Rhapsody in Blue

By: Dr. Bob Whorton 2010.

Sheer Walls, Classic reefs and amazing marine life are just some of the eye candy this area of the Philippines has on offer…

Bohol is a large Island located centrally within the Philippines extensive archipelago; an hour flight from Manila, or a two-hour ferry ride from Cebu International Airports. Tagbilaran, the provincial capital of Bohol, is the hub for both air and sea passengers and a thirty-minute transfer away from the smaller Island of Panglao, in the south; where most of the diving centres are based. Panglao is joined to Bohol by two bridges spanning the 400 meter shallow channel.

‘Alona Beach’ on the southern side of Panglao is where the majority of small tourist resorts and diving centres are located. It’s a small nestling community with bars restaurants and beach front BBQ’s not too noisy, but never dull either. Seaquest Diving centre fronts the very cosy and highly functional ‘Oasis Resort’ which hosts our stays. The fully equipped dive centre is spacious and practical, has a small shop and good washing/rinsing facilities.

Local Diving
The full length of Panglao Island, west to east is split into numerous dive sites, so you’re never more than a few minutes away by the small covered boats (or the larger outriggers) for an interesting hour or so underwater. Whether you’re a browser, snapper or photographer there’s something for all.

Sites such as BBC offer the chance of seeing the orange pygmy seahorses, scorpionfish and frogfish. There are around nine species of anemone here, with an interesting array of symbiotic anemone fish, shrimp and crabs. Especially interesting is the small wall here which when explored reveals an incredible amount of unique macro life. Arco point as some interesting topography with an arch-type swim-thro and is usually teaming with colourful wrasse, butterflyfish and several large groupers.

A shallow (20m), but impressive wall dive awaits you at Kalipayan too. Very nice hard and soft corals with sea fans for the ethereal effect, and surrounded by the perpetual motion of plankton feeders such as anthias and chromids. Especially interesting throughout the local sites is the greater influx of colourful frogfish over the last couple of years. Thorny seahorses have also become more apparent throughout the region and can be seen with some surety during dusk and night dives which spices up the obligatory mandarin fish dives.

Eel Garden; aptly named due to several communities of garden eels is one of the most complete and my favourite site at Panglao. On a good day this site can provide an amazing amount of stuff, including orange, blue and clown frogfish. It’s the only site with Saddleback anemone fish too, residing in a small carpet anemone on the sandy flats.

It was here that I was to witness an amazing event just across the slope from the sea moths and ghost pipe fish – “NUDIFIGHT” A friend called me over to see two Pyjama Chromids interacting… “Mmmmm’, mating!” I thought. However, this turned out not to be the case: They were in fact ‘Fighting’! The whole sequence stretched out over about 10 minutes. They twisted and turned around each other with mouth parts and radular exposed, biting into the opponents mantles… Obvious marks were left too.

So, next time you see a nudibranch that looks like it has gone ‘ten rounds’, maybe it has! I sent my images over to Neville Coleman; he was amazed by the event and had never seen this behaviour before too.

Balicasag Island
One of the top dive locations in the area is Baligacasag Island, about 45-minutes by Bangka, west of Seaquest.

“A beautiful island with vertical walls; visually superb and limitless possibilities!”

This trip is always undertaken on the larger outrigger boats, equipped with WC and cabin, and lots of space for equipment and lounging around. It is wise to leave earlier than normal, maybe 07.00 to get the best from a three-tank session. Packed lunches are pre-ordered the night before or between 06.00 and 06.30 in the morning before breakfast. A special-order buffet can be pre-ordered too, which is great.

Our very first trip to Balicasag was quite a memorable experience… A flat calm empty sea reflected everything in the bright sunshine like a mirror. Halfway across we were intercepted by the local dolphin pod which proceeded to interact with the boat, often with two at a time riding the bow wave – A really nice start to the day - Nothing like a dolphin to inspire you…

Diving on the sites usually revolves around the prevailing currents, but generally ‘Diver’s Heaven’ is a great place to start the day. Here the reef wall is preceded by a broad expanse of sand sloping gently to around 10m before dropping vertically another 50 or so. Across the sandy expanse are numerous coral formations varying in size and height, and impressively large table corals sheltering lots of the smaller fish life.
The drop-off is usually a hive of activity with schools of transient species intermingling with the more resident types. The site has a resident young green turtle; she has a very pretty shell and always accompanied by a couple of small remora.

Around the corner is ‘Black Forest’ - A steep slope with lots of coral heads and a "forest" of black coral at 25 - 40 m. Giant Travelli and Tuna's cruise by in the blue. Keep an eye open for the barracudas and the Big eyed Jack-fish that have made residence here. On the slope itself you can see Surgeon-fish, Grouper, Trigger-fish and loads of macro life. Normally this dive has a bit of a drift making it a very relaxed and easy going dive. Time spent on the shallow sand would pay dividends for the macro lover – amazing collections of interesting anemone symbioses’, seamoths and nudibranch.

Rudy’s rock is a drop-off with a unique character, there is nothing else like it here. This dive site has many small caves and long deep crevices carved into the wall. All along this wall are points of interest with large red anemones & pretty Nemo’s. The biggest and most spectacular attraction here is the resident school of ‘Big-eye Jacks’. Normally schooling just of the edge of the drop-off, the constant dynamics keeps one mesmerized for ages, as good as or better than Sipadan. There are lots of soft and hard corals and large turtles are often seen. At the end of the dive the reef has a small shallow plateau literally filled with anemones and numerous species of anemonefish.

Rico’s wall is also a drop off with some small caverns and ledges; large Grouper live near the bottom of the wall and can be seen at 20 - 30 m. There are also large schools of surgeon fish, and clouds of anthias and chromids. The corals and gorgonian are quite beautifully laid out here, providing interesting and colourful vistas... Always keep a look out into the blue for big Tuna, Barracuda and blacktip sharks, and bigger!

“Damn, I wish I was there now!!!”

Cabilao Island
“Euphoric, ethereal: A mind altering drift along the walls as the sun breaks along the edges conjures visions of Elysium itself…”

Bohol is surrounded by a large number of small islands. One of them is Cabilao Island, which lies to the Mid North-West, facing Cebu Island. Cabilao Island covers an area of approximately 7-8 square kilometres and is one of the smaller inhabited Philippine Islands. Another early starter for this trip as it can take two hours on the Bangka to reach from Alona beach, but well worth the effort.

The reef system is split into several dive sites such as ‘Lighthouse’ ‘Looc’ ‘Fallen Tree’ and ‘Coconut’
Quiet, peaceful and apart from a few guests at the local dive resort it is relatively crowd-free.

The walls here are sheer, phenomenal and a feast for the eyes; awesome to casually drift along taking in the colours and variety of coral that line the way, catching the periodic streams of light over the edge of the reef – Awesome!

The walls are not the only attributes Cabilao has to offer, the amount of macro life here is outstanding too. Lighthouse reef for example has acres of sea grass which is home to a myriad of life, including robust and ornate ghost pipefish, seahorses, octopus and nudibranch.

A better option is to make a two-day trip of this experience, and this can be arranged through Seaquest in advance. Our next trip will include this for sure to take advantage of the incredible night diving anticipated at Lighthouse Reef.

Oasis Resort – Alona Beach
This, in my opinion is one of the cosiest resorts available. Very practically laid out, with first class rooms, hot showers and very high quality food and staff. Added to the diving opportunities this provides excellent value for money. Full details of Seaquest’s operations and locations can be gleaned from their new website at www.seaquestdivecenter.net

Getting there
4-6 daily flights arrive from Manila into Tagbilaran airport. Two ferry transfers daily into Tagbilaran Port from Cebu Island, allows you to fly in via Singapore or Hong Kong, and or tie in locations such as Moalboal and Malapascua to your itinerary.