La Union is the gateway to the Ilocos Region and located on the northwestern coast of Luzon. La Union is a 5 hour drive from Manila. La union has a strategic location in which it became the business, education, and government center of the Ilocos.

La Union has one of the first beach resorts that ever developed in the Philippines. La Union has so much to offer to tourist and visitors. This place has many historical and cultural heritage. It has also enchanting and marvelous natural scenic views. La Union is one of the popular and famous vacation getaway in the Philippines.

La Union is also the home of the beautiful and world class dive sites/spots in the country. The main attraction of La Union for scuba divers is the long stretches of reef at Long Beach. In La Union, there are many attractive offshore reefs that that are superb dive sites and you can experience variety of wild and exotic marine life. La Union is a particularly good place to learn scuba diving as there are a number of shallow dives and the waters are protected, so currents are minimal.

La Union is also provides excellent wreck dive sites to wreck divers. There is one dive site in LA Union that is known as the Tanks in which where three World War Two M10 tanks were dropped off a barge at the end of the war.

5 hours by bus north of Manila

Fagg Reef: This dive site has a depth of 20m to 100m and the current can be very strong. This dive site is the most famous in the area. The reef is part of the shelf that makes the divide between The Lingayen Gulf and The South China Sea. This dive site is also known as the Tanks as where three World War Two M10 tanks were dropped off a barge at the end of the war. They now rest on a ledge at a depth of 39 metres, and have become the home for a large number of fish including Dorado’s, Spanish Mackerel and Barracuda. Also spotted in the area have been a number of Leopard Rays, Whitetip Sharks and whale sharks.

Voice of America: This dive site has a depth of 10m to 30m and the current is weak. This dive site is named after the the half-million watt radio transmitting station also referred to simply as V.O.A. The huge antennas still tower above it. This site has an easy dive and visibility is excellent and good for photography. There are masses of table, basket, brain, staghorn, star and finger corals here. Shell life is profuse and you can expect to encounter eggshell, map and tiger cowries everywhere. Be careful of the cones. More Exotic fish can be seen at the southern end like Groupers, parrotfish, snappers and lionfish which are frequent to this area.

14 Mile Reef: This dive site has a depth of approximately 25m and the currents can be very strong. This dive site has a very beautiful underwater scenic view that a diver should not missed. The corals here are admirable and magnificent variety of marine life can be experienced. In this site, you can see and encounter whitetip and blacktip sharks, hammerheads, marlin, groupers and tuna. Shell life is also profuse. This site is for experienced divers only due to the depths and currents.

Research Reef: This dive site is the most popular and most visited in the area. The reef is so amazing that runs north to south and fingers of rock and coral reach up to 20m.

The caves: The caves are found in the western side of the reef. There are many caves but only ten are known. Wonderful and exotic marine life can be seen in the caves such as lobsters, lionfish, parrotfish and an amazing array of smaller reef fish. To the southern end of the reef, you can see the wreckage of a Japanese merchant ship that is sunk in world War II. It has come to rest at 30m and is home to shoals of barracuda and other fish life.

Tamayo Reef: This reef are very close to the caves but unfortunately it has been badly damaged by fishermen who is using dynamites for fishing. But in the northern end of the reef is still good for diving. Exotic marine life can also be seen like Fan and gorgonian corals.