Dari-Laut

Main Features:
This is the only substantial shipwreck in the area, but there is only a skeleton left. Basically a barge that was converted into a floating resort, it has an interesting story. Nice mix of big and small creatures.

What to See & Star Critters:
Swim through the open skeleton of the barge, school of batfish, trumpetfish, frogfish, mandarin fish, hatching jawfish.

Dangers and Annoyances:
None, wreck is wide open with no overhead environments.

Full Description

Meaning “From the Sea” in Malay, Dari-Laut has returned to the sea and is now Anilao’s only real wreck dive. Even when she was never a traditional ship, but more of a barge with a small hotel constructed on top of her hull. Originally built in Thailand as a floating youth hostel in the 1960s, she was much more than that. She was later seized and auctioned after issues with smuggling.

A group of Filipinos and Singaporeans brought her to Anilao, cleaned her up, and operated her as a floating resort. Unfortunately she caught fire and sank off the west side of Caban Island.

Today, the remains of the Dari-Laut create a unique dive site. The old barge sank on a slope with her shallower areas around 12 meters and the deepest wreckage being at over 45 meters. Divers can see the metal frame, former stern area, wheelhouse debris, sheet metal roof, and various lifting gear still scattered around.

The wreck hosts a big variety of marine life, especially schools of very friendly batfish which will approach divers very closely. Other residents include large snappers, trumpetfish, emperor angelfish, painted frogfish, octopus, cuttlefish, and soft corals including mushroom corals that host mushroom coral pipefish.

Above the wreck, heading toward the shallows, divers will find rich macro life:

• Lembeh sea dragon
• Frogfish
• Ghost pipefish
• Squat shrimp
• Glass shrimp
• Mandarin fish
• Jawfish guarding eggs
• Crab-eye gobies
• Schools of needlefish and sardines

In the very shallow parts are broken coral areas home to mandarin fish and juvenile barracudas.