It was mid-October and I was once again suffering from DCI (dive craving illness). Not wanting to spend too much time travelling, finding a nearby location to HK for good diving was a problem with the tail end of the South-east Asia monsoon season still lashing about in the region. Pro-Dive did a Bohol package and I decided to take a chance.
Although a typhoon was just east of the Philippines, the weather was remarkably calm in Cebu on arrival. To get to Tagbilaran, Bohol, I had to catch a catamaran from Cebu port. I checked into the Kalipayan Beach Resort on Alona beach, which was a 30min drive from Tagbilaran.
The dive operator was "Atlantis Divers", they had 2 shops on Alona beach and the Kalipayan branch was at the more remote end while the bigger main branch was smack in the middle. I preferred the Kalipayan branch as it was quieter and nicely located on a cliff edge and looked out to sea. A perfect place for a cuppa after a day's diving! The staff were friendly, jolly and always keen to help. The dive-masters and instructors were predominantly German/Swiss to cater for the many German-speaking guests, although they all spoke good English. Nitrox was available.
The Kalipayan Resort unfortunately was a disaster with dirty rooms, broken furniture, fluorescent room lighting and a restaurant that serves only basic breakfast, instant packet coffee and only advance order lunch or dinners. The swimming pool was full of sand, silt and mud at the bottom. It was a shame that the resort did not really live up to expectations as that painted and sold by Pro-Dive. A new hotel management is taking over from November and unless they make drastic changes to it, I would not recommend it to anyone.
The house reef at Kalipayan was my first dive, waters at a balmy 29ƒC. I needed only a dive-skin but a 3mm wetsuit would be ideal if staying down for more than 60min. Visibility was good at around 20 metres. Not bad I guess for October. The reef was generally in good condition and I only heard dynamite fishing on one occasion during my whole week.
The weather was remarkably kind with bright skies in the mornings and short bursts of heavy rains in the afternoons that cleared up very quickly. Not bad weather considering we were in the middle of a tropical depression. The seas remained calm and flat throughout.
Off Alona beach, my favourite site was Arco point near BBC (Bohol beach club). There was a short cave to swim through, the entry point at about 20m of water and along the inside walls I found resident morays, dark shouldered fish eels which were a bit like morays but had a blunt nose, bigger nostrils and a dark band behind their gills, thus their name. A good place for the diver with a camera.
Among the more accessible sites I dived near Alona were Pamilacan and Balicasag islands. The Pamilacan are famed for their Napoleon wrasses. The site was a gentle slope down fields of soft corals. We saw a small Napoleon, which was rather shy. Don't expect the giants that come up to divers like at Ras Mohamed in the Sinai! Balicasag was my personal favourite. This is wall diving with all colours of Angler/Frog fish and beautiful Gorgonians. We saw huge shoals of Jacks and Barracudas to almost rival those at Sipadan.
My final day was at Cabilao Island, which was about 2 hours boat ride away from Alona. This is wall diving for most parts with nice table and fan corals. The current here is stronger and thus sometimes visiting hammerheads usually in the first half of the year. Alas we did not find any stray ones this time.
Bohol is easy to dive, good visibility, reasonable prices and easy to get to from HK but do pick your resorts carefully.
Kim Chen
October ....