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Moalboal Dive Sites |
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- Ronda Bay
- Airport/Umbrella Point
- White Beach
- Tuble Reef
- House Reef
- Tongo Point
- Pescador Island
- Sunken Island
- Other Dive Sites
- Dive Safaris
Ronda Bay
This site stretches from Umbrella Point as far as the fish sanctuary well inside Ronda Bay itself. The most noticeable feature of this area are the large numbers of gorgonians that perch on the edge of the drop off at around 25m. They are often very large, reaching 3-4m in height. A pleasant though not too common sight is of Eagle rays cruising out in the blue, just off the reef. I saw five all together whilst snorkelling in the area last year! The area is great for extended safety stops as well since the pick-up points are covered in colourful hard corals.
Visibility: 5-20m. Depth range: 3-25m. Travel time: 20-25 minutes.
Airport/Umbrella Point
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| Photo by Takasan |
Airport is quite a new site in the area of a light aircraft that Savedra Dive
Shop placed on a sandy shelf in 1998. Coral growth has begun and there is
plenty of fish life in the holes. An interesting site, though not one that
really qualifies as a wreck dive! Umbrella Point gets its name from the eroded
pillars of rock on the surface. Another good shallow site with excellent spots
for safety stops at the pickup points. The currents here can be quite strong.
Visibility: 5-20m. Depth range: 5-25m. Travel time: 20 minutes.
White Beach
This site has soft corals, gorgonians and sea fans. The beach is really beautiful
and rustically developed; if you wish you can have a picnic or barbecue on
the beach after your dive. White Beach is a very popular site for parties
after a dive too!
Visibility: 5-20m. Depth range: 5-25m. Travel time: 15 minutes.
Tuble Reef
A wall dive with a rich variety of soft corals, here you find many shells, big
fan corals and plenty of colourful fish. A particularly good shallow dive.
Visibility: 5-20m. Depth range: 0-25m. Travel time: 5 minute.
House (Balay) Reef
Right in front of the dive shops. Moalboal house reef offers a rich variety
of hard and soft corals and a huge variety of marine creatures. A great place
for night-dives and beginners wishing to take up scuba diving. Many scuba
courses are conducted in this area.
There are a number of very interesting dives on the House Reef that are infrequently
dived: Pedong's Cave and Narc
Rock are well worth a visit for the more experienced diver.
Visibility: 5-25m. Depth range: 0-30m. Travel time: 1 minute.
Tongo Point
Lots of caves and crevices here, turtles are frequently seen in addition to
nudibranches and many species of shells. There are huge gorgonians at the
30m level and a wonderful variety of small creatures on the edge of the reef
between 3-8m. Sharks can also be seen with increasing frequency. This spot
offers good diving for both the beginner and more experienced divers.
Visibility: 5-20m. Depth range: 0-25m. Travel time: 5 minutes.
Pescador Island
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| Photo by Takasan |
This giant top hat rises from the seabed at 2-300m in a cone, culminating
in a column that rises sheer from 45m to a few metres above the surface. This
is perhaps the best known dive site in the area and is arguably one of the
best dive spots in the Philippines. The famous "Cathedral" is best
dived in the early afternoon when light streams down into this giant underwater
formation. Sharks are regularly seen at depths below 30m. Schools of Hammerhead sharks have been seen in the past between December and March, however they seem to have deserted Pescador for the last two years.
Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros have counted 650 species
of hard coral on Pescador, probably the most diverse in the world and is an
underwater photographer's paradise.
Visibility: 5-30m. Depth range:5-40m. Travel time:10 minutes.
Sunken Island
This underwater island raises up from the ocean depths to 25m in the middle
of Tañon Strait. As the site can be difficult to locate quickly, dive
shops bring a local fisherman who can find it easily. One day we'll buy a
GPS and take the guesswork out!
When you descend from the surface down into the deep blue water you only have
the decent line as a reference point until you can see the top of the island
looming ahead of you at approximately 24m depth. Currents can be strong here
so it is not a dive for the inexperienced. A lot of pelagic marine life passes
by here including schools of tuna, barracuda, and (if you are very very lucky)
a whale shark. For photographers Frog fish are always on the top of the island
(whether they can be found or not is a different story!), lion fish and scorpion
fish are usually in abundance.
Visibility: 5-30m. Depth range: 25m-??? Travel time:30 minutes.
Other Sites around Moalboal
These sites take 30-45 minutes to reach: Barili Bay, Alegria, Badian
and Green Island. Tinaogan Reef is located off neighbouring
Negros Island.
Since the travel time to these sites is longer than usual, dive shops usually
go for the day and make two or three dives.
Dive Safaris
5-15 days in the Visayan area where you can visit islands such as: Sumilon
Island, Apo Island, Balicasag Island, Cabilao Island, Panglao Island, Pamilican
Island and Siquijor Island. The months of April to June are
the best months for safaris and the weather is very reliable. The main operators
for dive safaris are Neptune Diving Unlimited and Savedra Dive
Centre; Neptune's prices start from around US$60 for day trips to 3 tanks
dive packages including lunch and land-based "surface interval" tours. Overnight
trips and longer start around US$90 per day including meals, accommodation
and diving. You can e-mail Jesper
at Neptune for more information. Savedra Dive Centre also run safaris; similar
itineraries and similar prices. E-mail Kalle
for more info.
Page written by Dave Whiteside, Jesper Nykvist and Simon Wright
