Tagbilaran Diving and Dive Sites

Tagbilaran City offers a lot of great diving options. Since the city is the gateway to the whole province of Bohol, it is only natural to make it your starting point when looking for the best dive sites in the area. There are at least three islands that are within close proximity to Tagbilaran City. These are Panglao Island, Balicasag Island, and Pamiclan Island.

Panglao Island Sites

Alona Beach on Panglao Island is only a 40-minute drive away from the heart of Tagbilaran City. Alona Beach is a cast off point to reach some of the interesting dive sites in the area. The first dive site to see is the Alona Beach Sanctuary. This dive site is just five minutes away by boat from Alona Beach.

The sanctuary is just a shallow dive with a maximum depth of 25 meters. You'll find anemones and colorful corals. Some aquatic animal life you'll find here are frogfishes, scorpionfish, and sea snakes. The next dive site in Panglao Island is Kalipayan.

Kalipayan is about 10 minutes away from Alona Beach by boat. This is another shallow dive with some sandy areas. With all the corals and fishes you'll see here, the place serves as a great night dive. Another shallow dive a bit further off from here is at the Bohol Beach Club.

The Bohol Beach Club has a site with moray and snake eels. An interesting feature of this site is the little cave with a hole on the roof letting light in thus making a glorious sight to behold underwater. Add the aquatic life to that and you have an outstanding dive site.

Balicasag Island Dive Sites

You also have to drive from Tagbilaran City to Alona Beach then go by boat to get to Balicasag Island. The boat ride from Alona Beach will take around 30 minutes though. The first dive site here that is needs mentioning is called Black Forest.

The name Black Forest can be attributed to the black corals in the site. The site itself is on a slight slope with mackerels and barracudas swimming about. The edge of the reef is also teeming with fishes. The next dive site you should check out is the Balicasag Marine Sanctuary.

The Balicasag Marine Sanctuary is on a steep wall. This site is situated on the Balicasag Island's west side. You'll mainly find groupers and jackfish schools swim along with you as you explore the place. The next dive site in Balicasag is simply known as Heaven.

The Heaven site is also on a steep wall. However, you'll be doing mostly drift dives here. The interesting thing to see here is a cathedral-like cave and nice corals.

Pamiclan Island Sites

Other than dolphin watching tours, Pamiclan Island also has a couple of dive sites you should check out. The island is a bit further to the southeast from Alona Beach. The first place to check here is known as Snake Island.

Snake Island is about 50 minutes by boat from Alona Beach. You should expect strong currents when you make your dive. The site itself is an 18-meter deep sunken plateau. The sunken plateau is pleasantly covered with corals. You should plan this dive if you decide to make it since the current can pose a challenge.

Pamiclan is the next dive site. This site is further off, which is about an hour by boat from Alona Beach. The Pamiclan site has a depth of 35 meters. There are beautiful soft corals here to leave you in awe. You may even catch a glimpse of Napoleon fishes as you go deeper.

There are a lot of wonderful diving options when you visit Tagbilaran City. Both the shallow and deep dives have their fine qualities making each dive a unique experience.