Bethlehem

A sandy slope near the island passage

Michael McFadyen’s account of an October 2025 visit places Bethlehem by the passage between Caban and Maricaban islands. He describes sand, coral and rock rubble, with a shallow mooring area, a slope to about 18 m and a small wall continuing beyond 20 m.

Observations from a particular visit

His account reports nudibranchs and shrimps and notes that swimming against the incoming tide affected the outing. Those observations describe that visit; they are not a permanent current direction, a standard depth limit or an encounter-rate estimate.

Keep the route and conditions explicit

This partial guide does not turn one diver’s route into a recommendation for every visitor. Confirm where the boat will stop, which section is planned and whether conditions suit the group. Site-wide seasonal visibility, a uniform difficulty classification and reliable wildlife frequencies remain unverified here.

Larger coral pieces on the slope

In his October 2025 account, Michael McFadyen describes larger coral pieces with sponges and feather stars in the deeper part of the outing. He also reports shrimp on fire urchins. These observations add habitat detail to the sand-and-rubble description, but remain records of that visit rather than evidence of dependable wildlife encounters.

Position and dated observations

Michael McFadyen's October 2025 page places Bethlehem about six kilometres west-south-west of Buceo Anilao Dive Resort, across the passage off Marikaban Island, right in the entrance to the passage between Marikaban and Caban islands and off the village of Bethlehem. He publishes a GPS mark for the spot, which this guide has not adopted as a verified coordinate. He records 28 C water and 8 to 10 m visibility on his visit, long-finned bannerfish and Moorish idols, and calls it an average site where he took few photographs. His 16 October 2025 log entry adds that the incoming tide from the east made the dive harder and used more air than normal.

Photographer listings on underwaterphotography.com give a shorter view. One Bethlehem entry calls it a macro haven with nice corals and lists a typical depth of 0 to 30 m and visibility of 3 to 10 m, with a photo caption dated 2 June 2008 describing anthias around a crinoid-covered coral outcrop. A second entry titled Anilao, Bethlehem calls it an easy dive if you can dive it between the tidal currents. A ScubaBoard post of September 2010 recommended Bethlehem as a site overlooked by most divers. REEF's volunteer fish-survey database lists Bethlehem, also labelled Better than Lembeh, on Marcaban Island as a survey location with seven surveys.

Operator figures differ

Pacific Blue's Japanese-language page, in a Wayback Machine snapshot of 17 May 2026, lists Bethlehem together with Mini Log as a 3 to 25 m goby and nudibranch site about 30 minutes from its resort, on whitish sand that photographs well. Bambu Villa's depth table gives an average of 10 m and a maximum of 15 m. Anilao Diving's Betlehem page, which reads as general promotional copy, gives 5 to 20 m and says the site is reached by boat from Anilao or Mabini or from Tingloy on Maricaban Island. These ranges are not reconciled here; the sand slope, the small wall and the tidal current are the features the dated accounts agree on.