Background: My boyfriend (BF) and I are budget-backpacking-scuba diving SEA for ~8 months (2/8 complete). Our goal is to see as much healthy hard coral in the Coral Triangle as possible. We brought all our own gear (excluding weights & tanks of course), including full 3mm wetsuits, which we carry in 75L backpacks. The prices listed are for two people, unless otherwise noted. Apologies if the report is too long!
Balicasag: We couldn’t go through the Visayas without checking out Balicasag!
Day 0: We left early in the morning from Siquijor Port on the 8:20 Ocean Jet fast craft ferry (1760P, includes only booking fee. It’s probably cheaper in person at the port). They made us check our bags (120P) as they were too big (although I think this sizing requirement was very subjective as I saw bags of various sizes that were not checked).
The ride to Tagbilaran Port was ~1.5 hrs. Once we got off, we collected our bags, and then headed to the exit. There we were swarmed by tens of people selling some sort of tour or transportation. I had read online that Grab is available in the south of Bohol/Panglao so I booked a ride to our accommodation by Alona Beach (463P). The drive to Alona from the port took ~30 mins.
We ate lunch in the Jollibee at the top of the beach access road. To note: there is a Jollibee, McDonald’s, 7/11, and a bank all next to each other right here.
The beach access road is still under construction, but that doesn’t hinder vehicles from going up/down the road or foot traffic.
The accommodation: I actually forgot to book accommodation for Alona Beach until 2 weeks prior, which resulted in me scrambling to find something close enough to the beach (and dive shops) without breaking the bank (while meeting the requirements of private room, good wifi, and aircon).
MGH Alona was a pretty good fit. It’s not the flashiest hotel but the rooms are super nice. It had comfortable bedding, clean room & bathroom, aircon, good wifi, and we even got 2 free 250 mL water bottles lol. It was also a good location, about halfway on the beach access road (<5 mins to the top of the road and the beforementioned restaurants/stores and <5 mins to the bottom of the road and the beach).
They were very strict about the check-in rule (14:00) and we waited around 2 hours in the lobby. This was annoying because the hotel was not fully booked out and the staff was not cleaning the room or getting it ready for us, rather it was sitting empty waiting for 14:00 as per policy.
There is a pool in the inner courtyard but we didn’t use it. It looked a bit dirty but that didn’t stop other guests from using it often.
Free breakfast was included (ran from 6:30-9:00) and was pretty good. I was pleased that it opened early enough that we could actually eat something before the diving/snorkeling.
Normally I would write my thoughts on the dive operation here, but we went with two different dive shops to both snorkel & dive so it’s split up differently.
Day 1: Snorkel day with Piratas Alona Dive Center
Due to big waves, all of the boats from Alona were moored in Doljo.
Great hard coral coverage around the Cathedral dive site (around the white buoy snorkel area) at the north point of the island for about a 50m stretch. We saw the hugest tabling acroporas (~2-3m across), big patches of branching isopora, and healthy patches of branching acropora. Unfortunately there was lots of anchor damage from boats though.
Day 2: Dive day with Sierra Madre Divers
SM’s boat was moored about halfway between Alona Beach and Doljo.
The shop requested for us to be there at 7:00 so that the staff could grab our gear and bring it to the boat early, so that it would be set up for our arrival. Unfortunately when we arrived at the boat pickup area (8:05) we saw that our gear was still there and had to wait for the speedboat to take the crew and gear first… so unsure as to why we had to be there at 7:00 then.
BF, me, and two other divers (one of them being one of SM’s course directors) were assigned a DM (Cynthia). She set up our gear for us on the boat & the boat crew changed our tanks for us between dives.
Cynthia gave good dive briefings and we also received a boat briefing before leaving for Balicasag. There were many snacks (different types of breads/pastries) on board as well as water and coffee.
Dives were around 50 mins and we took a SI of one hour.
Dive 1: Diver’s Heaven
Max depth 71ft, 54 mins, min water temp 83F.
Dive 2: Cathedral
Max depth 52ft, 52 mins, min water temp 83F.
Very standard wall dives with some sea fans, tubastrea, and soft corals. Honestly nothing special.
Day 3: Another snorkel day with Piratas. This time we snorkeled past the white buoy area all the way to where the Balicasag Island Dive Resort is. Past the white buoys, the corals are all dead and have not recovered from Typhoon Odette.
Instead we did a land tour of the Bohol Chocolate Hills.
Day 5: Planned rest day to let the gear dry
Final thoughts: Balicasag did not live up to the hype and Alona Beach was incredibly crowded. It was still a nice time but no need to go back.
Balicasag: We couldn’t go through the Visayas without checking out Balicasag!
Day 0: We left early in the morning from Siquijor Port on the 8:20 Ocean Jet fast craft ferry (1760P, includes only booking fee. It’s probably cheaper in person at the port). They made us check our bags (120P) as they were too big (although I think this sizing requirement was very subjective as I saw bags of various sizes that were not checked).
The ride to Tagbilaran Port was ~1.5 hrs. Once we got off, we collected our bags, and then headed to the exit. There we were swarmed by tens of people selling some sort of tour or transportation. I had read online that Grab is available in the south of Bohol/Panglao so I booked a ride to our accommodation by Alona Beach (463P). The drive to Alona from the port took ~30 mins.
We ate lunch in the Jollibee at the top of the beach access road. To note: there is a Jollibee, McDonald’s, 7/11, and a bank all next to each other right here.
The beach access road is still under construction, but that doesn’t hinder vehicles from going up/down the road or foot traffic.
The accommodation: I actually forgot to book accommodation for Alona Beach until 2 weeks prior, which resulted in me scrambling to find something close enough to the beach (and dive shops) without breaking the bank (while meeting the requirements of private room, good wifi, and aircon).
MGH Alona was a pretty good fit. It’s not the flashiest hotel but the rooms are super nice. It had comfortable bedding, clean room & bathroom, aircon, good wifi, and we even got 2 free 250 mL water bottles lol. It was also a good location, about halfway on the beach access road (<5 mins to the top of the road and the beforementioned restaurants/stores and <5 mins to the bottom of the road and the beach).
They were very strict about the check-in rule (14:00) and we waited around 2 hours in the lobby. This was annoying because the hotel was not fully booked out and the staff was not cleaning the room or getting it ready for us, rather it was sitting empty waiting for 14:00 as per policy.
There is a pool in the inner courtyard but we didn’t use it. It looked a bit dirty but that didn’t stop other guests from using it often.
Free breakfast was included (ran from 6:30-9:00) and was pretty good. I was pleased that it opened early enough that we could actually eat something before the diving/snorkeling.
Normally I would write my thoughts on the dive operation here, but we went with two different dive shops to both snorkel & dive so it’s split up differently.
Day 1: Snorkel day with Piratas Alona Dive Center
Due to big waves, all of the boats from Alona were moored in Doljo.
- 8:30 Leave shop to dive to Doljo
- 9:00 Arrive in Doljo
- 9:15 Small speedboat picks us up from the shore
- 9:30 Arrive at the big bangka after 15 mins of engine trouble on the speedboat
- 10:00 Encounter engine trouble in the big bangka and the crew dumps a 20L jug of freshwater and several buckets of saltwater onto the engine
- 10:30 Arrive back at Doljo to wait for new bangka
- 11:30 New big bangka arrives
- 12:20 Arrive at Balicasag
- 15:20 Leave Balicasag
- 15:50 Arrive back at Doljo
Great hard coral coverage around the Cathedral dive site (around the white buoy snorkel area) at the north point of the island for about a 50m stretch. We saw the hugest tabling acroporas (~2-3m across), big patches of branching isopora, and healthy patches of branching acropora. Unfortunately there was lots of anchor damage from boats though.
Day 2: Dive day with Sierra Madre Divers
SM’s boat was moored about halfway between Alona Beach and Doljo.
- 7:55 Leave shop
- 8:05 Arrive at boat pickup area
- 8:50 Picked up by speedboat
- 9:00 On big bangka
- 9:40 Arrive Balicasag
- 12:20 Leave Balicasag
- 14:00 Back at SM Alona Beach
The shop requested for us to be there at 7:00 so that the staff could grab our gear and bring it to the boat early, so that it would be set up for our arrival. Unfortunately when we arrived at the boat pickup area (8:05) we saw that our gear was still there and had to wait for the speedboat to take the crew and gear first… so unsure as to why we had to be there at 7:00 then.
BF, me, and two other divers (one of them being one of SM’s course directors) were assigned a DM (Cynthia). She set up our gear for us on the boat & the boat crew changed our tanks for us between dives.
Cynthia gave good dive briefings and we also received a boat briefing before leaving for Balicasag. There were many snacks (different types of breads/pastries) on board as well as water and coffee.
Dives were around 50 mins and we took a SI of one hour.
Dive 1: Diver’s Heaven
Max depth 71ft, 54 mins, min water temp 83F.
Dive 2: Cathedral
Max depth 52ft, 52 mins, min water temp 83F.
Very standard wall dives with some sea fans, tubastrea, and soft corals. Honestly nothing special.
Day 3: Another snorkel day with Piratas. This time we snorkeled past the white buoy area all the way to where the Balicasag Island Dive Resort is. Past the white buoys, the corals are all dead and have not recovered from Typhoon Odette.
- 8:50 Leave shop for Doljo
- 9:05 Arrive in Doljo
- 9:40 Speedboat shows up
- 9:50 On big bangka
- 10:00 Leave Doljo
- 10:50 Arrive at Balicasag
- 14:10 Leave Balicasag
- 15:00 Arrive at Doljo
Instead we did a land tour of the Bohol Chocolate Hills.
Day 5: Planned rest day to let the gear dry
Final thoughts: Balicasag did not live up to the hype and Alona Beach was incredibly crowded. It was still a nice time but no need to go back.
