Cebu, Philippines Island Map
1. Capitancillo Island – This Island is located at the north part of Cebu, particularly in Bogo. It can be reached by a 2-3 hour travel by bus from Cebu City and an estimated boat ride of about 20 minutes from the Marangog Cove. The diving site in this island has a maximum diving depth of around 50 feet and has a normal visibility of 20-30 meters. Features of this dive spots are colorful corals, small and larger shoals of pelagic species, many kinds of reef fish, and white tip and grey reef sharks.
Capitancillo Island
2. Mactan Island – This Island is located just a few kilometers away from the main island of Cebu. It is separated from Cebu through the Mactan Channel and can be reached through two bridges, the Marcelo Fernan Bridge and the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge. Diving spots are located on its main island as well as on its neighboring islets like Olango, Nalusuan, Amboucuan, and the others. Maximum depth of these dive spots is around 180 feet and has maximum visibility of 100 meters. In these dive spots, caves can be seen and several astonishing drop-offs. Several sea creatures can also be witnessed in these areas like tuna, barracuda, surgeon fish, dendrophyllia hard tree corals, Tubastrea cup corals, batfish, squirrelfish, Moorish idols, lionfish, and a lot more.
Mactan Island Beach Resort
3. Kansantik – This dive spot is an underwater mountain located in the center of Olango Channel. Only the most experienced divers are encouraged to dive here and should come in only small groups because the current is quite strong. It has a maximum depth of more than 165 feet and the visibility is up to 130 feet. Stony, soft, and whip corals can be seen in this dive spot as well as other sea creatures like Moorish fish, huge sponges, snappers, and schools of fishes.
Kansantik Diving Island
4. Pescador Island – This is an island in the western coast of Cebu and is a part of the municipality of Moalboal. This is located in the Tañon Strait. The water surrounding this islet is extremely deep which reaches up to 600 meters in the Tañon Strait and has a maximum visibility of around 30-40 meters. They say that diving in this spot is every diver’s dream because diving here is truly an adventure. This Island is now considered to be the home of thousands and thousands of sardines which makes diving here a truly remarkable experience. A wide variety of beautiful corals, anemones, lionfish, turtles, frogfish, sweet lips, and more can be witnessed in this dive spot.
Pescador Island
5. Malapascua Island – This is an island located in the northernmost tip of Cebu, about 4 hour bus ride from the City and 45 minutes boat ride. This is a stunning island and oftentimes compared to Boracay in terms of its beauty. This scenic island has lots of diving secrets but is famously known for the thresher sharks. It is considered that diving in Malapascua is truly world-class. Visitors from all around the world visit this place to witness the thresher sharks. These sharks can be found by dawn in the Monad Shoal where they come to be cleaned by a group of wrasses. There can also be daily sightings of the huge Manta Rays. Devil Rays and Marble Rays can also be seen and very occasionally, there can be turtles and whale sharks as well. On a nearby islet, the Gato Island has teeming sights to offer. It has an abundant variety of sea creatures like sea snakes, frogfish, nudibranchs, black-tip sharks, bobtail squid, blue ring octopus, harlequin shrimp, ghost shrimp, xenon crabs, sea hares, sea stars, and many more.
Malapascua Island White Sand Beach
Malapascua Island