DIVE LOG JUNE 2025 issue 412

at 10m, down to 24m, a fishing vessel turned vibrant artificial reef, offers excellent conditions for photography and relaxed exploration with easy penetration access to the engine room. Nearby, the Bolkiah Wreck, a steel barge at 24 meters depth, is teeming with schools of yellowtails, corals, and intriguing macro life such as nudibranchs and frogfish. Just nearby lies the Rig Reef with a decommissioned oil rig. Its vertical swim throughs covered in corals and sponges makes it a most popular dive site for its unique structure and marine life encounters, especially with its top at 6m and bottom at 12m 18m, making it a great wreck dive even for the new divers. Additional sites like the Penanjung Wreck, 24m deep, with resident grey nurse sharks and Labuan Wreck, 5m top, 15m bottom, with its unique pink coral top and a wall of soft coral, offer comfortable conditions, suitable for divers seeking enjoyable, leisurely dives. These wrecks are perfect for multiple-day diving excursions provided by Poni Divers. Beyond its wrecks, Brunei also features a number of natural reef sites, home to over 400 coral species—some of which are known to be endemic and can only be seen in Brunei. Though not as well known, macro enthusiasts have found Brunei to offer top-notch macro photography opportunities with harlequin shrimps, orangutan crabs, and rare nudibranchs, with divers often in wonder at the diversity amongst the healthy hard & soft corals. Technical Diving Highlights For tech divers, Brunei boasts remarkable technical wrecks that offer depth, history, and challenge. Starting at 33m top, bottom 48m, the Petani Mistral Wreck is the most commonly visited tech wreck with a top deck at 42m, an ideal gateway dive towards deeper dives. Upright and largely intact, its structure supports abundant marine life, including barracuda and vibrant corals, with excellent penetration opportunities for advanced wreck divers.

Pacific Boxer. ©Ram Yoro

A bicycle remains inside Dolphin Wreck. ©Ram Yoro

Inside the Wheelhouse of Dolphin Wreck. © Fan Zhang

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Dive Log Australasia #412 June ‘25

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