Siquijor
Diving Siquijor
Siquijor has always had some great diving. Visibility is generally good and the waters are warm. The island is an exceptional place to start your diving adventures as courses are widely available, and the sites are very well suited for learning to dive.
​
Most dive sites are between depths of 6 meters, dropping down to 40 meters, so everyone can have fun and learn here!
​
The main places to go diving are: San Juan & Siquijor Town.
​
I mostly cover San Juan, as this is a far more appealing place to go diving, eating, and staying overnight. The choice of hotels and restaurants is plenty, and most of the best diving is done off the coast on the island's east side.
​
Diving in Siquijor is really good, and as a bonus, some dive centers also offer trips to the amazing Apo Island, to dive the pristine waters there. Bare in mind, that most dive shops require 10+ divers to make the trip worthwhile for them, as they are full-day-trips.
​
Below you will find a list of the dive sites I find most appealing.
​
​
San Juan
San Juan is a lovely small town on the east side of the island (check out the map above). The island is pretty easy to traverse, as there is a road circumvening the island, which is well-maintained.
You can drive around the island in 2 - 2,5 hours with a scooter, not taking any breaks, that is.
In San Juan, you can find many accommodations to suit your travel style and comfort level. Almost all are situated along the beach side and easily accesible by a well maintained main road.
​
I can recommend contacting Sea pearl Divers, in San Juan . They offer quality diving, with excellent equipment and a comfortable boat.
For Apo Island trips, it's recommended to visit Apo Reef Divers and/ or Coconut Grove Resort.
​
​
"The island of mysticism & healing"
Additional Information
Siquijor is a beauiful island, easily traversed.
The Main road circumvening the island is well- maintained, so scooter rental is a very good option when first arriving in Siquijor Port!
​
Scooter rental: 400 - 450 pesos per day / 300 - 350 pesos per day for 3+ days.
Scooter rental can easily be done in Siquijor Port, when arriving. Just make sure you get a good price. Alternatively, you could arrange a tricycle and rent a scooter in San Juan or at any hotel, pretty much.
​
Diving: Diving is done mostly, along the eastern side if the island, so I would recommend booking your hotel nearby or in San Juan.
Prices of diving vary, however, most dive centers offer package deals, usually displayed online. But make sure to ask.
Prices for diving are around 1600 pesos for a single dive. And dropping as low as 1300 in package deals as for example seen on www.seapearldivers.com
.jpg)
.jpg)
How to get there?
To get to Siquijor you have different options, depending where you're coming from:
​
By Air: You can fly to Tagbilaran airport, Dumaguete or Cebu, straight from Manila.
From Cebu, Dumaguete, Tagbilaran airport or Panglao you can get a transfer to the pier easily.
​
By Sea:
Dumaguete To Siquijor:
Roro ferries depart daily at the following times, These tend to change sometimes, so ask at the port, to be sure:
​
-
5 AM (Friday - Saturday)
-
7AM
-
10AM
-
12NN (Friday - Saturday)
-
2PM
-
7PM
​
500 pesos per person.​
Travel time: 50 Minutes.
​
From Cebu City, you can take a boat which will bring you to Tagbilaran in about 3 hours, continuing the trip to Siquijor from there.
​
There are only 2 ferries leaving to, and from Siquijor to Cebu/ Tagbilaran per day! Siquijor is
​
How to get Away:
Siquijor To Dumaguete:
Roro ferries depart daily at the following times, These tend to change sometimes, so ask at the port, to be sure:
​
-
7.30 AM (Friday - Saturday)
-
10AM
-
2PM
-
4.30PM
-
9PM
​
500 pesos per person.
Travel time: 50 Minutes.​
​
Siquijor to Cebu: 4.5 Hours (stop in Tagbilaran).
There are only 2 boats leaving for Cebu/ Tagbilaran per day.
-
8.20 AM & 4 PM
​
800 pesos Siquijor - Tagbilaran.
Travel time: 2 hours.
800 pesos Tagbilaran - Cebu.
Travel time: 2.5 hours.
​
​
You can buy your tickets in Siquijor Port a day before departure to be sure.
​
Siquijor island
Siquijor island is an island famous for mysticism and healing. A lot of people are catholic and still practice these medicines additionally. The Island is pretty much a circle shape, with a road going around the entire island. You can go inland, from this road, to find amazing waterfalls, beaches and places to eat.
As you can see on the map, most of the dive sites are located on the island's west coast. So I can highly recommend staying close to San Juan.
​
For excellent diving see below and check out Seapearl divers in San Juan
San Juan
My Favourite Dive Sites in Siquijor!
"Tambisan & Palitan Wall"
Tambisan and Palitan walls are relatively close to each other, therefore I combine these, because they offer similar dives, as far as depth and landscape are concerned. I prefer Tambisan a little bit more since it has some nice crevices too. You can see many schooling fish, moray eels, and turtles in this place, as well as the occasional whale shark!
​
Depth: 8 - 40 meters
Current: low - medium
"Coral Garden"
Probably the best dive site on Siquijor island! The coral garden offers easy diving, with lots of corals, turtles, octopuses, and more! The diving starts on the reef at 8 meters and continues with a sloping reef to a maximum depth of 25 meters. Beautiful coral mountains between white sandy bottoms make this feel like an island hopping adventure!
​
Depth: 8 - 25 meters
Current: low
​
"Diosa"
Diosa is a dive site similar to Coral garden, with more of a wall dive aspect to it, instead of a sloping reef. You will start your dive at 8 meters deep, before heading to the top of the wall, to drop down to 20+ meters. You can see turtles, whale sharks, octopuses, and many others on this beautiful dive before returning to the bay area, for a beautiful safety stop!
Maximum depth: 25 meters.
Current: low.