Philippines

Day 10-11: Busuanga

Besides hot springs Coron does not have much but one thing to offer. To be precise, it is more like 50 things as this was the size of the Japanese fleet hiding close to Coron during WW2. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for a lot of divers they got bombed by the US military and sank at well reachable depths. The visibility can be quite bad but diving through the well preserved 150m long Goliath is definitely an adventure.

Day 12-17: Sea Explorers, Dauin

The Visayas are just perfect for macro diving and the coral garden around apo island is probably the best you’ve ever seen. Around Dauin besides all sorts of colorful nudibranchs and flatworms you can spot black/white/yellow/orange and the hairy frogfish. Further on candy crabs, popcorn shrimps, pegasus fish, sea horses, porcelain crab and the poisonous banded sea snake. But don’t worry she is not interested in killing divers. You also get the chance to see male bump head parrot fishes bumping their heads to impress their females and at down you can spot the incredible beautiful mandarin fishes during their mating rituals.

Besides all the fantastic marine life the staff of Pura Vida makes that place so outstanding. The food they serve is great, Den Den and the other guys are fantastic dive guides and Gaga always makes you laugh.

Day 17: Transfer Trip to Bohol

When transferring from Dauin to Cabilao you can not only spot huge swarms of dolphins but also flying fishes. They can do considerable distances above water while trying to escape predators.

If you have never seen wale sharks before and fear of never seeing one in complete wild life, Oslob is a place you should visit. In earlier days fishermen were hunting those majestic creatures but have meanwhile discovered divers and snorkelers as a better source of income. Therefore, they stopped killing wale sharks and started to feed them once a day. Some may argue that they shouldn’t do that either, as they are changing their natural behavior but at least they are no longer killing them. For a diver it is quite an intense experience to be surrounded by more than ten of those up to 14m long giants and as they are used to be the biggest animal around you also have to be careful to avoid collisions.

Besides the biggest fish you can also spot one of the smallest marine creature there is, the pigmy seahorse. The Denise and the Bargibanti to be precise. Those two kinds of seahorses are only about 1cm tall, pretty rare and equipped with the capability to adjust their color and structure to the coral they are sitting on. And as there are only about two denises around the whole island of Cabilao you wouldn’t stand a chance to find them without a guide.

Besides lots and lots of other makro marine life there is also an electric shell down there. As its name already implies, this shell actually kills its food with electricity.

Day 18-23: Sea Explorers, Cabilao

Besides diving you can also rent a motorbike and explore the neighbor island Bohol. There are two tarsier sanctuaries you should not miss as those animals are so cute you almost going to die. Further on there are the famous chocolate hills, a butterfly park, the man-made forest and some pretty unique beaches to explore.

Day 24-26: Sea Explorers, Malapascua
Day 27: Cebu

Malapascua is an island at the north end of the Visayas and it is famous for its thresher sharks. To see those animals, you need to get up at 5am, get down to 30 meters and wait up to 45 minutes to meet them at the cleaning station. Those sharks have a unique look and a unique hunting technique. Their top tail fin is super long and they can use it as a whip to knock their prey unconscious in order to eat it.

Besides diving with those unique sharks, you can also take diving trips to Kalanggaman. This island is close to perfection and even more beautiful than Balicasac but luckily it is a natural reserve and therefore closing it down for cleaning reasons will not be necessary.