Sunday, January 13, 2013

Diving in the Philippines: Balicasag - the Diver's Heaven and the Marine Sanctuary

Anette 9:03:00 PM Diving, Philippines, Southeastasia

One of the activities you shouldn't miss out on while in the Philippines, is diving. There are many great diving spots all over the country, and you can see things like coral reefs, colorful fishes and even whale sharks while swimming in the ocean.

Yuma and I had also decided to spend a day to go diving, and we found that Panglao island was the perfect starting point for this trip. Staying close to the Alona beach we had no problems finding a good diving company, as there are literarily a whole bunch of them to choose from. We visited 3-4of them and listened to their offers, and finally our choice fell on a company called Mr. Diver. They offered us a diving trip to the Balicasag island, which is surrounded by great diving spots such as the Marine Sanctuary (Rico's Wall), the Cathedral, Diver's Heaven and Rudy's Rock. The price for the trip was 2600 pesos per person (plus 100 for the nature conservation fee), which included equipment and two dives.

The next day we found ourselves in a group of happy divers heading for the designated island along with our crew of dive masters and other staff. Our diving spots for the day was the Diver's Heaven and the Marine Sanctuary. Yuma had dived around ten times in total and I had only gone through three, so we got our own dive master to look after us during the dive. Since I got my diving certificate in February last year I was a bit nervous about diving again, but it did not take too long before I became adjusted to the underwater environment. Both of the diving spots had a great variety of colorful fishes, and we also were lucky enough to spot one sea turtle during both of our dives! (Apparently they are quite commonly seen there though)
As Yuma had brought his underwater camera we could capture the underwater world with some beautiful pictures:

I think both Yuma and I were very happy with our dives that day (maybe especially Yuma with all the photos he managed to get). I already look forward to a new destination with new dives!!

Related blogposts

All blogposts from Southeast Asia

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Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below
- Anette

About Anette
Anette came to Japan as an exchange student in 2010, met the love of her life and got stuck. From her base in Tokyo she writes about her experiences as a full-time worker in Tokyo and about her travels in Japan and abroad. She's a free-spirited adventurer who enjoys both the great outdoors and her urban lifestyle.