Visayas Highlights
Explore some of the Philippine's most iconic dive sites on this varied and rewarding liveaboard tour.
ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS
- Dive with green & hawksbill turtles
- Explore colourful reefs full of variety
- Marvel at weird & wonderful critters
- Dive with enigmatic thresher sharks (Malapascua itineraries only)
- Come face to face with whale sharks (Southern Leyte itineraries only)
Please note that there are a number of variants of this tour. Depending on your departure date, your itinerary may visit:
- Southern Visayas
- Southern Visayas with Malapascua
- Southern Visayas with Southern Leyte
- Southern Visayas with Malapascua & Southern Leyte
The following are some of the areas you may visit on this itinerary:
Dauin
Dauin, with its black volcanic sand, is famous for muck diving. Depending on the season, different types and sizes of octopuses, seahorses, (baby) frogfish, a variety of ghost pipefish and flamboyant cuttlefish can be found.
Apo Island
Surrounded by white sand in contrast to its black sand neighbours, Apo is a tiny marine sanctuary. The island itself covers just 72 hectares and is teeming with fish, beautiful corals and is especially known for green turtles. There are 10 dive sites around the island and each has something different to offer, from exhilarating drift dives at some locations to gentle shallow dives over hard and soft corals at others. At Apo Island there's a huge variety of fish species, crustaceans and nudibranch.
Balicasag Island
The small island of Balicasag, just off the tip of Panglao Island, is characterised by its many turtles, coral gardens and steep walls which provide overhangs, cracks and crevices in which to search for a variety of marine species. This area has become a marine protected area since July 2017 and allows two dives per day only with valid permits. Scanned copies of dive certifications must be provided in advance to dive Balicasag.
Malapascua
Malapascua is a tiny, picturesque island just off the northern tip of Cebu, part of the Visayas group of islands. In the waters surrounding the island, you can catch a glimpse of the elusive thresher shark at Shark Point, one of the few places in the world where there are regular sightings of these shy and unusual creatures.
With great wreck dives including the Donna Marilyn and idyllic day trips also on offer, this diving destination cannot fail to excite. Manta rays are most prevalent here in the rainy season, June to August, but may be spotted year round.
Southern Leyte
Southern Leyte is world-famous for sightings of whale sharks. These enormous filter feeders arrive here each year to feed on the swarms of plankton that bloom in the warm, shallow waters. The area is perfect for both scuba diving and snorkelling. In addition to whale sharks, the reefs around the bays of Southern Leyte & Limasawa Island are a haven for numerous fish species, whilst beneath the piers of Padre Burgos & Limasawa are a whole host of weird and wonderful macro creatures.
Itineraries are subject to change and at the discretion of the liveaboard staff and crew.
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: While there's no prerequisite level, Regaldive strongly recommend that divers are qualified to a minimum of PADI Advanced Open Water, or equivalent, with a minimum of 30 logged dives.