Bohol – Day 3: Balicasag Island
BOHOL
Day 3: Balicasag Island
October 19, 2024
After deviating from the routine for one day, I already started exhibiting some withdrawals from the sea, my skin itching to get back underwater.
I headed to Alona Beach, the most popular beach in Bohol, known for its white sand, turquoise waters and lively atmosphere. While the beach is renowned for the many resorts and restaurants that can be found there, it was something else that dragged me to it: diving.
Bright and early, I found myself at the Bohol Divers Club dive shop, with whom I’d be going on a day trip to nearby Balicasag Island, a small, circular island famous for its clear waters, coral gardens and exceptional diving spots. The island is surrounded by a protected marine sanctuary, home to all kinds of sea life and vibrant coral reefs that make it one of the best diving areas in Bohol. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to be underwater again!
Bohol Divers Wreck
Along with a few other happy divers, with whom I didn’t mingle much on account of everyone already being buddied up, we got on the boat and started on our way to the first dive site: the Bohol Divers Wreck.Â
This, our guide told us, is a small wreck located near Alona, lying deeper than it first sounds, with the wreck itself sitting at around 31 to 37 metres. The wreck is not a large vessel. Rather, it was a steel boat that sank years earlier and was left in place to become an artificial reef. Over time, it has become encrusted with corals and sponges, attracting a variety of marine life. And that, I can attest to. The second we descended, we could already see multiple massive schools of yellowtail snappers hovering about the reef, with the occasional batfish going around. While the wreck itself was not impressive per se, the sea life around it was exceptional.Â
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After going around the tiny boat a couple of times and even going through it – a process that took a minute or so – we then headed to a nearby reef. Here, we could appreciate chocolate chip sea stars, elephant trunkfish and crown-of-thorns starfish peppering the reef. But it wasn’t these species that stole our interest. Rather, it was the frogfish, which I had missed so much, and the banded sea krait, which they call ocho because, allegedly, it takes eight seconds for symptoms to show up after it bites you. As cool as they were, the MVP was none other than the harlequin shrimp, something that had been on my bucket list for ages. Pity my camera’s not so great at macros!Â
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Balicasag Beneath the Surface
During the surface interval, we sailed towards Balicasag Island, where some of the best diving in Bohol was to be had.
Here, we had three dives that practically blew my mind. Not only is the coral reef around the island incredibly vibrant and colourful, it is also teeming with life. From schools of jacks, snappers and fusiliers to shoals of angelfish, wrasses, butterflyfish and damselfish, from more frogfish than I could ever count to drumfish, which I hadn’t seen in ages, morays, sea kraits, whitetip reef sharks and green sea turtles, the list goes on forever.Â
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My favourites would have to be the dusky nembrotha and Bullock’s hypselodoris nudibranchs, though. My not-so-favourite? Probably the titan triggerfish that chased me and literally bit through my fin!
I have to admit that after diving in so many exceptional sites, my expectations for Balicasag Island weren’t that grand. I couldn’t have been more wrong!Â
