ABSTRACT: Large amplitude internal waves are a long recognized feature of the South China Sea. Remote sensing imagery often shows the sea-surface manifestation of these waves as they radiate from the Luzon passage into the deep water of the South China Sea. In situ observations have shown that the waves occur as soliton-like coherent packets, creating short wavelength depressions in the thermocline stratification. These waves are described as nonlinear, with their steepness often exceeding a slope of 1/50. In the deep basin west of Luzon, the waves are known to reach displacement amplitudes exceeding 100 m, and persist for several days as they propagate toward China and Vietnam. The packets convert to elevation anomalies as they shoal onto the continental slope, becoming stretched into longer trains of waves. Shoreward of the continental slope, there is little previous in-situ data available for use in quantifying wave energy. Here, we examine survey data from April 2005, allowing for direct assessment of waves on the continental shelf.