I thought scuba diving with dugongs in Coron, Philippines, would be a highlight of my 8-month journey from Japan to New Zealand, traveling with just two backpacks, my scuba mask, and a list of every outdoor and wildlife adventure I’d dreamed of as a kid.

As a nerdy, wildlife-obsessed undergrad studying biodiversity and conservation, I used to pour over the National Audubon Society’s “Guide to Marine Mammals of the World” — an encyclopedia of over 500 pages of colored illustrations, maps, and descriptions — convinced that one day I’d see every single one of them.

After college I worked in marine conservation, and in the first internship of my career I cared for a pair of rescued dolphins: a pantropical spotted dolphin and a long-snouted spinner dolphin who had been attacked by a cookiecutter shark. We also had the opportunity to train in manatee rehab and research, so when I booked a flight to the Philippines years later, you know that seeing the manatee’s exotic Indo-Pacific cousin, the dugong, was on my must-do list.

So you can imagine my disappointment (after 3 flights, a taxi, a river boat, and a dive boat out into remote northern Coron) when I discovered that the entire experience was overcrowded, overpriced, and definitely on the less sustainable side of the ecotourism spectrum.

Scuba diving with dugongs in Coron, Philippines sucked. Know this before you go.

If you’ve been wondering how to see dugongs in Coron or are trying to find the best place to see dugongs in the Philippines, I totally understand.

But I also recommend doing it somewhere else, and I hope you’ll let me save you the time and money on this experience before you make the same mistake that I did.

There are only 2 dugongs you can dependably see in Coron

While the local guide said there is a local population of 25 dugongs, they told us there were actually only 2 when we arrived at a shallow, palm-fringed lagoon with at least 5 other boats.

Instead of a peaceful wildlife encounter, you’re swimming in a small area with multiple boats, divers, and snorkelers all trying to see 1-2 animals. The snorkelers especially were splashing and chasing the animal from above while us divers just 5-6 meters below were encouraged to follow the dugong across the reef as it clearly displayed avoidance behavior.

It felt like visiting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre: craning your neck, people elbowing by you, and flailing hands with cameras blocking the view of something that’s meant to be admired in a quiet reverence.

The laws in place for protecting dugongs aren’t enforced properly

Dugongs are a protected animal in the Philippines and there are laws in place that are meant to regulate encounters. On the boat, they told us that just 4 visitors, 1 dive master and 1 dugong guard will enter the water at a time. They ask you to keep a 5-meter distance from the dugong and tell you the time in the water is 15-minutes maximum.

Sounds great, right?

The problem is that once you get in the water, it’s chaos. There were multiple groups of both divers and snorkelers near a single dugong, and no one stopped the hordes of snorkelers who were getting much closer than 5 meters to the animal and chasing it around.

As a former marine mammal behaviorist, I can tell you the dugong was exhibiting clear avoidance behavior. Literally, trying to avoid us. It was swimming away and the dive master led us after it. To me, that’s the definition of harassment. When the snorkelers left we had ~3 minutes of peace with the dugong where it actually did approach us, but the experience give me the ick from the beginning.

What is sustainable tourism really? Why isn’t this dugong dive sustainable?

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) & UNWTO define sustainable tourism (including ecotourism) as “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.” UNEP & UNWTO, 2005 – Making Tourism More Sustainable: A Guide for Policy Makers

And while the dive guides were indeed local, which is great, having dozens of people following an animal around their habitat is stressful for them and damaging to the environment. People were kicking coral in their efforts to race after the dugong over a reef, and I didn’t see any guides correcting that behavior.

Where to see dugongs in the wild: BETTER destinations to check out if you wanted to go scuba diving with dugongs in Coron

If you were looking for to go scuba diving with dugongs in Coron and are disappointed now, don’t worry! There are so many other places where you can find sustainable dugong encounters, and likely at a better price. The price per diver in Coron to dive with dugongs was ₱10,000 per person, just for 1 dugong dive and 1 reef dive. That’s $175 per person! Ouch.

Here are other destinations to consider diving or snorkeling with dugongs:

• Australia: Calm waters and ethical tour operators make it possible to watch dugongs without disturbing them.
• Red Sea, Egypt: Dugongs are rare, but responsible snorkeling with local guides allows for respectful encounters.
• Mozambique
• Raja Ampat, Indonesia

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