When is the diving season in Coron?

The diving season in Coron runs January to May.

Is the diving in Coron good for beginners?

It is better with some experience. It suits Advanced Open Water divers or equivalent, so newer divers should ask the local operator which sites fit their level.

How warm is the water in Coron?

Between 28 and 30 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in February and warmest in June. It runs cooler below the thermocline.

What wetsuit do I need in Coron?

A skin or 3 mm shorty covers the coldest water of the year. The same suit works all year.

What is the visibility like in Coron?

Roughly 0 to 15 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.

What will I see diving Coron?

The most consistently recorded species are Green turtle (near-guaranteed), Hawksbill turtle (likely) and Bigeye trevally (likely), from 94 records within 60 km.

Does Coron get tropical storms?

Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in Mar, May–Jul, Sep–Dec, most often in November at 11 of 30 years.

Is there current in Coron?

The tide rises and falls 1.8 m around the full and new moon, against 0.8 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.

When should I avoid Coron?

August, November–December are the weakest months for conditions.

How do you dive Coron?

Mostly from day boats. Trips run through the season, Jan–May.

Philippines

Best Time to Dive in Coron

11.98°N 120.20°E

Divers come for the WWII Japanese wrecks of Coron Bay. Nothing about it runs to a calendar, so it comes down to the weather: go January to May.

Best time: Jan–May
Water: 28–30 °C
Visibility: 0–15 m
Dived from: day boat
Tidal range: 0.8–1.8 m
Species logged: 4

Worth knowing: 11 days a month of heavy rain.

Where it is

Philippines

111 km across · coastline from Natural Earth 10m

Diving in Coron — monthly breakdown

Best months at this destination

A year of scuba diving conditions at a glance. Hover a month to isolate it.

Month by month conditions, water temperature, visibility and marine life
	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Conditions	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Good	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor
Water temp (°C)	28	28	28	29	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	29
Visibility (m)	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	0–10	5–15	0–10	5–15	5–15	5–15
Marine life	Quiet	Busy	Peak	Steady	Peak	Peak	Busy	Quiet	Busy	Steady	Steady	Steady
Best time	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak	Peak

Excellent Good Moderate PoorPeak season Jan–May

Long-term averages, 2016–2025. Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a. Water temperature is the surface mean; it is cooler at depth.

The Coron diving season

2 seasons

January to May · Peak season

5 months

JFMAMJJASOND

Water temperature: 28–30 °C
Visibility: 5–15 m
Rain: 10 days a month

Diving conditionsIt rains less. The sea is rougher.

June to December · Off season

7 months

JFMAMJJASOND

Water temperature: 29–30 °C
Visibility: 5–15 m
Rain: 24 days a month

Diving conditionsIt rains more. The sea is calmer.

Spring tides run 1.8 m against 0.8 m on neaps, so currents build around the full and new moon.
Water temperature is satellite sea-surface temperature, so expect it cooler below the thermocline.
Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a.

Coron water temperature and weather

94 underwater observation records · 13 surveyed years of ocean data · 10 years of sea temperature

Water & weather

Coron water temperature by month

The dashed line is the monthly average. Eight days in ten fall inside the band.

10th to 90th percentile rangemonthly mean

Rarely

rough enough to cancel

Seas top 1.5 m on under 1% of days. Enough to cancel a day boat

blowy days a month

Gusts over 40 km/h, about where a day boat stays in port

wet days a month

7 of them bring heavy rain

Monthly sea state, wind, rain, air temperature and daylight
Month	Swell	Gusts over 40 km/h	Wet days	Heavy rain	Air	Daylight
January	1.0 m	1%	7	1	30 °C	11.4 h
February	1.0 m	0%	7	1	30 °C	11.6 h
March	0.8 m	0%	6	0	32 °C	11.9 h
April	0.7 m	0%	8	1	33 °C	12.3 h
May	0.7 m	0%	21	5	32 °C	12.6 h
June	0.6 m	0%	28	13	30 °C	12.7 h
July	0.8 m	0%	29	16	29 °C	12.6 h
August	0.6 m	1%	27	13	29 °C	12.4 h
September	0.7 m	0%	27	14	29 °C	12.1 h
October	0.6 m	1%	27	11	30 °C	11.7 h
November	0.8 m	2%	15	4	30 °C	11.4 h
December	0.8 m	0%	13	4	30 °C	11.3 h

Swell is the rough end of the month: nine days in ten come in under it. Sea temperature covers 10 years, waves 4.

Pick your week

48 weeks from the daily record. Darker is better, against this site's own year. Pick a month for the detail.

Conditions by week, four weeks per month

Week 1	January week 1: Excellent	February week 1: Excellent	March week 1: Excellent	April week 1: Excellent	May week 1: Good	June week 1: Poor	July week 1: Poor	August week 1: Poor	September week 1: Poor	October week 1: Poor	November week 1: Poor	December week 1: Poor
Week 2	January week 2: Excellent	February week 2: Excellent	March week 2: Excellent	April week 2: Excellent	May week 2: Good	June week 2: Poor	July week 2: Poor	August week 2: Poor	September week 2: Poor	October week 2: Poor	November week 2: Poor	December week 2: Poor
Week 3	January week 3: Excellent	February week 3: Excellent	March week 3: Excellent	April week 3: Excellent	May week 3: Good	June week 3: Poor	July week 3: Poor	August week 3: Poor	September week 3: Poor	October week 3: Poor	November week 3: Poor	December week 3: Poor
Week 4	January week 4: Excellent	February week 4: Excellent	March week 4: Excellent	April week 4: Excellent	May week 4: Good	June week 4: Poor	July week 4: Poor	August week 4: Poor	September week 4: Poor	October week 4: Poor	November week 4: Poor	December week 4: Poor

Excellent Good Moderate PoorBest week to go: first of April

January, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	29 °C	1.0 m	17 km/h	29%
Week 2	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	17 km/h	23%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	17 km/h	23%
Week 4	Excellent	28 °C	0.9 m	17 km/h	18%

February, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	18 km/h	22%
Week 2	Excellent	28 °C	0.9 m	19 km/h	28%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	19 km/h	24%
Week 4	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	20 km/h	17%

March, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	0.9 m	18 km/h	16%
Week 2	Excellent	28 °C	0.7 m	17 km/h	21%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	0.8 m	17 km/h	20%
Week 4	Excellent	29 °C	0.8 m	19 km/h	18%

April, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	29 °C	0.7 m	18 km/h	19%
Week 2	Excellent	29 °C	0.7 m	16 km/h	29%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	0.7 m	17 km/h	33%
Week 4	Excellent	30 °C	0.7 m	17 km/h	33%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	30 °C	0.7 m	17 km/h	44%
Week 2	Good	30 °C	0.7 m	16 km/h	55%
Week 3	Good	30 °C	0.6 m	14 km/h	72%
Week 4	Good	30 °C	0.7 m	14 km/h	84%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	14 km/h	90%
Week 2	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	14 km/h	91%
Week 3	Poor	30 °C	0.5 m	13 km/h	92%
Week 4	Poor	30 °C	0.5 m	13 km/h	93%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	14 km/h	91%
Week 2	Poor	30 °C	0.7 m	15 km/h	92%
Week 3	Poor	30 °C	0.9 m	16 km/h	96%
Week 4	Poor	30 °C	0.8 m	19 km/h	92%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.7 m	19 km/h	85%
Week 2	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	16 km/h	84%
Week 3	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	15 km/h	86%
Week 4	Poor	30 °C	0.7 m	16 km/h	89%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.7 m	15 km/h	86%
Week 2	Poor	30 °C	0.7 m	15 km/h	90%
Week 3	Poor	30 °C	0.7 m	16 km/h	94%
Week 4	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	14 km/h	93%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.6 m	12 km/h	91%
Week 2	Poor	30 °C	0.5 m	12 km/h	88%
Week 3	Poor	30 °C	0.5 m	13 km/h	85%
Week 4	Poor	30 °C	0.9 m	15 km/h	81%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.9 m	15 km/h	70%
Week 2	Poor	30 °C	0.8 m	15 km/h	58%
Week 3	Poor	30 °C	0.8 m	15 km/h	47%
Week 4	Poor	29 °C	0.8 m	16 km/h	37%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	29 °C	0.8 m	15 km/h	38%
Week 2	Poor	29 °C	0.7 m	14 km/h	41%
Week 3	Poor	29 °C	0.9 m	16 km/h	42%
Week 4	Poor	29 °C	1.0 m	17 km/h	41%

10 years of daily records, averaged into weeks.

Gear & storms

What to wear

Off the coldest water of each month, not the average — that is what the suit has to cope with.

Wetsuit thickness by month
	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Suit	January: skin	February: skin	March: skin	April: skin	May: skin	June: skin	July: skin	August: skin	September: skin	October: skin	November: skin	December: skin

One suit covers the whole year: a skin or 3 mm shorty.

Swell through the year

The rough end of each month — nine days in ten come in under it.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Amber is over 1.5 m.

Tides

Daily tidal range across one lunar month.

Tropical storms

11 of the last 30 Novembers saw a tropical storm pass within 250 km. Anything has been recorded Mar, May–Jul, Sep–Dec.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Share of the last 30 years with a storm that month.

NOAASea surface temperature, from OISST and MUR
ERA5Wind, waves, rain and air temperature, via Open-Meteo
OBISMarine species records within 60 km
IBTrACSTropical cyclone tracks, 1996 to 2025

Coron marine life — what you'll see diving

94 records within 60 km

Only 94 records have been logged within 60 km. A thin record is not an empty reef.

Species	When	Reliability	Evidence	Records
Green turtle	Mar, May–Jul	Near-guaranteed	8/13	20
Hawksbill turtle	May, Jul, Sep	Likely	6/13	12
Bigeye trevally	Mar, May	Likely	5/13	8
Dugong	Feb, May–Jun, Sep	Near-guaranteed	8/13	28

Peak Present

Observed window: Months with records. Peak is where most of them fall.
Reliability: Near-guaranteed in 60% of surveyed years or more
Likely 30% to 60%
Hit-or-miss under 30%
Evidence: Years it was seen, out of the years anyone surveyed.
Records: OBIS sightings within 60 km.

These are sightings people logged, not a full survey of the reef. A species missing from a month may just mean nobody recorded one.

Diving Coron — common questions

When is the best time to dive Coron?: Divers come for the WWII Japanese wrecks of Coron Bay. Nothing about it runs to a calendar, so it comes down to the weather: go January to May.
When is the diving season in Coron?: The diving season in Coron runs January to May.
Is the diving in Coron good for beginners?: It is better with some experience. It suits Advanced Open Water divers or equivalent, so newer divers should ask the local operator which sites fit their level.
How warm is the water in Coron?: Between 28 and 30 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in February and warmest in June. It runs cooler below the thermocline.
What wetsuit do I need in Coron?: A skin or 3 mm shorty covers the coldest water of the year. The same suit works all year.
What is the visibility like in Coron?: Roughly 0 to 15 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.
What will I see diving Coron?: The most consistently recorded species are Green turtle (near-guaranteed), Hawksbill turtle (likely) and Bigeye trevally (likely), from 94 records within 60 km.
Does Coron get tropical storms?: Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in Mar, May–Jul, Sep–Dec, most often in November at 11 of 30 years.
Is there current in Coron?: The tide rises and falls 1.8 m around the full and new moon, against 0.8 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.
When should I avoid Coron?: August, November–December are the weakest months for conditions.
How do you dive Coron?: Mostly from day boats. Trips run through the season, Jan–May.