Apo Reef Light of gallery. The light station on Apo Reef was part of the first approved group of lighthouses in the Maritime Lighting Plan of Spain for the Philippine Archipelago during the Spanish Colonial Period. It was proposed to erect a steel tower with a third-order light on Bajo Apo Island. In 1896, the tower and the lighting apparatus were already purchased complete by the Spanish authorities from France, and they were delivered and stored at the warehouse in Manila. All lighthouse constructions though, were halted with the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution and then the Spanish–American War. When the Americans took
Apo Reef protection and conservation work at the park, stays in the protected area on weekly shifts. The largest is Apo Island at with mangroves and beach vegetation. The reef surrounding the island extends to in places. Outside the lagoonal mangroves in the eastern and southern sides of Apo Island, the soil is sandy-to-sandy loam that is less in silt and clay particles. On the other hand, the lagoonal mangroves have a sandy loam to clay loam soil, underlain by decomposed plant residues or coarse materials. Apo Island is separated from Apo Reef by a narrow, deep channel. The island is about