Best Diving in the Philippines
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The Philippines has unbelievable diving, so many amazing dive destinations that it can feel totally overwhelming trying to pick where to go (especially when just figuring out how to get to some of the islands is basically a part-time job)
As a divemaster with over 300 dives, I’m always chasing my next dive destination (but never the marine life!). I’ve done four dive trips in the Philippines and dived in Puerto Galera, El Nido, Cebu, Malapascua, Leyte – some big name sites and some I bet you’ve never heard of!
Whether you’re after huge thresher sharks, turtles galore or pristine coral reefs that look like something out of Nat Geo, these are the best spots to dive in the Philippines.
Puerto Galera: My Favorite for Short Trips from Manila
If you want dive sites that are close to Manila and therefore avoid having to do internal flights then Puerto Galera is the best place for diving for you. For me, I have one week half term holidays from my teaching job so Puerto Galera is ideal for a one week itinerary for diving gorgeous coral reefs and see tons of turtles. I’ve dived here twice now, both for a week in October and I strongly recommend it!
It’s genuinely got coral reefs that I am excited about. Loads of the dive sites are nearby so you can often do two dives that are less than 10 minutes boat ride away. I saw turtles, hawksbills and green turtles almost every dive! They were really relaxed around divers despite it not being busy underwater at all.
In fact, most dive sites, we were the only divers, with the exception of the Alma Jane Wreck which seems to be more popular. Some of my favourite dive sites were Monkey Beach, Dungon Wall, La Laguna Point, Fantasea reef…honestly I loved them all! We also did a day trip to Verde Island which is known for it’s huge pinnacle and we saw hundreds of thousands of fish. It’s also well known for strong currents so I only recommend this trip for more advanced divers.
Where to Stay in Puerto Galera
For where to stay in Puerto Galera, these are my favourite options here depending if you are on a budget (the first time I visited). I’d head to White Beach if you want a budget trip. It’s a more local area, has lots of affordable restaurants and a handful of bars, a gorgeous (yes actually) white sand beach. We dived with Crystal from Pacific Divers who was awesome.
If you are happy to splurge then I strongly recommend the amazing resort I stayed at the second time I visited and I will definitely visit again! It was still affordable and my friend Lola and I adored this resort, gorgeous scenery set in a bay, a spa overlooking the ocean, restaurant that was happy to do some veggie options for me (not always easy to find in the Philippines!), adorable kittens and I’ve never stayed so close to the dive boat! Note there is no beach in this resort, it’s set in a stunning bay of mangroves.
How to get to Puerto Galera
Fly into Manila. You can take a 3-4 hour bus if you’re on a budget – I did this the first time and it’s an ok journey but you have to get to the bus terminal first. Better yet, take a private taxi to Balatero pier which is much more costly but can take as little as 1hr30 if traffic is good.
At Balatero pier there are multiple ferry options, best bet is to ask your acccommodation to help you to book it – ours cost around 650 pesos and took over an hour to get to Mindoro. Then tuktuk to your hotel!
Malapascua Island: Thresher Shark Central
Malapascua is home to thresher shark central. It is, I believe, one of the best dive sites in the world to see thresher sharks and you are guaranteed them year round as it’s a cleaning station so the thresher sharks come there for some spa treatments by cleaner fish.
I’ve been to Malapascua twice and the threshers have actually moved to a different area of the island, likely due to the moving in of some tiger sharks into the area, which we didn’t see but there is a chance to see tigers here too although definitely not as likely as the threshers.
The thresher sharks are just such amazing creatures, like aliens from outer space with their googly eyes!! And huge, they are around 3m, with the insane tail making up a metre of that! To see the threshers it’s a fairly early morning dive, I think we started at 6am but the first time I dived here it was a 4am start! The threshers were once at around 25m meaning you should be advanced to see them but they were not that deep on my most recent visit last year.
I’ve written here about Malapascua and where to stay to see the thresher sharks.
How to get to Malapascua
Fly into Cebu. Take a bus or minivan for 5 hours approx to the pier. Take a small ferry across to Malapascua, takes around 45 minutes but it will only move when its full and it won’t run in the evening. Splurge on private transport from Cebu to save on time.
Gato Island: The Hidden Gem of Malapascua
Most people come to dive with the thresher sharks but miss out on Gato island which I loved. It’s got some great coral reefs, diversity of marine life and were really enjoyable dives.
My sister is an advanced open water diver but hadn’t dived in a over a year when we went together so our dive shop recommended we do gato island before the thresher shark dive to get her confidence back up and she did a refresher.
We actually both felt that Gato island was more challenging that the thresher shark dive because of the choppy waves that day! Regardless, I definitely recommend Gato island to dive when you are visiting Malapascua island.
Leyte: An Ethical Whale Shark Encounter
I fell in love with diving in leyte last year. My sister and I were looking for an ethical whale shark snorkel experience (definitely NOT on Oslob, Cebu where they feed them, here’s why you should avoid it). Her friend recommended Sogod Bay, which I’d never heard of before so we checked it out and it is absolutely stunning and a total hidden gem in the dive world if you ask me!
It had pristine coral reefs, and this was several years after a damaging tsunami so I can’t imagine how stunning they were before that. The staff at our dive resort said lots of the coral has been recovering well since the tsunami. My sister and I dived here in April and the weather was perfect. Sogod Bay is just so healthy looking and I was gobsmacked by the coral reefs and biodiversity here. I saw some of my favourites, frogfish and one of the best night dives of my life with three different types of ghost pipefish – what a dream!!
As we were mainly there for the ethical whale shark trip, which did not disappoint… although it did the first day because we didn’t see them so we booked a second day and swam with this whale shark for about 45 minutes…just ocean magic! More about our whale shark experience here. We also saw pilot whales on the way out. Damn, what a trip that was! For exactly how to get there and have the ethical whale shark snorkel, read my full whale shark post here.
How to get to Leyte
Honestly, this was a complete pain and the biggest mistake I made when planning the trip as my sister and I went from Malapascua to Leyte all in one day and it took (drum roll)….13 hours!
You can get a ferry from Cebu for a few hours and then Peters Dive Resort can help to book a private transfer in a minivan for another couple of hours to the resort. Absolute effort but the whale shark above was worth it…as was the subperb diving, best night dive ever and pilot whales too!
Moalboal, Cebu: Sardine Run Magic
Another great place to dive in the Philippines is Moalboal (and no I’m still figuring out how to pronounce it correctly, sorry!). It’s famous for the huge ball of sardines that you can swim into and around and which is there year round. I wasn’t very experienced when I dived here so I think it’s still good for beginner or new drivers and we did a shore dive so no need to get on a boat, which also kept the price very affordable.
How to get to Moalboal
Fly into Cebu and take a private transfer. I went a while ago so prices were very different back then!
El Nido: Kayaking Yes, Diving No
I dived in El Nido but was saddened by a lot of damage to the reefs and I didn’t really see much there. If you want stunning scenery, white sand beaches, lovely chilled shacks on the beach then go to El Nido, it’s one of the best places I’ve been kayaking but don’t go for the diving. Having said that you can take a liveaboard boat from El Nido over to Coron which is famous for shipwreck diving and is on my future to dive list!
Dumaguete: A Muck Diving Mecca (Recommended by Friends)
This dive destination is well known for muck diving and macro life (that means small stuff just to be confusing). I’ve not dived here yet as I am keen on coral reefs but my dive buddy Lola, who is an instructor and has thousands of dives, absolutely recommends it for muck diving and loved it there!
Philippines Diving
There’s so much more diving in the Philippines that I have yet to explore, Tubbahata Reef and Apo reef are next on my list and I will add them here to share if they are worth it or not!
