Bohol

Take a ferry from Cebu City. The trip takes less than 2 hours with trips leaving almost every hour.

You can also fly directly in Tagbiliran Airport which is in Panglao. Then you are just 20 minute drive from the main Alona Beach area.

Cebu Airport is a 2 hour ferry and 1 hour taxi away. 

Tagbiliran or Panglao Airport is right on the island. 

The dive sites around the Panglao and the islands contain so much diversity. You can often see cuttlefish, moray eels, clownfish, trumpetfish and much much more. Massive schools of fish and sometimes there are passing giants like Whale Sharks or Manta’s.

Macro lovers will love exploring in-between the topography to find seahorses, nudi branch’s, anemone crabs, and other small wonders. And of course if you’re lucky, you’ll see turtles!

Bohol is a great place to do scuba diving courses because it will train you to become a stronger diver. You will experience wall diving, drift diving, slopping reefs and learning to deal with currents. 

Learning to dive in a boring chill spot is all fine and nice until one day you dive with heavy currents and don’t know what to do. Might as well learn how to be strong from day 1.

So Pamilican is actually just as beautiful if not more than Balicasag. It is a beautiful coral wall around the island and then a slopping reef out to the deep.

You’ll see amazing schools of fish, massive turtles, lots of amazing small critters like nudi’s, crabs and shrimps. Balicasag is just better known to the Instagram crowd, which means it just ends up being busier. Both are awesome options at the end of the day for some beautiful diving.

Manta’s and whale sharks are rare around Bohol although they have been spotted now and again.

You probably already know the answer: YES. There are programs like the Try Scuba Discover Day for those who just want to try it out and see how it feels or you can do your full Open Water Diver Course and become certified.

Simple answer: they are all the same.

Longer answer: the agencies are just the ones who set the course structure and schedule and limitations but all the agencies have the exact same standards. 

So at the end of the day it doesn’t matter which agency the dive center is with because your certificate will work worldwide. 

Everyone usually calls it getting your PADI but this really doesn’t mean much and is just because PADI is one of the oldest agencies in the world so they did some really good marketing. Just because it’s older, doesn’t mean it’s better. 😉

We get it, commitment is hard. Normally we will do everything we can to get your booking in with one of our partners but to avoid disappointment it’s always better to get sorted before hand. 

If you are doing a day trip at Balicasag Island or Pamilican Island, let us know as soon as you know what dates you are on the island as day passes are limited and sell out quickly in advance.

Please don’t be sad. I was pretty tired when I wrote all this so maybe I missed it. OR it’s more likely that your question is so brilliant and amazing that I could never think of it. Chat with us!