How Philippines diving hotspot Mactan island is a different place after a super typhoon hit in 2021, ripping up corals but introducing new marine life
- Kontiki reef off Mactan, near Cebu in the Philippines, was a great diving spot, blessed with mild weather, until a super typhoon hit in 2021
- Coral was torn off the reefs and the area devastated, but amazingly some new marine life showed up with the storm, including turtles
“Look, there’s a snake!”
Dive instructor Alfred Intong and I are standing waist-deep in the sea, having just clambered down the stairs at Kontiki Marina. Playing along with what I assume is a prank, I lower my face into the water – and start at the sight of a baby sea snake, dancing in the play of light on the surface.
Kontiki – a reef just off the Philippine island of Mactan, next to the much larger island of Cebu – is the dive site I know better than any other. And yet, I came originally by accident.
When backpacking through the Philippines in 2017, I had planned to learn to dive at Malapascua: an island off the northern tip of Cebu known for its thresher sharks. After landing at Mactan airport, however, reports emerged of a typhoon raging in the north; the hostel owner suggested I try the local dive shops instead. I reluctantly agreed – and never regretted it.
With an international airport so close by, the diving community at Mactan was incredibly diverse: held together by Filipinos but constantly refreshed by an influx of foreigners.
I became long-term friends with many of them – most of all with my dive instructor, Earl Vestil.
