Coral Triangle · Philippines
Pamilacan
Banded sea kraits on Cervera Shoal, an hour out of Alona
Photo: Pierre Pericard · CC BY 4.0
Pamilacan is a small island 12.5 km south of Bohol whose people once hunted whales, manta rays and whale sharks from outrigger boats and now run the dolphin- and whale-watching trips instead. Divers cross for the ring of sites around it: a wall past 40 m, Dakit-Dakit's coral and sand, a gentle sanctuary slope, and the drifted Spanish Tower under a 200-year-old watchtower. West of the island, Cervera Shoal's sunken plateau is crawling with banded sea kraits.
About diving in Pamilacan
Pamilacan is a day out rather than a base: an hour or so by outrigger from Alona Beach, weather permitting, usually two dives with the surface interval spent on the island's beach or aboard. There are no dive shops on Pamilacan itself, so every trip is booked on Panglao, and because the crossing is open water the schedule bends to the wind — operators plan Pamilacan around the forecast in a way they do not for Balicasag.
The sites ring the island and are more varied than Balicasag's single repeated shape. The west side gives the wall, black coral and sea fans dropping past 40 m with grey reef sharks and eagle rays along it. The south-east tip is Dakit-Dakit, sand and coral worked as a drift. Under the old watchtower on the north-east, Spanish Tower runs as a stronger drift over coral gardens and boulders, and the sanctuary slope beside the village is shallow and calm enough for anyone.
The one dive people cross for on its own is Cervera Shoal, a sunken plateau in open water west of the island, about 18 m on top and covered in coral, where black-and-white banded sea kraits are out on the reef in numbers rather than tucked away. Turtles, morays, nudibranchs and barrel sponges fill in around them. Pamilacan's name comes from the pamilac, the barbed hook its hunters once used on whale sharks and manta rays; the hunt ended in the 1990s and the boats now carry watchers.
Best time to dive Pamilacan
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
| Sea surface | 28°C82°F | 27°C81°F | 27°C81°F | 28°C82°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 28°C82°F |
| Daytime high | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F | 31°C88°F | 31°C88°F | 31°C88°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 29°C84°F |
| Rain | 177 mm7.0 in | 108 mm4.3 in | 91 mm3.6 in | 62 mm2.4 in | 117 mm4.6 in | 192 mm7.6 in | 217 mm8.5 in | 190 mm7.5 in | 182 mm7.2 in | 223 mm8.8 in | 191 mm7.5 in | 204 mm8.0 in |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 28°C82°F | 27°C81°F | 27°C81°F | 28°C82°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F | 31°C88°F | 31°C88°F | 31°C88°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 177 mm7.0 in | 108 mm4.3 in | 91 mm3.6 in | 62 mm2.4 in | 117 mm4.6 in | 192 mm7.6 in |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 28°C82°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 29°C84°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 217 mm8.5 in | 190 mm7.5 in | 182 mm7.2 in | 223 mm8.8 in | 191 mm7.5 in | 204 mm8.0 in |
2011–2025 averages. Sea surface: NOAA Coral Reef Watch, measured at the surface, so deeper water can run colder. Daytime high and rain: NASA POWER.
Nov–Jun is the workable season; the crossing is exposed and trips are called off on the wind, so Jul–Oct is unreliable.
Best months: January, February, March, April, May, November, December
Pamilacan water temperature and weather by month
The sea surface stays between 27 and 29 °C (81–84 °F) all year. Most rain falls from June to January, peaking at about 220 mm (8.7 in) in October; March and April are the driest. Daytime highs sit around 30 °C (86 °F) all year. The coldest water here is about 27 °C (81 °F), so pack a 3 mm, or even a 2 mm, suit.
Dive types & marine life
The sea kraits on Cervera Shoal are the reliable draw and are there year-round. Grey reef sharks, eagle rays and schooling jacks work the wall, with hammerhead and thresher sharks seen occasionally rather than expected. Dolphins are common on the crossing — the island's boats run watching trips on them — and turtles are on most dives.
- Wall
- Drift
- Reef
- Coral garden
- Sea snakes
- Sea turtles
- Reef sharks
- Eagle rays
- Trevally & jacks
- Barracuda
- Nudibranchs
- Dolphins
- Macro critters
- Pristine corals
Best dive sites in Pamilacan
Reef
Banded sea kraits crawling openly over a sunken plateau
Drift
A drifted slope of soft and black coral off Pamilacan's tip
Wall
Black coral and sea fans on a wall past 40 m
Drift
A hard drift off the point, with tuna and barracuda in the flow
Drift
A drifted wall under a 200-year-old Spanish watchtower
Coral garden
A calm coral garden at 5–20 m, the island's easiest dive
How to get to Pamilacan
Reached only by boat, roughly an hour from Alona Beach on Panglao or a shorter crossing from Baclayon on the Bohol mainland, booked through a Panglao dive shop. The crossing is exposed, so trips are weather-dependent and cancelled more often than the Balicasag run. Homestays exist on the island but there is no dive centre there.
Photos from Pamilacan
cealwyn · CC BY 2.0
ronald santos belleza · CC BY 2.0
Baconlife213 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Baconlife213 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dive videos
Full Pamilacan Dive (Uncut): Battling Current in a TURTLE SANCTUARY | Dakit Dakit, Philippines · Talk to the Fish on YouTube
Scuba Diving the Reefs of the Pamilacan Islands, Bohol, Philippines 🇵🇭 · Team Sweetiepie on YouTube
Photo credits
- A school of bigeye trevally turning in blue water off Pamilacan by Pierre Pericard, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- An outrigger rests on Pamilacan's white sand with pale turquoise shallows beyond by cealwyn, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Outrigger boats moored in deep blue water off the shore of Pamilacan Island by ronald santos belleza, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- The white sand and shallow clear water along Pamilacan Island's shore by Baconlife213, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sunset over the sea from Pamilacan Island's beach by Baconlife213, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Openverse
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