Balicasag Marine Sanctuary — Attraction in Panglao

Not giving this place a good rating because it's seriously overpriced!

First of all you have to get a boat to head over to the island and the island is very far! It's recommended that you get there early so that you can go and see the dolphins too but it's really stupid to see the dolphins...Cause you can't get a nice shot of it at all and you have to wake up early like 5.30am to catch the dolphins in action!

When you reach the island the locals there would recommend you to dive or snorkel. Diving is more expensive if I remembered correctly it cost around 3,500 peso per person, with the suits and equipments but it's superb expensive if you count cause it's only for an hour!

If you opt for the snorkelling it's stated that you can go to "each" location at 250 pesos but the locals would recommend you to go to all 3 locations if not it's not worth for them to get you a boat and go out the sea...I went for the 3 different locations and it was really short! Completed everything in less than 1 hour...Then there's also seperate charges for it for the snorkeling equipments ranging from 150 pesos to 250 pesos each. (Would recommend you to get only the mouth equipment rest not impt).

Oh yes forgot to mention if you don't have a gopro which is waterproof/ waterproof action camera don't bother going also cause the price to rent a gopro is 1,500 pesos thou they give you the Sd card at the end of the day the price is not worth for an hour!!!

Overall the view is nice but not worth your money you can go to other places for it!

Just go there and pick seashells!!! They have...

I booked a joiner tour 1000 peso with Julius. I booked through D travel. There are many touts offering 1500 initially, but one person lowered it to 900. My boat had 15 participants. The tour was shorter than described.

The actual timings were: 620: left meeting point infront of alona divers 640: boat departed Kalipayan beach 710 -726: dolphin watching 742: reach balicasag 742 - 810: waiting at eatery 810: transfer to small boat with guide/boatman (one boat has 3 people) to go snorkelling. There were so many small boats in one area. 825-910: actual time snorkelling. there is a limit of 1 hour on snorkelling but in reality it was about 30 minutes in the water because the boatman spent time rowing us. He also asked the male participant on the boat to help him row. I felt the visibility was ok. I saw one turtle swimming below me I guess 15m away. The boatman used fish food to lure fish to us. I saw coral with some fish I guess 15m below. The coral was not as close as what others have experienced. The snorkel provided leaked so I think byo. 910 - 950: waiting at their local eatery although nobody ate 950: left balicasag. We walked to the area near balicasag island dive resort to leave. There are fewer boats and people so perhaps this would have been a better spot to snorkel. 1050: reached Panglao. We were one of the first few boats to...

This is one of the island destinations we went during our Island Hopping. You'll have to ask your main bangkero to guide you to the main ticketing office, also bring your life jackets with you. They'll asssit you in paying, choosing tour guides, and renting your snorkels before they'll transfer you to smaller boats where you'll be transported to the Fish Sanctuary and Turtle Sanctuary areas. Enjoy!

Things to note when visiting the place: 》It's better if you go there before lunch since it's really hot during noon time. 》You may also bring your own goggles, fins, and/or snorkelling equipment, but you can also rent from the place. 》Bring your underwater cameras para sulit! 》They also offer underwater picture taking for Php1,500 (inclusive of the SD Card). 》You can ask your tour guide that you want to feed the fishes so that they'll swim around you which can be a great experience and great for pictures too 》Remember to enjoy your time swimming, snorkelling, and also take a lot of pictures but please do not touch the marine animals to prevent major disturbances to the...