and on the sandy bottom you’ll find the remains of a six metre fishing yacht.
The currents here can be significant, but they are predictable, so go at slack tide to enjoy calmer waters, or pick an ebb or flood if you want to be carried along the wall, covering the greatest amount of ground while exerting the least possible effort to conserve oxygen.
You will be taken along to the neighbouring dive sites of Ernie’s Point or Sabang Bay depending on the direction of the current.
The beach and its coral garden are home to countless species of fish, including anthias, damselfish, snapper, batfish, Moorish idol, gobies, and basslets.
Wrasses, triggerfish, pufferfish, cod, and lionfish are also common in this area and in sufficient numbers that you can be sure of meeting some on almost every dive.
Down on the wreck you’ll meet scorpionfish and more nudibranches, and when the current is flowing it will bring fast-moving sweetlips, jacks, and emperor fish searching for prey.
And as you look amongst the coral while you drift along, look for banded sea snakes or moray eels poking out of crevices, and for green or hawksbill turtles who may join you along your journey.
Monkey Beach is a site which can be enjoyed again and again, and an especially good site for divers who have not been diving for very long due to the sheer abundance of the marine life, and the easy slope of the terrain.
