Getting There

Moalboal is between 150 and 180 minutes from Cebu City, and Panagsama Beach is about 6 kilometers from Moalboal proper. Transportation between Moalboal and Panagsama is commonly in the form of tricycle. If you choose to go to Moalboal by bus - a sensible decision, since the fare is only 53 pesos - just head to the South Bus Terminal, or the Ceres Terminal right next to it [see Buses & V-Hires]. Buses to Moalboal are frequent. The buses on this route are all large - which means that the shocks on the road are absorbed well and the ride is quite comfy.

Accommodation in Moalboal/Panagsama is covered separately, under Panagsama, in the Accommodation section. Most dive shops operate a pension house.

Dive Sites

Dive sites in Moalboal can be summed up as follows: Pescador and the rest. Diving in Pescador is splendid, quite splendid. We won't reveal too much so you have something to look forward to, but it really is likely making a trip to an undersea kingdom. The corals are bountiful and the topography is perfect.

All the other dive sites in Moalboal are located along the coast. They are loosely named, as follows: Sunken Island, Badian, Sampaguita, Tongo Point, Balay Reefs, Ludo Point, Tuble Point, White Beach, Airplane. The more interesting ones are Airplane, a private four-seater propeller plane, and Sunken Island, a small underwater volcano that didn't quite make it to the surface. Most are pretty steep drop-offs; much of the coast is a wall.

The dive sites along the wall are good, sure, but you may be less than awed if you go to Pescador first and dive along the wall second. Now, almost all dive shops go to Pescador first thing in the morning and somewhere along the coast later in the afternoon. My personal advice would be, to make sure that you get a kick out of every dive, go to the wall sites first - perhaps right after you arrive, in the early afternoon - and Pescador next. If you arrive in the evening, ask your dive operator to take you elsewhere first; most are flexible.

The overall experience at Moalboal is excellent most of the time. Klemens, a German instructor at Abyss, showed us pictures of a whale shark he'd taken a few days prior to my visit. Meanwhile, we were assured we'd "see turtles 90 percent of the time" by Benjim, dive master at Ocean Safari. Frogfish and all manner of rare aquatic species can be spied at Moalboal. Personally, we were impressed by the variety, size, and exquisite beauty of coral in Moalboal.

That brings me to the issue of absenteeism, perhaps the biggest problem in Moalboal. The owners or instructors at a number of dive shops only show up during the high season (November thru January), on tourist visas which last only three months. Even if that is not the case, the senior instructor, who is often also the manager responsible for the dive shop, may spend most of his time in Cebu City. Lastly, instructors who reside in Moalboal on a permanent basis may - as is the case with a number of dive shops in Mactan - be desk divers who enter the water once in a blue moon.

The Blue Abyss, which has a senior staff comprised of a Swiss and a German, is definitely not such an establishment; both instructors are in the water with their customers every day. One other thing we like about Blue Abyss is that they are sensitive to their customers' experiences; for example, while just about all the other dive shops take their divers to Pescador in the morning, Abyss may go there in the afternoon, to avoid the rush. "Otherwise all you see is champagne," instructor Lorenzo Schweizer told us, miming rising bubbles.

Another excellent dive shop, perhaps the most renowned in Moalboal, is Savedra, a PADI 5 Star dive center under the same ownership as Kon-Tiki in Mactan. Savedra have staff of every imaginable nationality, including Filipinos, and their standards live up to their reputation.

Visaya Divers also offer comprehensive service, including nitrox, but have no permanent diving instructor; neither the German owner nor the Filipino manager are divers. An Austrian diving instructor is present during the high season. While the owner of Visaya Divers is at least around to keep an eye on his place, the senior instructor at Neptune - PADI Course Director Jonas Arvidsson - apparently spends most of his time in Sweden, as does Jesper, the diving instructor.

The nearby Ocean Globe seems to cater mostly to Japanese divers.

Located near each other at mini-plaza of Panagsama strip are Ocean Safari and Seaquest Dive Center. We like Ocean Safari despite the lack of PCSSD accreditation; as a Filipino-owned and operated dive shop, it's a rarity in Moalboal. Seaquest, a Dutch-owned establishment, is a Gold Palm 5 Star PADI center, and it shows in the prices if nowhere else. One distinct advantage that Seaquest do offer is a speedboat; while all diveshops have at least one motorized boat, the Seaquest boat whisks divers to Pescador Island 10-15 minutes quicker than the standard 20 minutes.