Background: My boyfriend (BF) and I are budget-backpacking-scuba diving SEA for ~8 months (3/8 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!
Sogod Bay: We had been in contact with a marine biologist who had dived a few sites here recently (~spring 2025) and had shown us very promising pictures of hard coral coverage.
Day 0: Another long travel day (Anda -> Padre Burgos).
We left Anda quite early (~06:20) and took a tricycle ride (~30mins) to Guindulman Market (150P). Note: we would’ve just taken a bus heading back to Tagbilaran and gotten off at Guindulman for much cheaper, but the schedule didn’t align for us. I would advise you to check the posted schedule on FB. At Guindulman we waited ~5mins before a bus showed up heading in the direction of Talibon. We rode the bus for ~1hr and got off at Ubay (160P) around 08:00.
We had breakfast at McDonald’s and hung out there for an hour or so before walking down to the port (<10mins) to buy tickets for the 10:00 Medallion Transport RORO to Bato, Leyte (840P).
The ride was approximately 3hrs and was quite comfortable, since the ferry had the bunkbeds normally used for an overnight ride, so people just spread out on the beds and lounged.
Once we made it to Bato, we walked straight up the road to the multicab/bus terminal (<10mins) and hopped into a multicab heading to Maasin (130P). It was packed and took about an hour. In the Maasin multicab/bus terminal we transferred to a multicab heading to Padre Burgos. Normally the multicabs stop at Padre Burgos but the driver said he would take us directly to Peter’s (200P). The ride was also about an hour but only 25% full.
We arrived at Peter’s around 16:00.
The accommodation: I have only very minimal (nit-picky) comments. Everything felt clean, new, and well taken care of. There were many different room options depending on price and I appreciated that as a diver you got an additional room discount.
We stayed in a duplex room, which faced the water directly and was maybe two steps from the ocean. There was a clothesline in front of the room for hanging things and it was still sheltered by the roof (which was good as it rained a bit). The room itself was a good size and had bedside tables by charging ports, as well as a small section to hang a few clothes indoors. The bathroom was clean and the shower had both excellent hot water as well as water pressure. I saw that there was even a water filter attached to the showerhead.
The food in the restaurant was really delicious. We liked everything we tried. Everything also came out within 15-20mins and they even came to our room to knock when the food was ready. The prices were actually really reasonable for a resort (100-300P per meal and the portion sizes were huge… BF & I often split meals). There was also a big water jug (replaced often) to fill glasses/personal water bottles with. The restaurant also had glass windows facing the ocean so there was a nice view at mealtime as well.
The staff were all very nice.
There are two cats & one dog who like to run around the property looking for pets.
The dive operation: Everything was smooth and worked well, even with a few minor issues popping up. They let us dive every site we wanted, including repeats. We were able to use the boat as only two people since we were diving 3x a day.
We dove with our DM Titing, and he was so incredibly nice and willing to accommodate our every request. He gave detailed briefings before each dive and even made an effort to learn the different scientific names of corals from us lol.
Dives lasted mid 60-70mins and we took 1hr SIs. There was a lot of bread as well as fresh fruit provided for the SIs (as well as coffee/tea/water). Lunch was not included, but you could order a packed lunch from the restaurant and the prices were reasonable. Tanks were filled in a range of 2800-3100 PSI and were well taken care of (we even saw staff members performing hydrotests on some tanks back at the shop & regularly cleaning them).
The boat was an older bangka, but they told us it was about to be retired as soon as their new bangka was finished (which you could see being worked on right in front of the resort in the water). It encountered a few issues, which are detailed below, but the crew handled them well and it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The crew drove our gear to the boat before us, so that when we reached the boat it was already set up. They also changed the tanks for us. We transferred to the big boat via a smaller plastic boat shell with a removable engine attached.
The shop had lots of huge rinse tanks and a separate locked area to hang all of the gear. There was even a camera room, but we didn’t peak inside.
Day 1:
Dive 1: Max Climax
Max depth 84ft, 63 mins, min water temp 83F.
Our check dive. There were a lot of fusiliers. There was a nice canyon with a bell shaped bouldering porites that had carnation corals growing out of it and hanging upside down, which looked pretty.
Dive 2: Medicare South
Max depth 52ft, 73 mins, min water temp 83F.
This reef was foliose echinopora dominant, but had lots of variety (montipora, acropora, anacropora, bouldering & fingering porites). There were several huge tubastrea at the start. Outside of the water, the cliffs are beautiful.
Dive 3: Medicare North
Max depth 38ft, 73 mins, min water temp 84F.
This reef was Acropora dominant with some echnipora and porites (fingering & bouldering) fighting for space. It was fairly healthy and widespread with some minor anchor/misc damage.
Day 2: Limasawa Island
Dive 1: Gunther’s Wall
Max depth 82ft, 64 mins, min water temp 84F.
At depth: Lots of schooling Fusiliers & damselfish. There were very big tubastrea & black corals (green & orange).
On top of the ridge: LOTS of schooling chromis & anthias. It felt like someone had sneezed so many different species here: pavona, acropora, anacropora, montipora, echinopora, porites (bouldering & fingering), brain corals, soft corals (leather & carnation), lots of sponges.
Dive 2: Adrian’s Cove
Max depth 65ft, 72 mins, min water temp 84F.
At depth: Interesting plating echinopora, black corals, and sponges. Lots of patches of green star polyp (soft corals).
On top of the ridge: CRAZY. The first half was dominated by foliose echinopora and then second half by acropora but still with immense species variety and coverage. Absolutely blew away Gunther’s Wall.
Here we encountered engine trouble as it wouldn’t start, so we decided to dive Adrian’s again (as opposed to Dag’s Wall). No issue with this since Adrian’s was our favorite site (this didn’t change throughout our stay).
Dive 3: Adrian’s Cove
Max depth 70ft, 66 mins, min water temp 84F.
Went farther in the other direction and encountered a beautiful never ending slope of Pavona corals with zero damage to them (30-80ft depth… truly looked like it just kept going into the depth forever). When we came back over the top of the ridge, it was more of the same beautiful variety of hard coral coverage, including some exceptionally pretty blue branching Acropora.
Day 3:
Dive 1: Jun’s Pinnacle
Max depth 100ft, 65 mins, min water temp 83F.
At depth: beautiful black corals, sponges, tubastrea, and chalice and plating hard corals. The top of the pinnacle was around 80ft. The bottom was probably around 150-160ft based on eyeballing it. The ridge at the top of the wall was a weird bowl-like shape with the edges raised (depth around 30ft) and the center deeper. The center part was just a rubble field, looked maybe 20 years old or so. The raised parts had some nice Porites (both fingering & bouldering), some Acropora (both branching & tabling), and LOTS of Hydrozoans (fire corals) and Hydroids.
Dive 2: Napantao North
Max depth 80ft, 59 mins, min water temp 84F.
This was the best wall dive we did in the PH. The wall was absolutely covered in black corals and carnation corals with tubastrea and sponges poking out. In addition there were loads of fish (anthias, snapper, jack, fusiliers). After the walk ended we found two white tip reef sharks in a cave.
Dive 3: Napantao South
Max depth 70ft, 66 mins, min water temp 84F.
Very similar to Napantao North, but less of everything.
Day 4:
Dive 1: Medicare Middle (technically not a real dive site but we just dove between North & South)
Max depth 43ft, 72 mins, min water temp 85F.
Similar to what we saw on Day 1. Beautiful Anacropora field.
Dive 2: Tangkaan Point
Max depth 49ft, 63 mins, min water temp 84F.
Lots of visible damage from Typhoon Odette here, which was shocking due to its close proximity to Medicare, which was relatively unscathed. Boulders (porites, brain, etc) were tipped over and there were a lot of rubble slopes. We also saw lots of fish cages with long ropes going through the coral.
After this dive, we were informed that the boat had propeller issues and they asked if we could do the last dive as a shore dive, which was fine by us. We were dropped back off at the resort, ate lunch, and then were driven to the shore entry point in the bed of the resort’s pickup truck (as we were wet and couldn’t sit in the cab).
Dive 3: Medicare North
Max depth 47ft, 73 mins, min water temp 85F.
No different observations than before.
Once we got out of the water, we were picked up by a multicab and driven back to the resort.
Sogod Bay: We had been in contact with a marine biologist who had dived a few sites here recently (~spring 2025) and had shown us very promising pictures of hard coral coverage.
Day 0: Another long travel day (Anda -> Padre Burgos).
We left Anda quite early (~06:20) and took a tricycle ride (~30mins) to Guindulman Market (150P). Note: we would’ve just taken a bus heading back to Tagbilaran and gotten off at Guindulman for much cheaper, but the schedule didn’t align for us. I would advise you to check the posted schedule on FB. At Guindulman we waited ~5mins before a bus showed up heading in the direction of Talibon. We rode the bus for ~1hr and got off at Ubay (160P) around 08:00.
We had breakfast at McDonald’s and hung out there for an hour or so before walking down to the port (<10mins) to buy tickets for the 10:00 Medallion Transport RORO to Bato, Leyte (840P).
The ride was approximately 3hrs and was quite comfortable, since the ferry had the bunkbeds normally used for an overnight ride, so people just spread out on the beds and lounged.
Once we made it to Bato, we walked straight up the road to the multicab/bus terminal (<10mins) and hopped into a multicab heading to Maasin (130P). It was packed and took about an hour. In the Maasin multicab/bus terminal we transferred to a multicab heading to Padre Burgos. Normally the multicabs stop at Padre Burgos but the driver said he would take us directly to Peter’s (200P). The ride was also about an hour but only 25% full.
We arrived at Peter’s around 16:00.
The accommodation: I have only very minimal (nit-picky) comments. Everything felt clean, new, and well taken care of. There were many different room options depending on price and I appreciated that as a diver you got an additional room discount.
We stayed in a duplex room, which faced the water directly and was maybe two steps from the ocean. There was a clothesline in front of the room for hanging things and it was still sheltered by the roof (which was good as it rained a bit). The room itself was a good size and had bedside tables by charging ports, as well as a small section to hang a few clothes indoors. The bathroom was clean and the shower had both excellent hot water as well as water pressure. I saw that there was even a water filter attached to the showerhead.
The food in the restaurant was really delicious. We liked everything we tried. Everything also came out within 15-20mins and they even came to our room to knock when the food was ready. The prices were actually really reasonable for a resort (100-300P per meal and the portion sizes were huge… BF & I often split meals). There was also a big water jug (replaced often) to fill glasses/personal water bottles with. The restaurant also had glass windows facing the ocean so there was a nice view at mealtime as well.
The staff were all very nice.
There are two cats & one dog who like to run around the property looking for pets.
The dive operation: Everything was smooth and worked well, even with a few minor issues popping up. They let us dive every site we wanted, including repeats. We were able to use the boat as only two people since we were diving 3x a day.
We dove with our DM Titing, and he was so incredibly nice and willing to accommodate our every request. He gave detailed briefings before each dive and even made an effort to learn the different scientific names of corals from us lol.
Dives lasted mid 60-70mins and we took 1hr SIs. There was a lot of bread as well as fresh fruit provided for the SIs (as well as coffee/tea/water). Lunch was not included, but you could order a packed lunch from the restaurant and the prices were reasonable. Tanks were filled in a range of 2800-3100 PSI and were well taken care of (we even saw staff members performing hydrotests on some tanks back at the shop & regularly cleaning them).
The boat was an older bangka, but they told us it was about to be retired as soon as their new bangka was finished (which you could see being worked on right in front of the resort in the water). It encountered a few issues, which are detailed below, but the crew handled them well and it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The crew drove our gear to the boat before us, so that when we reached the boat it was already set up. They also changed the tanks for us. We transferred to the big boat via a smaller plastic boat shell with a removable engine attached.
The shop had lots of huge rinse tanks and a separate locked area to hang all of the gear. There was even a camera room, but we didn’t peak inside.
Day 1:
Dive 1: Max Climax
Max depth 84ft, 63 mins, min water temp 83F.
Our check dive. There were a lot of fusiliers. There was a nice canyon with a bell shaped bouldering porites that had carnation corals growing out of it and hanging upside down, which looked pretty.
Dive 2: Medicare South
Max depth 52ft, 73 mins, min water temp 83F.
This reef was foliose echinopora dominant, but had lots of variety (montipora, acropora, anacropora, bouldering & fingering porites). There were several huge tubastrea at the start. Outside of the water, the cliffs are beautiful.
Dive 3: Medicare North
Max depth 38ft, 73 mins, min water temp 84F.
This reef was Acropora dominant with some echnipora and porites (fingering & bouldering) fighting for space. It was fairly healthy and widespread with some minor anchor/misc damage.
Day 2: Limasawa Island
Dive 1: Gunther’s Wall
Max depth 82ft, 64 mins, min water temp 84F.
At depth: Lots of schooling Fusiliers & damselfish. There were very big tubastrea & black corals (green & orange).
On top of the ridge: LOTS of schooling chromis & anthias. It felt like someone had sneezed so many different species here: pavona, acropora, anacropora, montipora, echinopora, porites (bouldering & fingering), brain corals, soft corals (leather & carnation), lots of sponges.
Dive 2: Adrian’s Cove
Max depth 65ft, 72 mins, min water temp 84F.
At depth: Interesting plating echinopora, black corals, and sponges. Lots of patches of green star polyp (soft corals).
On top of the ridge: CRAZY. The first half was dominated by foliose echinopora and then second half by acropora but still with immense species variety and coverage. Absolutely blew away Gunther’s Wall.
Here we encountered engine trouble as it wouldn’t start, so we decided to dive Adrian’s again (as opposed to Dag’s Wall). No issue with this since Adrian’s was our favorite site (this didn’t change throughout our stay).
Dive 3: Adrian’s Cove
Max depth 70ft, 66 mins, min water temp 84F.
Went farther in the other direction and encountered a beautiful never ending slope of Pavona corals with zero damage to them (30-80ft depth… truly looked like it just kept going into the depth forever). When we came back over the top of the ridge, it was more of the same beautiful variety of hard coral coverage, including some exceptionally pretty blue branching Acropora.
Day 3:
Dive 1: Jun’s Pinnacle
Max depth 100ft, 65 mins, min water temp 83F.
At depth: beautiful black corals, sponges, tubastrea, and chalice and plating hard corals. The top of the pinnacle was around 80ft. The bottom was probably around 150-160ft based on eyeballing it. The ridge at the top of the wall was a weird bowl-like shape with the edges raised (depth around 30ft) and the center deeper. The center part was just a rubble field, looked maybe 20 years old or so. The raised parts had some nice Porites (both fingering & bouldering), some Acropora (both branching & tabling), and LOTS of Hydrozoans (fire corals) and Hydroids.
Dive 2: Napantao North
Max depth 80ft, 59 mins, min water temp 84F.
This was the best wall dive we did in the PH. The wall was absolutely covered in black corals and carnation corals with tubastrea and sponges poking out. In addition there were loads of fish (anthias, snapper, jack, fusiliers). After the walk ended we found two white tip reef sharks in a cave.
Dive 3: Napantao South
Max depth 70ft, 66 mins, min water temp 84F.
Very similar to Napantao North, but less of everything.
Day 4:
Dive 1: Medicare Middle (technically not a real dive site but we just dove between North & South)
Max depth 43ft, 72 mins, min water temp 85F.
Similar to what we saw on Day 1. Beautiful Anacropora field.
Dive 2: Tangkaan Point
Max depth 49ft, 63 mins, min water temp 84F.
Lots of visible damage from Typhoon Odette here, which was shocking due to its close proximity to Medicare, which was relatively unscathed. Boulders (porites, brain, etc) were tipped over and there were a lot of rubble slopes. We also saw lots of fish cages with long ropes going through the coral.
After this dive, we were informed that the boat had propeller issues and they asked if we could do the last dive as a shore dive, which was fine by us. We were dropped back off at the resort, ate lunch, and then were driven to the shore entry point in the bed of the resort’s pickup truck (as we were wet and couldn’t sit in the cab).
Dive 3: Medicare North
Max depth 47ft, 73 mins, min water temp 85F.
No different observations than before.
Once we got out of the water, we were picked up by a multicab and driven back to the resort.
