April 2024: So…. We visiting Camiguin Island to meet two non-diving friends for a holiday. Wow, what a beautiful island. It’s less visited than many other Philippines destinations but is a bit of a hidden gem. The downside is the diving isn’t as good as other locations, but there is still some decent diving to be done.
Getting here: We flew from Cebu City. Flights direct also available from Manila I believe.
Getting around: Hire a scooter and explore the entire island in a few days.
What to do other than diving: Waterfalls, hot springs, cold springs, and some surprisingly good restaurants. A few bars but all very low key.
Where to stay: We stayed at Agoho Resort - which is really good and has some dive operators nearby. However, we moved to Camiguin Lanzones Resort once our friends had left, so we could be closer to our chosen dive centre and also close to the ferry port to Bohol, which we will go to tomorrow morning for the next leg of our holiday (Panglao).
The diving: There are half a dozen or so dive centre dotted around the island. They are all relatively small operations, some with accommodation attached. We picked Souldivers purely because it was close to Mantigue Island, which someone said was a good dive site. We did no research whatsoever, just popped in and booked our dives. I can’t comment on other dive centres as i didn’t look in on any of them,
Souldivers is a little place owned by Jack. He has a few local staff who are dive guides, Boat CAptains, etc. I think he gets an Instructor in for courses. It’s a really friendly and no-frills kind of place. The boat is a small local style (banca) and has enough room for 4 customers only. We dived the sites they alluded were their best: Jicdup Shoal, Mantigue Island, their house reef.
What i really liked was they dive according to your certification and ability. When the group is mixed ability, they will pay more attention to those who need it, and make sure those who are better with their gas consumption get a full hour by having you wait under the safety stop, and the dive guide coming back to continue to the dive with you. We have our own equipment, but from what i saw of their equipment it was in good condition with the exception of the wetsuits, that looked a little thin and worn.
The diving at Camiguin is ok. There are a few turtles over the reef, and a few interesting nudis to be found. Apparently you can lucky and see a manta occassionally. There are also a few frogfish around, which their house reef has with abundant ghost pipefish! Some quite decent macro stuff around (shrimps, porcelain crabs etc)
I wouldn’t come to Camiguin just for the diving. But you know what, it’s a stunning island and you can really enjoy yourself here if you want to get away from the crowds. If you want a peaceful holiday away from the hoards and with a handful of dives then this island is wonderful.
Getting here: We flew from Cebu City. Flights direct also available from Manila I believe.
Getting around: Hire a scooter and explore the entire island in a few days.
What to do other than diving: Waterfalls, hot springs, cold springs, and some surprisingly good restaurants. A few bars but all very low key.
Where to stay: We stayed at Agoho Resort - which is really good and has some dive operators nearby. However, we moved to Camiguin Lanzones Resort once our friends had left, so we could be closer to our chosen dive centre and also close to the ferry port to Bohol, which we will go to tomorrow morning for the next leg of our holiday (Panglao).
The diving: There are half a dozen or so dive centre dotted around the island. They are all relatively small operations, some with accommodation attached. We picked Souldivers purely because it was close to Mantigue Island, which someone said was a good dive site. We did no research whatsoever, just popped in and booked our dives. I can’t comment on other dive centres as i didn’t look in on any of them,
Souldivers is a little place owned by Jack. He has a few local staff who are dive guides, Boat CAptains, etc. I think he gets an Instructor in for courses. It’s a really friendly and no-frills kind of place. The boat is a small local style (banca) and has enough room for 4 customers only. We dived the sites they alluded were their best: Jicdup Shoal, Mantigue Island, their house reef.
What i really liked was they dive according to your certification and ability. When the group is mixed ability, they will pay more attention to those who need it, and make sure those who are better with their gas consumption get a full hour by having you wait under the safety stop, and the dive guide coming back to continue to the dive with you. We have our own equipment, but from what i saw of their equipment it was in good condition with the exception of the wetsuits, that looked a little thin and worn.
The diving at Camiguin is ok. There are a few turtles over the reef, and a few interesting nudis to be found. Apparently you can lucky and see a manta occassionally. There are also a few frogfish around, which their house reef has with abundant ghost pipefish! Some quite decent macro stuff around (shrimps, porcelain crabs etc)
I wouldn’t come to Camiguin just for the diving. But you know what, it’s a stunning island and you can really enjoy yourself here if you want to get away from the crowds. If you want a peaceful holiday away from the hoards and with a handful of dives then this island is wonderful.
