Spanish Tower

The landmark is above water: a squat stone watchtower on the north-east point, roughly two hundred years old, built by the Spanish so lookouts could watch for raiders and now protected as part of a national collection of Bohol watchtowers. The site is the reef directly in front of it, and it is the easiest of Pamilacan's dives to find from the boat for exactly that reason.

Underwater it is a coral slope with scattered boulders that steepens into wall, published at 10 to 35 m. The current here runs harder than at the island's other sites and dictates the dive: drop up-current, let it carry you along the face, and finish wherever it puts you. That is the reason operators file this one under advanced while the sanctuary next door is a beginner dive on the same island.

The flow is also why it holds what it does. Bluefin trevally work the slope, turtles are on most dives, and octopus and cuttlefish sit among the boulders; eagle rays and larger passing animals turn up often enough to be worth watching the blue for, though nothing here is guaranteed. Keep an eye on your depth — a drift along a face this steep pulls you deeper without you noticing.