A memorable scuba diving encounter with a big sea snake that was hunting prey in Sogod Bay in the Philippines
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
While diving at Max Climax at Sogod Bay in the Philippines in April 2024, we had this awesome encounter with a hunting sea snake. The snake was big – at least a metre and a half long, and we first noticed it because it was moving over the reef with most of its body vertical in the water column, rather than horizontal and moving across the reef as you’d expect a snake to do.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
The speed at which the snake moved around the coral reef was incredible. One of the images has got a little motion blur it was moving so fast. The snake arcs its body up above itself, then loops around a hard coral, then contracts and stretches out from moment to moment as it circles in and around the same patch of coral hunting for prey.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
The sea snake didn’t find anything to eat, so within a minute or so it headed off away from us at speed, seemingly unbothered by the strobe flash and noise and more concerned about getting lunch.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
Sea snakes are a fairly common sight when diving in South East Asia – they’re often spotted on dives in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Usually the encounters are with juvenile sea snakes – from small ones only 30 centimetres long to medium ones just under a metre in length. It’s relatively rare to see a sea snake this big while diving. Clearly he’s had more luck finding food in the past than on this particular occasion.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
This particular species is the banded sea krait, (Laticauda colubrina), which is the species of sea snake most often seen diving in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. They are venomous, but extremely unlikely to actually attack a diver. A trawler fisherman received a fatal bite from a sea snake in 2018 in Australia, but as far as I can tell the last recorded death of a diver bitten by a sea snake was a pearl diver in 1935, also in Australia.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
In Indonesia, there is not but two still active volcanos out in the Banda Sea where sea snakes live on the coral reefs which are warmed by the volcano’s magma. The most famous volcano of the sea snakes is called Ganung Api, and the other is called Manuk – both require a Banda Sea liveaboard to get there.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
Those were some of the most memorable – and a little scary – dives I’ve ever done. Let’s just say the snakes are not shy to check out visitors to their home. There’s a recent scientific theory that the sea snakes are so friendly because they’re sexually frustrated. They are also several different species besides the banded sea krait. You can read more in my account of meeting the Ganung Api sea snakes.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
Sogod Bay in the Philippines is one of my favourite places to dive, not least because of the chances of encounters like this. Because the waters get so deep so quickly, with the reef dropping off into an abyss hundreds of metres deep, you never know what is going to show up.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
While there are plenty of local fishermen, many of the reefs in Sogod Bay are marine protected areas and the fishermen largely respect that. There’s no dynamite fishing or industrial scale fishing. There’s also comparatively few tourists. That means the reefs here continue to teem with life.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
Sea snakes have historically been hunted by humans for their skin and meat. Sea snake skin is still used to make handbags and other fashion accessories even though sea snake numbers were heavily depleted in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Natural History Museum.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
This sea snake looks way better hanging out on the reef than hanging on someone’s arm. It was a real highlight of our dive trip to see its speed and grace in the water.
Sea snake, Sogod Bay, Leyte, Philippines © chris@divehappy.com
