bshort4
Contributor
After a week of diving in Dauin (Dumaguete area) we took the fast ferry from Dumaguete to Tagbilaron City on Bohol Island--tickets were about $14 US each--a little over one hour trip. From the port we took a 30 minute ride in a van for two of us to Alona beach area on Panglao Island for about $12 for both of us. We stayed at Casa Manni's Garden rooms or maybe a better word is mini apartments. A little farther from the beach area and dive shops than we cared for--about a little over half a kilometer or a 10 to 12 minute walk. The room was ok--new, modern--smallish. Split a/c which wasn't working that good, small kitchette with microwave, sink, mini fridge loaded with their stuff which we replaced with ours from the local sari-sari stores--think small 7-11 type stores. The closer you get to the Alona beach area the higher the prices for rooms become--I think we paid about $35 US a night for Casa Manni's. The area along Alona beach is kinda tacky to be nice--lots of dive shops, small restaurants and hotels--and a narrow beach. Not much swimming along the beach there as there are so many boats parked there coming and going it could get a little hairy. I had contacted a small hole in the wall dive op that is locally owned with all local guides. Island Adventures quoted me a good price for eight dives (ended up doing ten dives) at 1,400 pesos a dive (roughly $28 a dive with free equipment--I had all my own gear but no further price reduction. I requested nitrox 32 for all dives and it was $6 a fill or 300 pesos. They had a analyzer for the nitrox for me to analyze every tank and record them. I went to Panglao to dive Balicasag Island I found out they can't go there everyday because they limit the number of divers allowed there each day at 300. They need to request a permit to dive there with how many divers they have and hope they get the permit for the day--out of five days diving we went to Balicasag three days. The other days we dove a local reef (wall) and a wall on the west end of Panglao to see a good sized sardine run--it was good diving for the most part.
Balicasag Island. This is why divers come here. Small island with about four dive sites--all walls with some current on some days. They park the Bangka after about a 25 minute ride to the island about 50 yards off shore from the island. Below is a sandy plateau about 25 feet deep with crystal clear water. A giant stride into the water and about a 40 yard or so swim to the drop off to the wall. Let me say the transition from the plateau to the wall is beautiful and the sandy bottom with coral heads everywhere is a nice dive in itself. We kept spotting turtles everywhere on our swim to the wall. The first day if went to Balicasag we had five Chinese divers with their own guide and me and my own guide--nice. I let him know I didn't want a lot of tank banging and just take his time and I'll spot my own critters---not that much into macro so don't point every little thing you find out to me--I think he was happy with that. Good dive brief--how deep, currents if any, what we may see and length of dive---all dive were in the 55 to 65 minute range and depth was usually in the 60 to 70 foot range. We didn't dive our tanks--I usually came up with over 1000 psi on every dive even after 60 minutes. We would come off the wall back onto the plateau and back to the boat---never a hard swim and the boat never had to come to us. On my first dive there I stopped counting turtles at 13--they were everywhere--small to large. Several large eels, I went to 90 feet one dive to video a tornado of Jack fish---no problem with the guide--he followed me down. One area that was kinda a concern was diving one guide with mixed experienced divers. Two of the days we had new divers doing their first open water dives after getting their certification. The guide pretty much kept to the 18 to 20 meter depth with them but allowed me to tag along at about 25 meters or so or deeper if I wanted for some reason but I always caught up to the group and pretty much went where I pleased as long as I kept the group in sight, not the best situation but we dealt with it. Water was 82 degrees, I wore a 3 mm shorty for all my dives and never felt chilled. Air temp was in the mid 80's and sunny everyday--vis was great in the 70 to 90 fot range. Several dives had moderate currents along the wall and several had strong currents when we got off the boat but disappeared once we went over the wall. We did do a little swimming against the current to get to the wall a couple of times but it wasn't bad and it wasn't long. Nice easy climb back onto the boat with my gear but you could take it off and they would haul it up for you. No towels on board so bring your own, fresh water between dives for drinking, fresh fruit also. We took some snacks with us as well as our own bottled water and sodas. One hour surface intervals where you could snorkel in the water by the boat with the many turtles that were always surfacing by the boat. The diving was nice and easy--not much for more advanced divers that I saw---more intermediate to beginner diving but I enjoyed my dives there very much and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for some dives to others or dive there again myself. There is plenty to do after diving if you're into the party seen--many bars and restaurants and other sights to see off Panglao Island which all the street vendors will try to show you at every turn along Alona beach. I'd dive there soon if you can. They are building a new international airport on the island and the influx of tourists from Korea and China will make the place explode with new growth and be out of control even more than it is now--think Boracay if you've been there but not as near as nice a beach. We took the van back to Tagbilaron City to the airport and flew back to Manila--ticket was less than 2,000 pesos each or about $40. Would I return? Maybe, I enjoyed the easy diving just not the area so much--maybe being at a hotel on the beach would have suited us better instead having to walk to get there and back each day.
Balicasag Island. This is why divers come here. Small island with about four dive sites--all walls with some current on some days. They park the Bangka after about a 25 minute ride to the island about 50 yards off shore from the island. Below is a sandy plateau about 25 feet deep with crystal clear water. A giant stride into the water and about a 40 yard or so swim to the drop off to the wall. Let me say the transition from the plateau to the wall is beautiful and the sandy bottom with coral heads everywhere is a nice dive in itself. We kept spotting turtles everywhere on our swim to the wall. The first day if went to Balicasag we had five Chinese divers with their own guide and me and my own guide--nice. I let him know I didn't want a lot of tank banging and just take his time and I'll spot my own critters---not that much into macro so don't point every little thing you find out to me--I think he was happy with that. Good dive brief--how deep, currents if any, what we may see and length of dive---all dive were in the 55 to 65 minute range and depth was usually in the 60 to 70 foot range. We didn't dive our tanks--I usually came up with over 1000 psi on every dive even after 60 minutes. We would come off the wall back onto the plateau and back to the boat---never a hard swim and the boat never had to come to us. On my first dive there I stopped counting turtles at 13--they were everywhere--small to large. Several large eels, I went to 90 feet one dive to video a tornado of Jack fish---no problem with the guide--he followed me down. One area that was kinda a concern was diving one guide with mixed experienced divers. Two of the days we had new divers doing their first open water dives after getting their certification. The guide pretty much kept to the 18 to 20 meter depth with them but allowed me to tag along at about 25 meters or so or deeper if I wanted for some reason but I always caught up to the group and pretty much went where I pleased as long as I kept the group in sight, not the best situation but we dealt with it. Water was 82 degrees, I wore a 3 mm shorty for all my dives and never felt chilled. Air temp was in the mid 80's and sunny everyday--vis was great in the 70 to 90 fot range. Several dives had moderate currents along the wall and several had strong currents when we got off the boat but disappeared once we went over the wall. We did do a little swimming against the current to get to the wall a couple of times but it wasn't bad and it wasn't long. Nice easy climb back onto the boat with my gear but you could take it off and they would haul it up for you. No towels on board so bring your own, fresh water between dives for drinking, fresh fruit also. We took some snacks with us as well as our own bottled water and sodas. One hour surface intervals where you could snorkel in the water by the boat with the many turtles that were always surfacing by the boat. The diving was nice and easy--not much for more advanced divers that I saw---more intermediate to beginner diving but I enjoyed my dives there very much and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for some dives to others or dive there again myself. There is plenty to do after diving if you're into the party seen--many bars and restaurants and other sights to see off Panglao Island which all the street vendors will try to show you at every turn along Alona beach. I'd dive there soon if you can. They are building a new international airport on the island and the influx of tourists from Korea and China will make the place explode with new growth and be out of control even more than it is now--think Boracay if you've been there but not as near as nice a beach. We took the van back to Tagbilaron City to the airport and flew back to Manila--ticket was less than 2,000 pesos each or about $40. Would I return? Maybe, I enjoyed the easy diving just not the area so much--maybe being at a hotel on the beach would have suited us better instead having to walk to get there and back each day.
