Daryl Laut (Wreck)

A framework lying along a reef slope

Diveshoppe’s older account describes Daryl Laut west of Caban Island as the skeletal remains of a former floating hotel and casino. It places the higher end around 40 feet (about 12 m) and the lower end around 90 feet (about 27 m).

Confirm the present condition of the wreck

That historical description helps identify the feature, but it is not a current structural survey. Confirm the intended route around the wreck and its condition with the operator. An open-looking framework does not establish that any passage through it is suitable.

History and wildlife remain partly documented

The sinking date, cause and earlier ownership stories have not been independently resolved here. The old account mentions batfish and smaller reef fish; it does not establish current residency or encounter rates. Earlier deeper-bottom claims and seasonal conditions also remain unverified. This guide retains the useful wreck identity without presenting those additional stories as settled facts.

Competing accounts of the vessel's history

The sources agree that the wreck is the framework of a former floating casino or hotel on the west side of Caban Island but differ on its story. Diveshoppe's account, published in November 2007, says it was a floating hotel/casino of the 1980s that sank when it was struck by lightning. Blue Ribbon Divers' page, published in October 2025 and quoting the Anilao dive-site book by Ram Yoro and Andrew Marriott, says the barge was originally built in Thailand as a floating youth hostel in the 1960s, was later seized and auctioned after issues with smuggling, was cleaned up and operated as a floating resort by a group of Filipinos and Singaporeans, and caught fire and sank off the west side of Caban Island; it spells the name Dari-Laut and gives its meaning as "From the Sea" in Malay. The SSI MyDiveGuide Anilao page, retrieved in October 2026, says the barge was turned into a floating resort that operated in the area during the 1970s. A Scuba Diver Life article of April 2016 says it was actually a floating casino rather than a barge and that the frame is completely intact while the rest was picked apart for scraps. Lightning versus fire, and the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s dates, are not reconciled here.

Depth and conditions as listed by operators

Eagle Point Resort's page, in a Wayback snapshot of April 2026, lists Daryl Laut about 13 minutes by boat from Eagle Point with an average depth of 65 ft and a maximum of 90 ft, calm with slight current and visibility that can reach 65 ft, and calls it interesting for beginners with plenty of the smaller reef fishes. Aqua-Venture's table, in a January 2026 snapshot, gives Darilaut as 27 m with no current and the attraction "Wreck, was Floating Casino"; Bambu Villa's depth table gives Dari Laut as 20 to 27 m; Blue Ribbon summarises 5 to 30 m but says the barge sank on a slope with shallower areas around 12 m and the deepest wreckage at over 45 m. A ScubaBoard post of September 2010 says the visibility at Daryl Laut is normally quite bad and suggests going while the tide is still flooding. These figures describe different parts of the slope and are listed, not merged.

Wildlife reports

Dive Happy's Anilao article, first published in June 2017, calls the Daryl Laot wreck an interesting lattice of steel encrusted in coral with a resident school of batfish, and the September 2010 ScubaBoard thread also mentions batfishes in the wreck. Blue Ribbon lists schools of very friendly batfish, large snappers, trumpetfish and painted frogfish, with mandarin fish in the broken-coral shallows, and Scuba Diver Life reports nudibranchs, flatworms and scorpionfish on the frame. REEF's report for its survey site Darilaud / Daryl Laut / Casino Wreck (Caban Island), retrieved in October 2026, counts 35 surveys and 430 species reported, with Clark's anemonefish recorded on every survey. These are dated observations, not encounter promises.