Visayas et Camiguin

Limasawa Island & Padre Burgos

On the eastern side of Limasawa, Adrian’s Cove and Gunter’s Wall are steep walls  lined with gorgonians and large table corals. Around Padre Burgos, soft corals and sponges cover the steep slope at Tangkaan Point, and the pilings of Padre Burgos Pier reveal stargazers and other unusual critters after dark.

Sogod Bay

Napantao, the oldest marine protected area in Sogod Bay, features two deep walls covered in giant gorgonian fans, soft corals and black coral, with schools of pelagic fish often out in the blue.. From around November to May, whale sharks feed in the waters off Son-ok Point at Pintuyan, although sightings can never be guaranteed.

Camiguin

Beneath Mount Vulcan, Old Volcano is a steep wall of cooled lava and soft coral-covered rock. Close by, a large cross marks the Sunken Cemetery, lost to the sea in the 1871 eruption and now a colourful reef of lava boulders and overhangs. Off the south-east coast, the sanctuary reef at Mantigue Island is home to green turtles and a resident school of barracuda.

Anda, Bohol

Around 17km (10 miles) of walls, slopes and muck sites on Bohol’s eastern tip see far fewer divers than Panglao. Pygmy seahorses live in the gorgonians at Lumayag and Wonder Wall, a resident population of large turtles has made its home on Paradise Garden, and the sandy slope at Pogaling makes a good dusk dive.