Diving Balicasag Island near Pangalao

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
3
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
55 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
341st/454
Top 80%
continent
Asia
country
Philippines
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 ($50-$80 in 2016 prices)
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Beaches Islands Scuba diving
All Tags
Boat trip Wildlife - Sea Turtles
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐
Summary

For so many divers its all about seeing a specific thing, like certain sharks, a giant coral wall, or a cave, but sometimes you just want a shallow dive along a beautiful reef with good visibility and in a chilled out tropical beach place.  Balicasag Island, just off Panglao, is the later.  Very nice spot

 

Top tips:

 

  1. Dive Sites – we dived the Royal Garden, with a max depth of around 25m and great for seeing turtles, and Rudy’s Rock, with a similar max depth and a rock wall to explore
  2. Stay on Pangalao Island – Tagbilaran didn’t look too appealing.  Aim instead to stay on Pangalao Island.  We splurged a bit and stayed at the South Palms Resort, which was great and would recommend
  3. Bohol – if in the surrounding area, be sure to explore the Chocolate Hills in the centre of Bohol by quad bike and see the Tarsiers, the world’s smallest primate – see Quad-biking through the Bohol Chocolate hills for further tips on this experience
  4. Getting to Bohol from Cebu City is relatively straightforward, but its not a bad idea to ask your hotel / hostel to help you with getting the ferry tickets you want
  5. See if you can visit Malapascua Island – you’ll most likely be flying into Cebu.  If so, and you are a diver, be sure to head up to one of the other idyllic paradises of Malapascua Island ,which is the only place in the world you can dive with Thresher Sharks – see  Diving with Thresher Sharks at Malapascua Island for further tips on this experience
Highlights
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#1 The rock wall of Rudy's Rock

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#2 Clear, pleasant water for diving all along the Royal Garden

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#3 Staying in some of the beautiful spots on Pangalao Island

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other Great Diving Experiences

Scuba diving at Wolf and Darwin Islands in the Galapagos
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Diving the Blue Hole
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Diving and relaxing around Ko Phi Phi
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Sailing the Komodo Islands in November
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Scuba diving at Maria la Gorda
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Scuba diving the Cenotes of Tulum
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Swimming with Humpback Whales and relaxing in paradise in Vava’u
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Diving with bull and tiger sharks by Beqa Island
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chilling, diving and drinking in Caye Caulker
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3 days relaxing and diving by the beautiful Lake Atitlan
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Scuba diving in the Red Sea from Hurghada
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Diving and staying in guest houses in Central Raja Ampat
⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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