Wall
down to 25 m
Alona House Reef
Wall right off Alona Beach with many vertical cuts, anemones and multicoloured corals, and sea snakes over the sandy patches.
- Open Water
- Ghost pipefish
Bohol & Panglao
Diving in Philippines
12 documented dive sites, 5 of them for Open Water divers. Known for dolphins, turtles and tuna.
- Best months
- Jan–May
- Water
- 26–29 °C
- Levels
- Open Water, Advanced
When to go
Pick a month: the diving season, from published sources, and the typical weather.
Pick a month
- Best
- Good
- Possible
- Closed
- Not documented yet
Bohol & Panglao in October
Good season- Sea
- 30 °C
- at the surface
- Air
- 29 °C
- 25 °C at night
- Rain
- 320 mm
- one of the wettest months
- Wind
- 9 km/h
- on average
The warmest water of the year.
Typical weather, not a forecast: averages for 2021–2025 (air, rain, wind) and 2023–2025 (sea), data from Open-Meteo (ERA5 / Copernicus, Météo-France). Covers an area of roughly 10 to 25 km around the destination.
Dry season Jan–May is the best time (calm Cebu Strait, 15–30 m visibility). Rainy season Jun–Dec (wettest November): visibility drops to 10–20 m, occasional swells; typhoons rare but possible. These months are shown as good (still dived) rather than off-season.
Dive sites in Bohol & Panglao
From the easiest to the most demanding. Levels with a dashed outline are estimates we are still verifying.
Open Water friendly
usual dive down to 18 m5 sitesMacro
down to 32 m
Kalipayan
An easy shore dive on Panglao's south coast with frequent seahorses and flamboyant cuttlefish, excellent for night and macro dives.
- Open Water
- Cuttlefish
Wall
down to 40 m
Napaling
A steep coral wall close to shore with an almost guaranteed, year-round swirling sardine ball; best in the calm morning light.
- Open Water
- Turtles
Wall
down to 40 m
Rico's Wall
A wall off Balicasag's west side with large schools of unicornfish, silver jacks and bigeye trevally.
- Open Water
- Trevally
Reef
down to 35 m
Rudy's Rock
- Open Water
For Advanced divers
usual dive down to 30 m7 sitesCavern
down to 27 m
Arco Point
Panglao wall with a cave teeming with cardinalfish and home to white-eyed moray eels; most interesting between 10 and 15 m.
- Advanced
- Moray eels
Cavern
down to 45 m
Cathedral
A fissured wall where you can enter a chamber lit by shafts of light from above.
- Advanced
- Barracuda
Wall
down to 40 m
Pamilacan Wall
A black-coral and sea-fan wall dropping past 40 m where grey reef sharks, eagle rays and schools of jacks patrol.
- Advanced
- Grey reef sharks
Wall
down to 30 m
Diver's Heaven
- Advanced
- Turtles
Marine life
When the big encounters happen, month by month.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DolphinsSource: dive-the-world.com | ||||||||||||
| SardineSource: dive-the-world.com | ||||||||||||
| Whale sharksSource: dive-the-world.com | ||||||||||||
| Hammerhead sharksSource: bohol-philippines.com | ||||||||||||
| Whitetip reef sharksSource: bohol-philippines.com |
- Peak season
- Seen
Dolphins: Mar–Jun. Sardine: All year. Whale sharks: Mar–Jun. Hammerhead sharks: Feb–Mar. Whitetip reef sharks: Feb–Mar
Also reported here, season not documented yet:
- Turtles
- Tuna
- Barracuda
- Trevally
- Cuttlefish
- Frogfish
- Ghost pipefish
- Mandarinfish
- Nudibranchs
- Seahorses
- Groupers
- Moray eels
- Napoleon wrasse
- Snappers
- Manta rays
- Blacktip reef sharks
- Grey reef sharks
- Thresher sharks
- Eagle rays
- Blue-ringed octopus
- Pygmy seahorses
- Sea snakes
Where is Bohol & Panglao?
Bohol & Panglao: frequently asked questions
- When is the best time to dive Bohol & Panglao?
- The best months to dive Bohol & Panglao are Jan–May. Dry season Jan–May is the best time (calm Cebu Strait, 15–30 m visibility). Rainy season Jun–Dec (wettest November): visibility drops to 10–20 m, occasional swells; typhoons rare but possible. These months are shown as good (still dived) rather than off-season.
- Is Bohol & Panglao good for beginner divers?
- Yes, partly: 5 of the 12 dive sites we document are suited to Open Water divers, including Alona House Reef, Kalipayan and Napaling. The others need more experience or a higher certification.
- What is the water temperature in Bohol & Panglao?
- The water is usually between 26 °C and 29 °C over the year.
- What marine life can you see in Bohol & Panglao?
- Divers regularly see dolphins (Mar–Jun), turtles, tuna, barracuda, sardine (all year) and trevally.
About this page
Seasons and marine life come from the sources below. Site levels and depths marked as estimated come from our original catalogue and are being checked one by one. Conditions change: always confirm with a local dive centre.
Your next dive is somewhere out there.
Find my next dive tripPhoto credits
- Panglao Island from the air, Patrickroque01, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sunlight and bubbles in deep blue water, Sarah Lee, Unsplash License, on Unsplash
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