Visayas

Sanctuary

This is a small but exquisite reef, right in front of El Dorado Resort. It slopes down to 20m, sandy bottom (black sand). One of my favorite dive sites. I did one of my 90-minute-dives on this small reef and I could have stayed longer easily. It is all black sand (the name negros means black in Spanish) with some coralblocks, a large staghorncoral field and a seagrass area. They put some tires down - something I usually don't like so much - but I found some amazing animals hidden there. On one nightdive I found ten frogfish, most of them coinbearing frogfish (A. nummifer) and two Clown frogfish (A. maculatus) and one painted frogfish (A. pictus)! But also huge nudibranchs like Pleurobranchus and then crabs, shrimps, lobsters, cuttlefish, crocodile snake eels and much more.

This is a marine sanctuary. Slight slope down to 20m. I like this dive site very much. Go there with a small group and take your time. There is always a large school of mackerels and snappers there. These two school hover over the reef, move, circle and mix with each other. Beautiful! Last time I was there we saw a small bamboo shark hiding under some corals and a huge turtle. Then there are a lot of small critters around. We found leaffish, nudibranchs, blennies, gobies, flatworms and even a beautifully spotted leopard blenny.

----- Visayas Safari      ----- Cagayan Safari

Looc and Liloan Point (Cebu) are both drift dives down sandy slopes with large rocks. Good soft and hard corals, wide variety of reef fish, Blue-spotted Lagoon Rays and garden eels. Between March and June Manta Rays can be seen.

Entrance: Boat entry

Free descent down a rope to 25 metres.Sunken island is as its name suggests, a sunken island set in the middle of the Tanon Straight. The summit, at 25 meters, is reached through free water down a line. It provides a home and a hunting ground for a plethora of marine life. Shoals of mackerel and tuna hang around in the blue. Turtles appear on occasions, but there is always a frog fish or two sitting around on a coral. Remarkably large lionfish glide along the path ways in the coral adding an Elizabethan touch to the scene with their extravagant fins.
It is a dive for experienced divers only. Due to the tides, the current is often strong.

Entrance: Boat entry

Pescador Island is a small uninhabited island set in the Tanon Strait. The whole island above and below water is riddled with caverns and caves providing homes and cover for a wide variety of creatures. Spear fishing and all other illegal fishing methods are prohibited, so the inhabitants below and above water have some peace. The shelf, surrounding the island, 5 to 20 meters wide, can be seen from a boat and on calm days the scene is tantalising. The wall going down to 50 meters, is filled with spectacular crevasses, over hangs and caves. Large soft and hard corals, surrounded by reef dwellers attract an incredible variety of marine life.

Quite simply it is a paradise for divers. Many species of hard coral have been described. Reef hunters patrol the reef, ranging in size, in the depths sharks are frequently encountered. Hammer heads visit for the first months of the year. Other species make their home there and on night dives you encounter them sleeping amongst the corals.

Balicasag has been compared to Sipidan Island in Borneo for diving, it definitely is some of the best diving in the Philippines with 400m of successfully protected reef.
Black Forest, named after the forests of black coral at 30m and below, offers an incredible range of corals; in addition, the usual reef fish as well as larger fish deeper down. There can be very strong currents, and is therefore recommended as an advanced dive.

Beautiful coral gardens on shallow shelves for beginners as well as deep walls with great drift diving for everyone. A multitude of corals and reef fish, as well as larger pelagics.

Tonga Point is another dive site that is normally calm but can get very strong currents. Visibility up to 25m. A gentle slope down to 12m leads you to a drop-off descending to 65m plus! Many soft corals, fans and sponges. Wide variety of reef fish and larger pelagics deeper down.
San Juan, again usually calm but can get rough. Another big drop-off to 60m. Similar to Tonga Point. Lots of fish, corals and Blue Ribbon Eels.

This is usually a deep dive, there is a slope then a very steep wall which goes down to 60m or more. This is quite a challenging dive site. Sometimes there are strong currents, some of them tend to be down-currents in the sandy channels, so be careful. At this dive site you can see schools of mackerels (some large like the Spanish mackerel), jackfish, barracudas and if you are lucky sharks. The corals are very nice also, mostly tubecorals.

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Cagayan Island

The Cagayan Islandss are approx. 120 kilometres on an open sea west of Sipalay, direction Palawan. It is a very untouched Insegruppe, distant off of the tourism and any pollution. Does give an absolutely intact sub-water world to barracudas, Jacks, with many major part fish, like sharks, Tunas, Napoleons uvm? One also finds here big caves and grottos where single, gigantic Gorgonien down from the ceiling grow. There are the best conditions with major part fish and visibilities up to 40 metres here from March until May.

Boombog

A small Island, in front of Cagayan where first two dives are made. A slope of corals with small walls which are going down to 40 m into a sand slope.
Early morning dive site, because there are good chance to see the white tip and black tip reef sharks and grey reef sharks. Turtles can be seen often at this place too.

Little bit north of Boombog, a beautiful Reef plateau between 24 and 27 m with fantastic area of corals. Place of barracudas and sharks and sometimes also mantas and big jack’s. An absolutely highlight on this safari.

First a small wall until 16 m which is going over into a sand slop with a lot of nice coral rocks. At around 35 m there is a drop off down to 60 m and more. Schools of pump head parrot fishes, green trigger fishes and napoleons are here always to see. Good chance to see the turtles and also big rays like mobulas, mantas and eagle rays.

A beautiful wall with huge gorgonians. At 22 m a long, to the sea open “tunnel” starts, in which the huge gorgonians are hanging at the side or down from the wall. Many sponches and nudibranches makes this an unbelievable underwater area. Different reef fishes, barracudas and sometimes as well napoleons or even mantas and devil ray are to be seen here. A unforgettable fantastic dive spot.

A wall with lots of gorgonians, sponches and soft corals, which starts at 5 m and falls down vertically to 60 m. All over small caves and canyons where many reef fishes and lobster are living. Big kinds of rays were seen here and also wale shark were spotted here before. The untouched coral reef on the top is perfect for finishing the dive or staying for the safety stop.

The top of this special wall starts at 4 m and shows because of their arrangement and the cascades a view like the loges in an opera. Gorgonians and soft corals determine this underwater area which is rich of reef - and swarm fishes. Like all over at Cagayan the chance to see the bigger fishes is given here.

In the beginning you will pass a slop area of hard corals until 15 m, followed by a wall. At 40 m depth the edge of the cave starts and it’s possible to see down to the white sandy bottom. Mostly there are white tip reef sharks who are taking a rest. Have always a look to the opened sea because here the chance is given to see also the hammerhead shark passing by.

A slope that is „powdered“ with white coral sand. It goes over into a sensationally wall of hard and soft corals. White tip reef sharks and grey reef sharks are often seen here. On the top of this reef you can see an untouched coral garden with a big selection of different reef fishes.

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