Balicasag Island is a diving sanctuary for sea turtles

Balicasag Island diving place Balicasag island is well-known for turtle watching. Balicasag is also a marine sanctuary just 20 to 30 minutes away by boat from Panglao Island (Bohol), depending on your location in the island. Balicasag is also known as an island tour and excursion attraction, and greatly recomended for snorkeling and scuba-diving.

Balicasag is a small island off the coast of Panglao at 9 kilometers (less than 5 nautical miles) heading to the 248° on the compass from the BE Grand resort hotel, in Bohol.
This tiny island is 600 meters in diameter with a white-sand beach all around and many seafood restaurants on the land.
As a reference, Balicasag Island is lying in the south of Panglao just 30 minutes away by boat from Alona beach.

Diving in Balicasag is a must-do; it is a marine sanctuary where you can dive with turtles all day.
You will dive with a school of turtles and fishes like mackerels or barracudas, and more.
Beginner divers will enjoy it too, as there is a plateau all around Balicasag between 6 to 18 meters (20 to 60 feet) before the drop of the wall.

Diving at the different dive sites of Balicasag island.

Balicasag island has many diving spots and sites all around it. The underwater landscape has numerous shapes and various forms, with a vast marine biodiversity.

You will encounter a school of jacks, a lot of barracudas, eels, and morays as well as many other colorful species of fish, hard and soft corals, plants and much more.
But for sure you will be very close to the sea turtles that are swimming almost everywhere around Balicasag.

Due to the extreme popularity of the turtles in Balicasag, diving boats, and island hopping boats are limited in number! A reservation, at least 24 hours before, with Scotty's Bohol dive center (or online reservation), is necessary to be able to dive at Balicasag island.

Important update on Scuba Diving all Balicasag Island dive sites:

The municipality of Panglao limits the number of scuba divers around Balicasag island to 150 persons a day for 2 dives through a system of advance booking managed by the local government.

This means, sadly, that all of the dive centers have to share this number of available spaces (on a first-come, first-served basis) and not all the divers can be accommodated on these sites as no scuba diving boats will be allowed to go if they do not have existing bookings.

We recommend booking your dives as early as one month prior your arrival so we can guarantee you a slot during peak season.

What will you see at Balicasag during your dives?

Diving at Balicasag Many different kinds of marine life! Yes, the biodiversity is fabulous around this island.
For example, below are few dive sites you can dive around Balicasag during your day trip with a short description of what you will see underwater.

The black forest dive site:
It is known for its steep slope 40 meters (130 feet) deep. This dive site might be the most famous among divers because of the abundant black corals, a must-see there.
The Cathedral Wall dive site:
It is called cathedral because of the light reflecting inside a cracked cavern alike. Along the wall, you will encounter a school of jacks and more schools of fish.
The diver’s haven dive site:
It is a place where you will see different kinds of fishes and numerous different species of corals and plants.
The royal garden diving site:
A shallower dive site at around 18 meters (60 feet) where you will find plants that turtles feed on, many shoals and school of colored fishes, and a coral garden alike on the plateau.
The turtle point dive site:
This is the primary purpose for snorkeling and scuba-diving in Balicasag! You will get very close to the many turtles all around. Those turtles are not afraid with close encounters but be careful not to touch them.