Masaplod Norte

Masaplod Norte is one of the best-known dive sites on the Dauin coast, and one of the easiest to love. A small coral reef sits on a gently sloping sandy bottom, so a single dive gives you two kinds of diving: schooling fish and colourful reef life on the coral, and patient critter hunting on the sand around it.

The site lies inside a marine protected area, and it shows. The fish are used to divers and let you come close, and the sand around the reef is a reliable place to find some of Dauin’s smaller residents.

The dive

The reef sits on a sandy slope, with a maximum depth of around 22 metres. With the reef as a natural landmark, it is an easy site to navigate, and it pairs well with its neighbour Masaplod Sur, a short way down the coast.

What you might see

• Schools of yellow snappers and jacks circling over the reef top, a good wide-angle subject
• Chromodoris and Nembrotha nudibranchs on the coral and the sand
• Banded sea snakes hunting through the coral. They are curious but not aggressive; give them space and they will ignore you
• Blue-spotted stingrays resting half-buried in the sand
• Warty frogfish hiding in plain sight on sponges and rubble
• Pipefish and moray eels in the cracks of the reef

When to dive Masaplod Norte

Masaplod Norte is good all year. Nudibranchs are at their most varied from January to March, and the water stays between about 25 and 29°C through the year. See when to dive Dauin for the full month-by-month picture.

Who it suits

The gentle slope makes this a relaxed dive, and a rewarding one for underwater photographers, who can shoot wide-angle on the reef and macro on the sand in the same dive.

Our tip

Enjoy the fish on the reef first, then slow right down on the sand. The stingrays and frogfish are easy to swim past if you are looking up at the snappers.

Good to know

• Masaplod Norte is a marine sanctuary. The standard sanctuary fee is included in our dive price; with a camera, add PHP 50 per dive.
• Please don’t touch the coral or kneel on the sand. We dive to Green Fins reef standards, and every briefing covers reef-friendly diving.

Dive Masaplod Norte with us

We dive the Dauin coast every day, with full rental equipment included in our dive rates. See our Dauin diving and prices, or build your dive trip and tell us which sites you would like to see.