Limasawa is the island municipality at the mouth of Sogod Bay, dived as a day trip for its walls. Zack's Cove and Adrian's Wall both drop from 20 metres to 50 — dark, steep faces hung with gorgonian fans and massive table corals, with deep blue water off the edge that a whale shark occasionally drifts through. Both are rated advanced dives.
Where it is and how deep
9.9255° N, 125.0818° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Limasawa is a day trip: the boat crosses to the island at the mouth of Sogod Bay, out where the bay opens into the Bohol Sea, and you dive two walls rather than slot the island between closer sites. Zack's Cove is the darker of the pair, steep and eerie, hung with gorgonian fans and massive table corals, with nudibranchs and frogfish worth slowing down for on the face. It runs from 20 metres to 50.
Adrian's Wall, just up the same coast, is the signature dive — big and atmospheric, plunging into deep blue water on the same 20 to 50 metre profile, and the place where a whale shark occasionally drifts past. Both start deeper than most reefs inside the bay, so the day is planned around bottom time. The bay itself runs about 45 km at its longest and about 10 km at its widest, and Limasawa marks the outer edge of it.
Marine life and season
- Nudibranchs
- Frogfish
- Whale sharks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Southern Leyte: Whale sharks are off Pintuyan roughly Oct–Apr; the bay is sheltered but Jul–Oct brings typhoon risk and rougher water.
Know before you go
- Both walls start at 20 metres and drop to 50 in blue water with no bottom in sight: agree a floor and a turn pressure before you go in.
Dive videos
Scuba Diving in Limasawa Island, Southern Leyte, Philippines - Diver Bliss · Diver Bliss on YouTube
LIMASAWA ISLAND | SOUTHERN LEYTE | DIVE LOG 286 · Batang Dagat on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep are the walls at Limasawa?+
Zack's Cove and Adrian's Wall both run from 20 metres down to 50 and are rated advanced dives. Limasawa is dived as a day trip by boat from the Padre Burgos shore, so it is planned as a deep two-dive day rather than an easy reef stop.
Where is Limasawa Island?+
Limasawa is the island municipality at the mouth of Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte, in sight of Tangkaan Beach in Padre Burgos. Divers reach it by boat from that shore as a full-day trip.
Sources
- Dive Sites — Sogod Bay Scuba Resort — Sogod Bay Scuba Resort
- Limasawa — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
- Sogod Bay — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
- Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
Photo credits
- Turquoise cove at Limasawa Island with a rocky, palm-covered point and an outrigger boat prow in the foreground by Gonchang, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Where to dive with whale sharks, month by monthBig animals · 16 min read
More dive sites in Southern Leyte
House-reef wall to 40 m with a whip-coral forest
Reef
Two reef sections linked in one dive on a mild current
Wall
The oldest marine sanctuary in Sogod Bay, walled to 50 m
Pelagic & blue water
Whale shark season and a current-fed point to 40 m
Reef
The peninsula corner where the reef drops to 36 m
Wall
Reef top at 3-5 m over a wall that bottoms out at 20-25 m
Reef
A shallow coral area at 2-10 m over a slope that drops past 32 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A vertical face into 2,000 m, with pygmy seahorses in the fans
Sharks at 35 m off Olango's northern tip, hammerheads among them
A long northern wall with hammerheads in the current below
Garden eel colonies in the sand before the wall