pakman
Contributor
OK, figured I'd start this in a new thread since I've made a mess of the original thread on Cabilao Dive Center/ La Estrella Resort.
Having spent nearly two weeks last year diving around Cebu and then a week in Southern Leyte in Dec., I've become a big fan of the variety and quality of diving offered in the Visaya Region of the Philippines. So with a long 5 day weekend coming up for Easter, I decided to check out Cabilao Island which sits just off the West coast of Bohol Island.
Transportation:
Three ways to get to Cabilao island.
1. Fly into Tagbilaran on the Southern tip of Bohol Island, then drive up to the coastal village of Loon for a bangka trip over to Cabilao.
2. If you are arriving from Cebu City, it's a 2 hr drive down to the village of Argao (the roads from Cebu City are pretty good) where you can either arrange a private bangka to Cabilao or try your luck with the public bangka that makes the run. *You could also take one of the frequent fast ferries to Tagbilaran from Cebu City as well...
3. A number of dive shops run day trips and sea safaris from Mactan and Alona Beach.
I chose to hire a van and use the resort's bangka. Pricey as I was traveling alone, but worth it to maximize the amount of dive time on the island.
The Resort
There are three resorts on Cabilao Island that I know of: Polaris, Cabilao Beach Club, and La Estrella. Polaris and La Estrella are located on the Northeast corner of the island and near the more popular dive sites. Cabilao Beach Club (used by Sea Explorer) is located on the North East corner.
Initially, I wanted to stay at Polaris but due to the hectic local Holy Week holiday, the place was fully booked. I ended up choosing La Estrella, a resort owned by a German/ Filipino couple. La Estrella caters mainly to the German tourist crowd. Other than myself, there was only a British family in terms of non-German speaking guests.
The resort itself is basic but nice. I was put up in an amusing log cabin (aka the "hobbit house") that was shaped like a tree stump... They must have known about my hairy feet...
It was actually a nice little place but the drawback (or positive if you want the privacy...) is that it is set back a bit in the trees and so didn't get that nice of a breeze. The area needs a bit of landscaping as well... The room is fan cooled, but the power is only available at certain times during the day and so it would get a bit stuffy inside. The 2nd flr is a nice open area with even a bed setup there.
The food pretty much catered to the German crowd... snitzel this, snitzel that... Some of the local filipino dishes like the adobo were OK. Kitchen was a bit slow, but having traveled extensively through the country, I'm used to "Filipino time"
Resort staff were friendly and helpful. The electricity runs from late morning to just after lunch. Then again in the afternoon around 6pm til 2-3am at nite. There is running fresh water and during the day the shower water is quite warm.
Cabilao Dive Center
The resort dive center is run by a friendly young German couple, Tobias and the lovely Birga. They had worked previously on a liveaboard in the Red Sea. They also have 4 local DM's. I had the pleasure of diving with Bobet, a seasoned DM/ instructor, who did an excellent job finding subjects for my camera. The dive center is relatively new (I think they said 2 yrs). Rental equipment looked good including Scubapro regulators (I brought my own equipment). They have a compressor in the back but can only air fills (no nitrox). Fresh water is a bit of an issue and their rinse shower wasn't working. The rinse tanks had to be filled from fresh water containers. Unlike the bigger Polaris or Sea Explorer, they only have one small and slow dive bangka. Which is fine considering that the best dive sites were literally at our doorstep. But... this bangka had to have the loudest engine. It was so loud, you had to cover your ears if you were sitting near the back!
They run a pretty safe operation but once they get familiar with your skill level, they will give you some freedom. It was nice to overhear the local DM's prior to dives, talk amongst themselves and point out the vacation diver that they needed to watch carefully. At most I think we had maybe 3-4 divers per DM. As Tobias and Birga are photographers, they would join us on a number of dives.
The crowd that stayed at La Estrella was interesting. Mainly middle aged families and couples. Most weren't diehard divers and mostly spend their time sunbathing or snorkeling. I think I was the only guest who was doing every dive.
The Diving!
Right in front of La Estrella and the Polaris resort is the House Reef. A nice wall that drops to 50m or so. This runs north into Gorgonian Wall and on to Shark's Point. And then around the point turns into The Lighthouse and Fallen Tree on the northern shore. South of House Reef turns into the Sanctuary (a protected zone) and Cathedral.
I found the reefs healthy and full of color and life. Massive sea fans on the wall with interesting critters around every corner from various pygmy sea horses, ghost pipe fish, nudibranches, etc... The shallow part of The Point and The Lighthouse were interesting as it would turn into seagrass meadow with islands of coral. You'd come across various eels, frogfish, leafy frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, groups of squid, and so on...
First Day, I did only the House Reef as I arrive just around lunch. Their usual dive schedule is 9pm, 12pm, 3pm and possible a night dive around 530-6pm. I actually overslept the night dive when I took a siesta after the 1st dive... oops.
Sorry but I don't keep a log so can't remember which dive sites I did on which days! On the 2nd day, I think we did a combination of House Reef, Gorgonian Wall, and Fallen Tree. But looking at my photos, we came across three different species of pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, blue ribbon eel, various coral crabs, squat lobsters, and other interesting critters on the whip corals.
On the 3rd day, we decided to hit Shark's point first thing in the morning as the other dive boats we met the previous day had said seen a big shoal of large barracudas. The site is named because in the past Cabilao was famous for schoold of hammerheads. Sadly they have been pretty much fished out although once in a blue moon they say they get a glimpse of one off in the deep distance... The currents were running and similiar to the famous Blue Corner in Palau, you drop in one side of the point/ corner, drop down to 30-25m and race along with the current until you hit a sandy plateau at around 24-25mm. There we found a nice shoal of maybe 50-80 barracudas just sitting there in the current. Unfortunatey the viz wasn't too good so it made taking photos a bit challenging - that plus the strong current. We then did the Sanctuary and Cathedral which had some beautiful coral and fans. there were also some interesting crevices and swim thrus in the shallows. I did a night dive on the House Reef as well. But as it gets very shallow at night, you have to walk quite far with your gear... But it was all worth it as we came across all types of critters: small anemone shrimp, decorator crabs, nudibranches, lionfish, eels etc. On one dive, I was about to shoot a lone batfish that was hovering above a large coral island. As I got closer, there was probably the largest sea turtle I've seen in Philippine waters lying on the ground with 5 or more remoras attached.
The last day, I only had time for a morning dive and we did the Lighthouse which is a sloping sandy bottom and ends in meadow of sea grass with islands of corals. Here we would another ornate ghost pipefish and a black frogfish.
You can find my pics in the photo subforum here.
I had planned the trip to Cabilao with little expectations. I had heard mixed reports. Some members of my local dive club had recently done a sea safari that took them to Cabilao but they only spent a few hours there. What I didn't expect was to found this macro heaven PLUS beautiful wall dives AND a large shoals of barracudas! But, I don't know how frequent the barracuda siting are. I also didn't get a chance to dive the southern point and northeastern part where supposedly you can find some sleeping whitetip reef sharks sometimes.
Overall, it was definitely a worthwhile and memorable trip. The resort conditions are nice but a bit spartan. I did walk over to the Polaris resort and it did look nicer and even had a pool... I'd definitely come back again. Next time, armed with my 60mm macro lens to get those leafy fish and frogfishes I missed this time!
I'll leave you with a few topside pics of around the resort and the Lighthouse.
heading back around Shark's Point/ The Lighthouse
Looking towards Shark's Point from the resort
Looking down the West coast of Cabilao from the Lighthouse
Having spent nearly two weeks last year diving around Cebu and then a week in Southern Leyte in Dec., I've become a big fan of the variety and quality of diving offered in the Visaya Region of the Philippines. So with a long 5 day weekend coming up for Easter, I decided to check out Cabilao Island which sits just off the West coast of Bohol Island.
Transportation:
Three ways to get to Cabilao island.
1. Fly into Tagbilaran on the Southern tip of Bohol Island, then drive up to the coastal village of Loon for a bangka trip over to Cabilao.
2. If you are arriving from Cebu City, it's a 2 hr drive down to the village of Argao (the roads from Cebu City are pretty good) where you can either arrange a private bangka to Cabilao or try your luck with the public bangka that makes the run. *You could also take one of the frequent fast ferries to Tagbilaran from Cebu City as well...
3. A number of dive shops run day trips and sea safaris from Mactan and Alona Beach.
I chose to hire a van and use the resort's bangka. Pricey as I was traveling alone, but worth it to maximize the amount of dive time on the island.
The Resort
There are three resorts on Cabilao Island that I know of: Polaris, Cabilao Beach Club, and La Estrella. Polaris and La Estrella are located on the Northeast corner of the island and near the more popular dive sites. Cabilao Beach Club (used by Sea Explorer) is located on the North East corner.
Initially, I wanted to stay at Polaris but due to the hectic local Holy Week holiday, the place was fully booked. I ended up choosing La Estrella, a resort owned by a German/ Filipino couple. La Estrella caters mainly to the German tourist crowd. Other than myself, there was only a British family in terms of non-German speaking guests.
The resort itself is basic but nice. I was put up in an amusing log cabin (aka the "hobbit house") that was shaped like a tree stump... They must have known about my hairy feet...
It was actually a nice little place but the drawback (or positive if you want the privacy...) is that it is set back a bit in the trees and so didn't get that nice of a breeze. The area needs a bit of landscaping as well... The room is fan cooled, but the power is only available at certain times during the day and so it would get a bit stuffy inside. The 2nd flr is a nice open area with even a bed setup there.
The food pretty much catered to the German crowd... snitzel this, snitzel that... Some of the local filipino dishes like the adobo were OK. Kitchen was a bit slow, but having traveled extensively through the country, I'm used to "Filipino time"
Resort staff were friendly and helpful. The electricity runs from late morning to just after lunch. Then again in the afternoon around 6pm til 2-3am at nite. There is running fresh water and during the day the shower water is quite warm.
Cabilao Dive Center
The resort dive center is run by a friendly young German couple, Tobias and the lovely Birga. They had worked previously on a liveaboard in the Red Sea. They also have 4 local DM's. I had the pleasure of diving with Bobet, a seasoned DM/ instructor, who did an excellent job finding subjects for my camera. The dive center is relatively new (I think they said 2 yrs). Rental equipment looked good including Scubapro regulators (I brought my own equipment). They have a compressor in the back but can only air fills (no nitrox). Fresh water is a bit of an issue and their rinse shower wasn't working. The rinse tanks had to be filled from fresh water containers. Unlike the bigger Polaris or Sea Explorer, they only have one small and slow dive bangka. Which is fine considering that the best dive sites were literally at our doorstep. But... this bangka had to have the loudest engine. It was so loud, you had to cover your ears if you were sitting near the back!
They run a pretty safe operation but once they get familiar with your skill level, they will give you some freedom. It was nice to overhear the local DM's prior to dives, talk amongst themselves and point out the vacation diver that they needed to watch carefully. At most I think we had maybe 3-4 divers per DM. As Tobias and Birga are photographers, they would join us on a number of dives.
The crowd that stayed at La Estrella was interesting. Mainly middle aged families and couples. Most weren't diehard divers and mostly spend their time sunbathing or snorkeling. I think I was the only guest who was doing every dive.
The Diving!
Right in front of La Estrella and the Polaris resort is the House Reef. A nice wall that drops to 50m or so. This runs north into Gorgonian Wall and on to Shark's Point. And then around the point turns into The Lighthouse and Fallen Tree on the northern shore. South of House Reef turns into the Sanctuary (a protected zone) and Cathedral.
I found the reefs healthy and full of color and life. Massive sea fans on the wall with interesting critters around every corner from various pygmy sea horses, ghost pipe fish, nudibranches, etc... The shallow part of The Point and The Lighthouse were interesting as it would turn into seagrass meadow with islands of coral. You'd come across various eels, frogfish, leafy frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, groups of squid, and so on...
First Day, I did only the House Reef as I arrive just around lunch. Their usual dive schedule is 9pm, 12pm, 3pm and possible a night dive around 530-6pm. I actually overslept the night dive when I took a siesta after the 1st dive... oops.
Sorry but I don't keep a log so can't remember which dive sites I did on which days! On the 2nd day, I think we did a combination of House Reef, Gorgonian Wall, and Fallen Tree. But looking at my photos, we came across three different species of pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, blue ribbon eel, various coral crabs, squat lobsters, and other interesting critters on the whip corals.
On the 3rd day, we decided to hit Shark's point first thing in the morning as the other dive boats we met the previous day had said seen a big shoal of large barracudas. The site is named because in the past Cabilao was famous for schoold of hammerheads. Sadly they have been pretty much fished out although once in a blue moon they say they get a glimpse of one off in the deep distance... The currents were running and similiar to the famous Blue Corner in Palau, you drop in one side of the point/ corner, drop down to 30-25m and race along with the current until you hit a sandy plateau at around 24-25mm. There we found a nice shoal of maybe 50-80 barracudas just sitting there in the current. Unfortunatey the viz wasn't too good so it made taking photos a bit challenging - that plus the strong current. We then did the Sanctuary and Cathedral which had some beautiful coral and fans. there were also some interesting crevices and swim thrus in the shallows. I did a night dive on the House Reef as well. But as it gets very shallow at night, you have to walk quite far with your gear... But it was all worth it as we came across all types of critters: small anemone shrimp, decorator crabs, nudibranches, lionfish, eels etc. On one dive, I was about to shoot a lone batfish that was hovering above a large coral island. As I got closer, there was probably the largest sea turtle I've seen in Philippine waters lying on the ground with 5 or more remoras attached.
The last day, I only had time for a morning dive and we did the Lighthouse which is a sloping sandy bottom and ends in meadow of sea grass with islands of corals. Here we would another ornate ghost pipefish and a black frogfish.
You can find my pics in the photo subforum here.
I had planned the trip to Cabilao with little expectations. I had heard mixed reports. Some members of my local dive club had recently done a sea safari that took them to Cabilao but they only spent a few hours there. What I didn't expect was to found this macro heaven PLUS beautiful wall dives AND a large shoals of barracudas! But, I don't know how frequent the barracuda siting are. I also didn't get a chance to dive the southern point and northeastern part where supposedly you can find some sleeping whitetip reef sharks sometimes.
Overall, it was definitely a worthwhile and memorable trip. The resort conditions are nice but a bit spartan. I did walk over to the Polaris resort and it did look nicer and even had a pool... I'd definitely come back again. Next time, armed with my 60mm macro lens to get those leafy fish and frogfishes I missed this time!
I'll leave you with a few topside pics of around the resort and the Lighthouse.
heading back around Shark's Point/ The Lighthouse
Looking towards Shark's Point from the resort
Looking down the West coast of Cabilao from the Lighthouse
