The best places to practice Diving in Philippines
Scuba Diving Areas
Are you visiting Alona Beach? We are looking forward
to meeting you, and we are delighted with the opportunity
to assist you during your visit to this tropical paradise.
Panglao
Just in front of the famous Alona Beach we have many wonderful dive spots great for all levels. Whether you choose a wall dive, muck diving or even BDC (Bohol Divers Club) wreck, you´ll love the Philippines’ underwater scenery, within minutes of the dive center: Arco Point, Garden Eel, Kalipayan… You’ll be impressed by biodiversity, including: many different species of frog fish, sea horse, blue ring octopus… and if you are lucky, maybe even a whale shark!
Balicasag Island
Balicasag Island is located 12 kilometers away from Alona Beach. Its name means upside down (bali) crab (casag) maybe because of its shape. Nowadays it is a protected spot where only 300 divers per day are allowed and fishing is restricted. Over the last few years it is noticeable how the amount of marine life is growing up more and more!
Here there are two types of dive: wall dive and slope. According to the Panglao Municipality there are 5 dive spots: Black forest, Balicasag Sanctuary, Diver’s Heaven, Rudy’s Rock and Royal Garden. But there are also dive masters adding as dive spots Cathedral and Rico’s wall.
To dive on Balicasag we usually depart at 8 am to dive 2 or 3 sites and come back between 1 and 3 pm. The boat ride, on a traditional Philippine ‘banca’ boat, takes around 20 to 30 minutes.
Snake Island
On our way to Pamilacan Island, on the south, we find a sunken plateau in the middle of the ocean. If the current is not too strong we will do a special dive here! The highlight of the dive is the abundance of black & white banded sea snakes, nudibranchs, bucket sponges, butterfly fish, etc. If you are lucky enough, you can even see whale sharks or manta rays here!
Pamilacan
Pamilacan Island is a small coral island on the south-east of Panglao. It is a popular place to see dolphins, small whales, whale sharks, and sometimes even manta rays. The best season to dive here is from March to June.
We will depart around 8 am and on our way to Pamilacan we will make a stop to dive on Snake Island. After the second dive we will have lunch at a local restaurant.
Cabilao
Cabilao Island is in the southweast of Pangangan Island, which is connected to the west coast of Bohol by a causeway. It takes around 3 hours by banca from Alona beach. It was very famous in the past because it was so frequent to see hammer head sharks. Nowadays, we can’t find them but you can delight yourself with the gorgeous and big corals.