Lau-Tengco Point/Barracuda Point in General Santos City - Philippines

Another great diving spot in General Santos City is the Lau-Tengco Point/Barracuda Point. The Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point is easy to distinguish among all the other dive spots along the Tinoto or Tampuan Wall in General Santos City. All the diver has to do is to look for that point in the Wall where it bends into an S, and there they are. To be more specific, the Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point is situated right after Partridge Point, another dive point at the wall which is third in a series of dive points.

There is one sad story about the Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point which explains to tourists the state of the coral garden which is one of the main attractions in this dive point. According to officials in the area, this area has once been the victim of illegal blasting by some unscrupulous fishermen in the place. Up to this point, this coral garden is still on its way to recovery from the damage it incurred from the blast, and so tourism authorities appeal to tourist divers to do their best to not spoil the existing as well as the growing corals.

Aside from the coral reefs, another prime attraction at Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point is the schools of large barracuda teeming in its waters. Barracuda is also one of the prized fish catch of General Santos City, second only to tuna. But, the challenge here is, tourist divers will only get to see the barracuda if they dive deep, deep down into the water. Aside from barracuda, of course, one would also get to see in here the most common kinds of fishes that one would get to see living in corals, such as the wrasse, the surgeon fish, angel fish, and butterfly fish.

Typically, just like any of the other dive points in the Tinoto Wall, the most comfortable depth at the Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point is up to ten meters. At this point, one will still be able to see clearly the wonders that the Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point could offer; any farther than that and the waters would be a bit murky already. It is all right for first time divers to go and venture into Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point, but they should always be assisted by the more professional, seasoned, and hardy divers, because there would be times when the water currents would be really strong. In fact, as a diver quipped, there are times that the waves in here could resemble the waves in a washing machine. But there is less reason to worry anyway, because the coast guards in the area usually warn the divers minutes in advance when they know the waves are about to grow strong, so that divers will have time to escape from the water if they are not comfortable battling against the waves.

Costs of going to Lau Tengco Point/Barracuda Point is at their peak during peak season, which is during the summer months and semestral breaks. During off peak season, travel packages are usually at the year's lowest as well.