Route Description - Ultimate Visayas Safari
The Visayas are one of the three island groups in the Philippines, featuring incredible macro, stunning walls, whale sharks and thresher sharks.
This itinerary includes 10 magical nights diving at a different site each day, and is hard to beat if you want to dive into the best spots of the Visayas. Easy cruises each evening will take you from one great dive site to another.
Day 1: Embarkation 5 pm
Board the Azores at 5pm at the Atlantis Dumaguete resort, and enjoy a welcome evening and overnight travel to the first destination.
Day 2: Cabilao Island, Bohol
With its shallow topped reefs and nice drop-offs, the island offers an incredible number of critters in the shallows which are a delight to see. However, what really differentiates it from others nearby are the pristine hard corals around the southern coast. The reef offers species such as Scorpion fish, Tunas, Jackfish, Barracudas, Frogfish and Nudibranchs.
Day 3: Gato Island, Malapascua
One of the pearls of Malapascua and a perfect spot to see both macro and big fish, famous for the chance to spot whitetip and bamboo sharks along tunnels and resting under rocks. The soft coral gardens are home to pygmy seahorses, frogfish and an array of Nudibranch and away from the reef is great for squid and bait balls.
Day 4: Monad shoal, Malapascua
Monad Shoal is a sunken island on the edge of a 200m drop-off and is famous as the only place in the world where thresher sharks can be seen daily. Monad Shoal also has a cleaning station where Giant manta rays are also a common sight year round along with eagle rays.
Day 5&6: Kimud Shoal, Malapascua, Kalanggaman Island, Capitancillo Islet
Kimud Shoal is a sunken island. The top lies around 12-16m and drops down to 200m+, located in the same trench as Monad Shoal, there is a chance to spot Thresher sharks, Mantas, Devil rays and Turtles. The top of the island is covered in hard coral with the sides covered in soft corals. The east side has some incredible rock formations and due to the drop off there is always the chance to see larger fish such as Tuna or Dolphins.
Day 7: Anda, Bohol
Pygmy sea horses, Bobtail Squids, Barracuda and Frogfish to name just a few of the tiny critters hiding in the colourful corals around Anda. But don’t forget to keep an eye out into the blue for huge Rays, Turtles, Dolphins or even the legendary Whale Shark.
Day 8: Balicasag Island
The island starts with a shallow plateau of 6-18m before dropping off to a wall. With hard and soft corals housing Moray eels, parrotfish, and clownfish, to name a few, keep an eye out for the schools of Jacks that swim along the walls.
Day 9: Panglao Island and Optional Land Tour
Panglao Island – Look out for… turtles, whitetip and blacktip reef sharks, eagle & manta rays, schooling barracuda and trevally, frogfish, ghost pipefish, pygmy and thorny seahorses, plus many different species of nudibranch, among dramatic walls and reefs.
Add on optional Land tour: Chocolate Hills or Loboc River Tour. A visit to the Tarsiers – the world’s smallest primate on both tours.
Day 10: Oslob, Sumilon & Apo Island
Start the last day diving with Whale Sharks at Oslob. The rest of the day will be spent diving around tranquil Sumilon Island, surrounded by crystal clear waters and pristine white sandy beaches. Look out for… exquisite coral gardens and drop-offs. ‘Might sees’ in this area include manta rays and stingrays, barracudas, sea turtles and snakes and very occasionally whale sharks and hammerheads.
Day 11: Disembarkation 8AM
Disembark the Azores straight to the Atlantis Dumaguete resort.