Pangangan Wall

Two quite different dives share one site here, and which one you get depends on where the guide puts you. Between about 3 and 6 m the ground is muck — sand and rubble with very little on it until you slow down, at which point sea moths, devil scorpionfish, ghost pipefish, ribbon eels and juvenile batfish start appearing. It is the shallowest diving on the Cabilao circuit and, for macro photographers, the reason to make the crossing.

The wall starts at around 7 m and falls away to something like 60, and it is the colourful one: soft coral and gorgonians over the face with the usual overhangs and cuts. Eagle rays pass along it and whitetip reef sharks turn up occasionally, so it repays looking out into the blue rather than staying nose-down the whole time. Most dives work the wall first while gas and no-stop time allow, then come up onto the muck.

Pangangan is a separate island from Cabilao, about 7 km east, so this is a trip rather than a hop and it goes on the schedule when the conditions suit. Operators on Cabilao pair it with Sandingan on the same run, since both sit off the same stretch of the Bohol mainland.