What to Expect on a Snorkel Venture Tour of the Philippines

Local Philippine boat

The Philippine’s unique location in the heart of the Coral Triangle makes it one of the world’s premiere snorkeling destinations. Much like Indonesia, the Philippines hold some of the world’s most bio diverse and pristine reefs, vast quantities of reef fish and larger marine species like sea turtles and whale sharks. With 7,641 islands to choose from in the Philippines it can be a daunting task of choosing the right one to visit. To save you a bit of a headache we’ve taken on the task of narrowing down the destinations to the three we feel offer the best balance between travel logistics, the resorts, and of course the snorkeling.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines, here a little run down of what you’re missing or should expect on a Snorkel Venture trip to the Philippines.

The Snorkeling Around Moalboal-Cebu Island 

Green sea turtle swimming over coral reef

Moalboal is typically our fist stop on our current Philippines itinerary and it’s reefs are on the doorstep of the resort. Moalboal is a small town on the southern side of Cebu, and given the islands elongated shape the reef that fringes it just continues on and on and on. In the shallowest portions of the reef you’ll find vast sea grass and sargasum seaweed beds where strange little critters like pipe fish and file fish hide among the aquatic vegetation. When the water gets to be about three feet deep the sea grass tapers off and you’ll find yourself amongst the fields of hard coral and sponges. The reefs are home to many different marine species from the famous lion fish, a number of species of clown fish, sea turtles, sea snakes, and a rainbow of colorful reef fish that look like multi colored glitter suspended in the water column. One thing that is unique to Moalboal is that just a few meters off the doorstep of the resort is a residential colony of mandarine fish!

The Snorkeling around Cabilao Island

Snorkelers floating above coral wall

Cabilao is a much smaller island just a bit east of Cebu and a few hundred meters west of the island of Bohol. The reefs here in Cabilao are in my opinion some of the most unique of the this particular tour. First of all, the area is quite remote and secluded so you can be sure that you will be the only snorkelers in the area. But what really sets this place apart in my mind is that the shallow reefs, which eventually give way to breathtaking walls full fo sea fans and soft coral, are a labyrinth of coral structures which gave me the feeling of floating over a fantastical city. Dive down and you can get a ‘street view’ of the underwater world as you swim through the surreal coral architecture. 

The Snorkeling around Anda-Bohol Island 

Anda is a small rural town on the south coast of Bohol and along it’s entire coast line is a stunning fringing reef which just goes on and on like Moalboal’s does. The reef itself start a bit deeper than the other two sites with the shallowest point we’ve found to be around a meter or so, but average around two to three meters. While Moalboal tends to be more hard coral, Anda’s reefs can largely be characterized as a mixture of sponges, leather corals, and hard corals. The reefs are home to many green sea turtles as well as sea snakes, scorpion fish, and once again all the glittery little reef fish. Once of the favorite things to do here is to just float over the point of the reef which abruptly turns into a deep blue wall. This allows us to keep an eye in the blue for larger marine life like turtles and the odd whale shark which are not uncommon in the area, while also enjoying the stunning view of the reef. 

Our Best Places to Snorkel in Philippines

Local Philippine boat

We have been lucky enough to spend more than a decade exploring the reefs of South East Asia and have come to love the Philippines, for its people, top side natural beauty and beautiful reefs and marine life.

Here are a few of our best places to snorkel in the Philippines:

Cabilao:

We love to snorkel around this island. A small island in the Visays, near Bohol, Cabilao has some of the healthiest reefs in the country with an abundance of hard and soft coral gardens alive with schooling reef fish, turtles, and small critters. Cabilao itself has some wonderful seaside resorts and picturesque beaches to relax on between snorkel sessions.

Anda- Bohol

Tucked in the far quite corner of Bohol island is a beautiful bay called Anda. Here there is a long (14km) fringing reef which is home to all manner of marine creature ranging from the occasional whaleshark, to small seahorses, frog fish, eels, turtles and giant clams, to name but a few. This part of Bohol is reletively quiet and hosts fewer tourists than some other parts of the island and we think it makes a great snorkel vacation destination.

Moalboal- Cebu

Coral Reef Scene with beautiful light in pescador island

This coastal town offers amazing snorkeling opportunities. Our favorite is the chance to snorkel in a huge school of sardines. Watching these beauties move in their synchronized schoals is somethign truly special. Also a good chance to see jacks and trevally hunting the sardines. In the area there are also beautiful reefs, a good chance of seeing whitetip reef sharks and a host of tropical reef fish.

Coron- North Palawan

wwii airplane on reef

The fringing reefs are exceptionally healthy and colourful and offer the opportunity to snorkel over shallow boat and plane wrecks form WWII. Also some beaches here are spectacular. There is also a rare and beautiful lake, known as Barracuda Lake, which offers a sensory experience found almost no where else. The water in the lake is crystal clear, and whole there is little fish life int he lake, we love it because it has a thermicaline about 8m deep. Above the 8m mark the water in a cool 28C and below this it suddenly rises to over 38C. Such a wonderful thing to experience on a quick duck-dive.