Travel from Cebu to Cabilao Bohol

For going to Bohol, I still used the most common way for tourists which is taking the ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran, Bohol. My ferry was OCEANJET departs at Pier 1 at 9:20AM. I booked the ticket from a travel agency and it costs P 890 for round trip.

After around 2 hours, the ferry arrived at Tagbilaran Port, Bohol. For going to the resort on Cabilao Island, I reserved the transportation service from the resort which was P 3,300 for two ways. After one hour driving, we reached to Mocboc Pier and the island was in the sight. They said there are jeepneies operated on the route back and forth from Tagbilaran Port to Mocboc Pier. The price is around 70 pesos.

The small "Banca" was there waiting for us. I rode this boat for diving on the past few days if there were less than 3 divers in the group. About 30 minutes boat ride, we reached to Cabilao Island.

I used the same method going back to Cebu City from Cabilao. If we check the map, we can see Cabilao Island is closer to Cebu City than Panglao Island which is near Tagbilaran Port. For local people, they don't really travel to Cebu from Tagbilaran. Ms. Estrella shared to me that there is a banca boat taking passengers between Cabilao and Argao, Cebu every Tuesday and Saturday (one way is around P 100), and people can take the buses going to Cebu City. Due to my schedule, I couldn't use this way to travel. You can ask your dive centers for more information if you tend to use this way.

While waiting for the ferry in Tagbilaran, I took few pictures of the ferry time tables travel between Cebu City and Tagbilaran, Bohol (taken on November 11, 2014 ):

Ocean Jet

Cebu --> Tagbilaran

6:00 & 8:00 & 9:20 & 11:40 & 14:00 & 16:20 & 18:35 

Tagbilaran --> Cebu

7:05 & 9:20 & 11:40 & 14:00 & 16:20 & 17:30 & 18:30

Super Cat

Cebu --> Tagbilaran

8:45 & 14:00 & 18:40

Tagbilaran --> Cebu

6:30 & 11:15 & 16:30

WEESAM

Cebu --> Tagbilaran

6:35 & 11:20 & 15:30

Tagbilaran --> Cebu

8:20 & 13:30 & 17:35

Dive in Cabilao, Bohol (Resort)

There are 3 major diving resorts on Cabilao Island which are La Estrella Beach Resort, Polaris Beach Resort and Sea Explores. I sent my inquiries to three of them and got the fastest and clearest information from La Estrella, thus, I chose to dive with La Estrella eventually.

Electricity

Before arriving there, I heard people on the island could only use electricity during particular time, so I prepared myself to have inconvenient life for few day. However, when I reached the resort, I found there was power and couldn't hear any sound of generator. The staff of the resort said they have been provided 24HR electricity since April, 2014. That's really a good news and gives more convenience to the local residents and tourists.

Accommodation

There are four types of the rooms which are all fan rooms. I stayed in Double Bungalow and they offered me P 1,520 per night for single occupancy including the breakfast due to the off-peak season. The room contains one double bed, two bedside cabinets, one closet and one fan which is simple but enough. Speaking of the bathroom, it only has cool shower water, and the resort only provides the soap and the towel. I suggest everyone to prepare other toiletries before going to the island.

Dining

The restaurant of the resort is between the beach and the accommodation area. The staffs are very enthusiastic, but not bothering. They only had few guests during those days, so it's a very quiet and comfortable dining environment. There are Filipino and western styles in the complimentary breakfast menu. I always ordered Americano breakfast which are toast, bacon, egg and coffee. The highlight is that coffee which is not 3-in-1 instant coffee but made of nice coffee powder. And they not only provided me a cup of coffee but half pot of it that I couldn't even finished all. There are various meal choices in the menu, however, the ingredient supply is not so stable in the island so sometimes they couldn't provide all kinds of the dishes. The prices of the set dishes are around P280 to P 350 which are a little more expensive than other places, but it's reasonable because they need to ship most of the ingredients from mainland Cebu or Bohol. Polaris Beach Resort is in the walking distance from La Estrella along the beach. I only had my meals in La Estrella, so I have no idea about food and environment somewhere else.

Internet

I am using Smart Buddy mobile internet in the Philippines, and I could badly access 3G signal in the area of the resort. However, the resort provides Free WiFi in the restaurant which is good enough for browsing and messaging. The room I stayed is around 30 meters away from the restaurant, and I could access weak WiFi signal in the room. One time we dove in front of Sea Explores which is on the other side of the island. Before that, I checked my cell phone and got good 3G signal. 

Diving

The dive center is called Cabilao Dive Center. The following is basic price list:

1. Dive: P 1,300 / dive

2. Environment collects: P 150 / day

Other cost:

1. Gears rental: P 650 / day

2. 32% Nitrox: P 260 / tank (need to reserve)

3. Sanctuary fee: P 100 / dive (only when dive in sanctuary)

4. Night dive: P 200 / dive

Owner Ms. Estrella is a very friendly lady. If you need more information, you can email her directly:

info@laestrella.ph

Wall Dives in Cabilao, Bohol, Philippines

I went to Bohol on November 7, 2014. Because I have dived around Balicasag Island near Panglao for three time, I decided to go to Cabilao Island which is located in the west of Bohol Island. I stayed at La Estrella Beach Resort with Cabilao Dive Center. I will share about the resort and the dive center later.

 

Day 1

1st dive

I arrived in Cabilao Island in the afternoon. I had nothing to do so decided to do one dive to check my gears. The dive site was Gorgonia Wall which is 5 minutes away from the beach by small banca. Like the name, it's a steep drop-off. We went down to 29 meters and the dive master found a pygmy seahorse on a sea fan. And it's also lucky that I shoot a yawning Scorpion Fish afterward. 

Day 2

2nd dive

We departed from the dive center at 8am and reached to the dive site named Fallen Tree after 15 minutes. It starts with the slope and changes into the wall in around 20 meters. The wall is covered by many soft and hard corals, however, I didn't see many big fish swimming in the coral reef. There are only two sanctuaries around Cabilao Island, and other areas are open for fishing. We swam back to shallow slope after 25 minutes dive time. DM found a big Hairy Squat Lobster, so I could take a clear shoot by my 14-42mm kit lens.

3rd dive

This dive was in Light House. I had more interest in this site before I went there, because according to the internet, this dive is for muck dive and the slope reaches to 20 meters deep. However, the muck dive here is different from Dauin because there are many corals scattering on the sandy seabed. During this dive, DM found two candy crabs as what I requested.

4th dive

The dive site is Germany Ave. which is 10 minutes away from the shore. It's also a wall dive. I didn't see something very special(or say I wasn't able to take some good pictures).

5th dive

This was a night dive in Night House. We stayed in the shallow sandy slope which maximum depth was 18 meters. Night dive is always more attractive to me, because not only can see some sleeping fishes, also can see some nocturnal creatures. The special stuffs we saw were Volute, Mantis Shrimp, Decorator Crab, and Reptile Snake Eel.

Day 3

6th dive

Another two divers joined our group on that day, and they requested to have wall dive. No problem! Most of the dives there are wall dives. I set my lens on 14mm and planned to take some pictures of the corals since it's a wall dive again . The dive site was Looc Pier. When I was waiting for another two divers to jump on the surface, I saw two Napoleon wrasses swimming next to the reef. The scene was so beautiful even though they were far away from me. We reached to 25 meters during this dive, and the visibility was not too good which was 15 to 20 meters.

7th dive

This dive was in Current View Point. DM said it's the place for searching Hammerhead Shark 20 years ago. Let me say it again, it's 20 years ago. There is a sandy flat area after the wall in the depth of 30 meters. We used the air tanks, so we just stayed in the flat for about 10 minutes and ascended to the shallower coral reef. Aside from some coral pictures, I didn't take too many during this dive. According the DM, the school of Jackfish or Barracuda shows up in this dive site sometimes.

8th dive

This dive in the afternoon was in Three Coco which was a wall dive as well. DM said he would find another Pygmy Seahorse, so we went down to 25 meters. He searched on couple of the sea fans but wasn't able to find one. During the dive, we saw a turtle swimming to the surface in distance. I felt my camera was so empty, so I took few shoots of Anemone Fish to finish the dive.

9th dive

This dive was a night dive in Fallen Tree. We only stayed in shallow area above 16 meters. We saw a decorator crab and a sea cucumber crab at the first, and my camera ran out the battery after 20 minutes. Haha~ And then, I saw Long Nose Shrimp, Cuttlefish, Sponge Crab, and more. What a pity!!

Day 4

10th dive

This morning we dove in Talisay Tree which is also a drop-off coral reef. The maximum depth of our dive was 30 meters. DM found a small cowrie on a red soft coral. It's very small and hard to be focused, so I applied manual focus to take this shoot.

11th dive

The dive was in Cambaquiz 1. This site starts with a long sandy slope. I expected to see something different from the coral reef, however, we only found a flounder. There is a small boat wreck in 20 meters. I felt there must be something unique and small in it. In fact, there was a big turtle resting in the boat. We see things bigger underwater, but I believe this one is about 2 meters long. It's kind of exciting to see a big guy unexpectedly. After the boat wreck, we ascended and met the coral reef. I took few more shoots and finished this dive.

12th dive

This night dive in Light House was my last dive of the trip. We also stayed in the slope above 18 meters. DM also guided us to the mantis shrimp for another diver. He said it was already there 5 years ago when he started to be a guide in Cabilao. Because of the encounter of that long nose shrimp last night, I was focusing on every reflection from creatures' eyes. Unluckily, I couldn't find one anymore. Some interesting stuffs I saw were Hydroid Decorator Crab, Stargazer, Reptile Snake Eel, and Hinge-beak Shrimp.

Conclusion

I didn't go to the sanctuaries during these 12 dives, so I don't know if there are a lot of big fishes(ex. Sweetlips, Batfish, Grouper). I feel there is no extremely unique stuff to see, however, the coral reef in Cabilao is nice. It might be a good choice if you enjoy wall diving and want to see beautiful corals. If you are a macro critters lover, you may need to go there in a right season. For your reference, April and May are the best according to the local dive master.