PANGLAO ISLAND DIVE SITES

Panglao is famous for its world class diving locations and is home to numerous tourist resorts. At the pristine Alona Beach,  tours can be arranged to world famous diving sites. The dive sites that can be found on the northwest tip of the Panglao Island are Doljo Beach, Napaling and Puntod. These sites are deep and the currents are strong.  On the   south side of the island,  you will find other      spectacular dive sites like Alona Beach - House Reef, BBC, Kalipayan and Danao - Habagat Wreck.

Alona Reef

Location:  Tawala, Panglao, Bohol

Composition: Steep slope & Wall Dive  

Experience Level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth: 3 – 24m

Snorkeling: Good snorkeling conditions

Description:  Right in front of Alona Beach is a beautiful house reef, great for introduction, check-up or night dives.  The top reef size is  110 m. in width and 800 m. in length.  During night dive,  you will see Harlequin ghost pipe fish, small Barracudas, Purple queen Anthias fish, Moorish idol, Regal angelfish, Nudi branches, Stingrays at sandy slope after 18 m.  Most interesting at 5-15 m., not interesting below 25 m.   Start the dive with the wall in the left or right shoulder.

Located at the south side of Panglao Island. Since the top reef has an average width of 110 m. all dives are boat dives.  Right in the middle is the most beautiful part, excellent for discover scuba diving or skill training.

Location:  Libaong, Panglao, Bohol

Distance:  4.5 km. from Alona Beach and about 15 min. by boat ride

Composition:  Wall dive           

Experience Level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth:  4 – 27m

Snorkeling:  Excellent for snorkeling

Description:  At the beginning of the dive is a hole in the wall.  Enter the cave in small groups from the wall side.  At the cave you can find Cardinal fish, Sergeant major fish.  Around the top entrance of the hole, at 8 m.,  are well hidden Raggy scorpion fish.  Inside the cave at about 10 m.  you can see White-eyed moray eel and Black finned snake eels.  Along the wall you find Groupers, Wrasse, Butterfly fish and Cuttlefish.  Most interesting at 10-15 m.

Located at the south side of Panglao Island.  Start the dive with the wall on the right shoulder going south-west.  After circa 30-min diving through the steep slope, assent to 10 m.  Good divers may pass through without touching the walls of the hole, but it will only encourage inexperienced divers to follow.  We should observe the entrance of the hole, dive around it and approach the hole again from wall side.  After the hole/cave, continue your dive with the wall on the right shoulder. The wall gets smaller and at the end of the dive at the ledge approximately 5-10 m. ,  look out for Angelfish or Frog fish.  

BBC Reef

Distance:  3.5 km. from Alona beach and approximately 10 min. by motor boat.

Composition:  Steep slope dive

Experience Level: Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth: 0 – 30m

Snorkeling:  Good for snorkeling

Description:   This dive site is right in front of Bohol Beach Club (BBC).  Very special are the Brown daisy corals.   You can also see Pygmy sea horses, schools of Sergeant mayors and Black damsel fish.  On the sandy slope black and Blue lined nudi branches are visible.

Located at the south side of Panglao Island.    At the end of the dive you will find two small Jeepneys, a traditional Filipino vehicle.  These two wrecks are there for quite some time and you can expect few nice species around this area. One jeepney is at 10 m. deep and the other one at 8 m.

Location:  Danao, Panglao, Bohol

Distance:  3 km. from Alona Beach, about 10 min. by motor boat

Composition: Steep slope dive

Experience Level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth: 8 – 25m

Snorkeling:   Good for snorkeling

Description:   Watch your NDL if you plan to dive the wreck that was sunk in the year 2000. You can bring a dive light to look in the wreck and the small caves in the wall.  The sandy area is most interesting and you better dive slowly so that you doesn’t miss a lot of camouflaging and hiding fishes such as flounders, soles, blue spotted stingrays, sand eels, dragon fish, and jaw fish.  At the top reef you will see many hard corals. It’s a perfect place for a safety stop.

Located at the south side of Panglao Island.   Normally start the dive at the "Habagat" wreck at 35 m., then come up along the sandy slope in northwest direction to the "s" shaped wall with overhang. Keep the wall on the right shoulder moving towards west.  The dive is most interesting at 10-15 m.   

Location:  Doljo, Panglao, Bohol

Distance: 14 km from Alona Beach, 35 min. by motor boat

Composition: Steep Slope & Wall dive

Experience Level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth: 3 – 40 m.

Snorkeling:  Good for snorkeling at the shallow top reef area

Description:   This dive site is perfect for macro photography.  It is popular for wide angle photography because of the combination of hard coral and the many purple colors. In between the shallow area and the magnificent wall dive,  you can see many kinds of hard corals and sandy spots.  If you take a closer look and go deeper towards the hard corals, you will find crabs, shrimps and gobies.  Also visible is a very popular fish, the pajama cardinal fish.  This is quite interesting, try to count how many different kinds of cardinal fishes are there in the area.  You will also have good view of the nudibranches, harlequin ghost pipefish and clown frog fish.

Located at the west side of Panglao Island.  It is also one of the favorite sites for deep dives.  At the depth of 25m to 40m., there is a big chance that you will see manta rays or hammerhead sharks in the months of February and March. There is also a possibility of seeing a Whale shark, if you are lucky.  If there is a strong current,  a school of Barracuda shows up.

Location:  Danao, Panglao, Bohol

Distance:  2 km.  from Alona Beach, 8 min. by motor boat

Composition:  Wall Dive in the beginning and sloping at the end of the dive

Experience Level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth:  3 – 25 m.

Snorkeling:  Good for snorkeling

Description:   Located at the south side of Panglao Island.  Start the dive with the slope on the right shoulder, going south-west.  Not so many big fish within the area but a very good dive site for photographers.  Various marine species are visible like the Blue and table corals, sea fans,  brown daisy corals, Dot head rock cod, small barracudas,  black and yellow harlequin ghost pipe fish, Blue spotted ray, dragon fish, garden eels, long-horned cowfish and snake eel at sandy slope area.  

You will see panda clown fish if you follow the slope down to 20 m.  Watch out, some of them are pretty aggressive.  If you explore deeper,  you will see the  anemones and their eggs. Also, shrimps and crabs are visible, don’t miss it!  So, don’t forget to bring a fully charged battery for your camera. Lot of stuffs down there.  Half way the wall, try to look in caves and crevices for the “Comet” and the banded Pipefish.

Location:  Tangnan, Panglao, Bohol

Distance: 17 km. from Alona Beach, 40 min. by motor boat,  20 min. by car

Composition: Wall and slope dive    

Experience Level: Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth:   4 – 35 m.

Snorkeling:  Snorkeling is fine,  nice stuff to see at 3 - 5 m.

Description:   Rich in marine life and you can see Nudibranches, leaf fishes, many kinds of juvenile wrasse, pajama cardinal fish, red eyed goby, brown barred goby and harlequin filefish. We can also find red spot cardinal fish which is uncommon in south Panglao.

Located at the north side of Panglao Island. Good for macro diving and macro photography at the shallow depth.  The area is a little bit rough during the season for the south-west monsoon or “Habagat”.

Location:  Tangnan, Panglao, Bohol

Distance:  18 km. from Alona Beach, 45 min. by motor boat,  20 min. by car

Composition:  Wall and slope dive    

Experience Level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth:  3 – 40 m.

Snorkeling:  Good for snorkeling

Description:    Start the dive with the wall on the left shoulder, going south-west.  The site is great for shallow-water photography.  Be careful with your entry,  the sea might be shallow.  It is most interesting at 8-12 m. and not interesting below 30 m.  You will see Nudi branches, schools of banner fish, leaf fish, several kinds of juvenile wrasse, red eyed goby, cardinal fish, young barracudas, etc.

During the Habagat or the Southwest Monsoon,  the sea is rough on the south side of Panglao  where Alona Beach is located.  While on the north side  where Napaling and Doljo are located,  the sea condition is suitable for diving.

Puntod Point

Distance: 11 km.  from Alona Beach, 30 min. by motor boat

Composition: Steep Wall and Slope Dives  

Experience level:  Easy dive site for Open Water Divers or higher

Depth:  3 – 45 m.

Snorkeling:  Ideal for Snorkeling

Description:  Start the dive with the wall on the right shoulder, going northwest.  Beautiful hard and soft coral garden, especially at the shallow part.  Lots of small fishes like Anthias, Raggy Scorpion fish, Ribbon eel, One-stripped fusiliers, etc.  Steep wall with gorgonians and soft coral.  You will also see small caves along the wall,  so bring a dive light.

Located at the west side of Panglao Island.  Ideal for shallow dives and photography. An amazing area at the top reef with hard and soft corals and the white sandy bottoms in between.  Most interesting at 7-15 m.

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