Moalboal (Destination)

On Cebu's west coast, peaceful Moalboal is a very popular diving destination located near a small peninsula lines with adozen dive sites. Although there's no good beach along this stretch of coast, Moalboal has a fair amount of hotels, resorts and dive centres, and a good selection of restaurants and lively bars too. Most resorts are located on Panagsama beach, just to the north of the town centre.

Beginners usually start off on the reef just off Panagsama beach, where you simply wade in to reach a dive site with slopes and walls. All the good stuff is just a short boat trip away, however. Copton Point and White beach are two good dive sites with soft and hard corals, including the delicate sea whip, barrel sponges, plenty of damselfish and some pufferfish, triggerfish and turtles. For advanced divers, a trip to Pescador Island, just 10 minutes by boat from Moalboal, is a must. the tiny island is surrounded by walls dropping sharply down from the reef, and you can return to do several dives here. There are coral gardens, caves and plenty of reef and pelagic fish. Another advanced site is Sunken Island, which starts at 22 metres and is primarily known for the variety of fish. Rolf Muehlemann of Sea Explorers enthuses about the marine life near Moalboal: "There have been regular whale shark sightings this year, and white tip sharks are often seen around Pescador Island. Moalboal is also famous for turtles, you see one on nearly every dive. And of course there rare smaller animals like frog fish, pipe and ghost pipe fish and even pegaus fish."