The old saying that ‘the journey is better than
the destination’ definitely doesn’t hold true for This involved an internal flight to Tacloban, the capital of Leyte at the northern tip of the island, and then a four hour local bus ride to
SECRET TREASURES OF
When planning our
recent dive trip to the
Sogod
OFF
THE BEATEN TRACK
The old saying that
‘the journey is better than
the destination’ definitely doesn’t hold true for
This involved an internal flight to Tacloban, the
capital of Leyte at the northern tip of the island, and then a four hour local
bus ride to
The Sogod Bay Scuba Resort is
located on a picturesque beach, not far from the town of
The resort was opened in March 2006 by Englishman Ron Parkes
and Australian Phil McGuire, who have found themselves a slice of paradise. The
resort has very comfortable air-conditioned rooms, a bar, restaurant and dive
centre, and if you check-out their website you won’t believe how cheap it is
to stay and dive here.
The Sogod Bay Scuba Resort offer daily shore and boat dives
to the best dive sites so far discovered in 
MAGIC
HOUSE REEF
Located right in front of the Sogod
Bay Scuba Resort are five brilliant shore dives. We explored a few of these on
our first day and were amazed at the wonderful corals and marine life.
At Max’s Climax 1 we had a lot of enjoyment
investigating all the coral heads in the shallows. The visibility was 20m, but
Phil informed us that it can be 40m at times. The corals, invertebrates and reef
fish were just beautiful, especially the abundance of colourful feather stars.
We encountered parrotfish, butterflyfish, moray eels, hawkfish, fairy basslets,
angelfish, grubfish, pipefish, clown anemonefish and many, many more. On the
drop-off are much larger fish, like snapper, sweetlip and batfish. Here the
corals were also spectacular with radiant soft corals, huge barrel sponges, sea
whips, gorgonians and bushy black coral trees. Much of the area in front of the
resort is a marine sanctuary, but there are also five other protected areas in
the bay.
Our favourite shore dive was Voltaire’s Rock, which
we did several times. This site also has lovely corals and reef fish, but has
outstanding critters as well. Pedro, the head dive guide and master critter
finder, took us for a fantastic dive here to see the resident colony of
Bargibant’s pygmy sea horses. These creatures are so tiny and the masters of
camouflage as they blend in so well on their gorgonian home. They are a
challenge to photograph, but also just wonderful to observe.
However, the pygmys are not the only critters here, as Pedro
also pointed out several ornate ghost pipefish sheltering in featherstars,
numerous nudibranch species and a bizarre sea moth dancing across the sand. On
other dives here we also saw green and hawksbill turtles, gardens eels, blue
spotted stingrays and a very fast moving banded sea snake, that was
investigating every hole for prey.
Voltaire’s Rock also has a small wreck, an old dive boat
that was scuttled to attract fish. The old wooden boat is fun to explore as it
is decorated with glorious soft corals and home to sweetlips and a small groper.
Sogod Bay Scuba Resort is in a
rather isolated location, so there is no loud nightlife, except for karaoke at
the nearby Moose and Squirrel restaurant. The main nightlife all happens
underwater. We only did two night dives in
As soon as we entered the water we saw several huge basket
stars, which seemed to be on every outcrop. Amongst the coral were crabs,
shrimps, a sleeping turtle, moray eels, sleeping fish, molluscs, nudibranchs,
sea stars, brittlestars and lionfish. But on the sand was where the best stuf
f
was. Sea pens were everywhere, as were some very unusual nocturnal nudibranchs.
Helen spotted a strange snake eel emerging from the sand and then Pedro topped
this by finding a cockatoo waspfish.
However, this night dive was surpassed by the one we did at
the Padre Burgos Pier. You can only dive this site at night, as during
the day there is too much boat traffic. But, it didn’t look too appealing when
we arrived. After climbing down some steep stairs we were standing in dirty
brown water and surrounded by rubbish and weed. Fortunately, once underwater the
visibility cleared to 12m and presented us with a wonderland of fantastic
critters.
Swimming over patchy coral and sand we saw lionfish, crabs,
shrimps, sea stars, brittle stars, nudibranchs, leatherjackets and even a
painted anglerfish. But it only got better under the pier. Here we saw three
common sea horses clinging to a sponge, a group of shrimpfish, a lovely yellow
painted anglerfish, a banded sea snake and a variety of sea stars, crustaceans
and nudibranchs. Lionfish were everywhere, as were sea urchins, so you had to be
careful where you placed your hands. We also saw squid, sea pens, octopus,
pipefish, cowries, anemones and a rather weird double-ended pipehorse. And all
this in only 9m of water, simply breathtaking!
The Sogod Bay Scuba Resort run a
large banca dive boat daily to the best dive sites in the bay. They currently
have over twenty regular dive sites and are still discovering new sites.
North of the resort we dived the pretty walls at Bunga
Bend. Lots of colour and plenty of reef fish, but the best part was all the
great bommies in the shallows. These were packed with marine life, especially
fairy basslets, moray eels, nudibranchs and anemonefish.
Nearby is the Malitbog Wreck, which is actually
thought to be a Japanese Landing Craft sunk during World War II. This wreck lies
just off the town of Malitbog, so the visibility was only 10m, but we still
enjoyed a fun dive. The wreck sits in 6m to 18m and is completely encrusted in
hard and soft corals, making it difficult to make out the vessel at times. We
were more impressed with the abundant marine life, seeing masses of reef fish,
crustaceans, nudibranchs, sea stars, flatworms and several pipefish.
South of the resort are many varied dive sites. At Turtle
Rock there is a pretty reef with four huge bommies decorated by colourful
soft corals. Plenty of reef fish on show, a large patch of garden eels, and we
did see a turtle. Adrian’s Cove is on nearby
On our final day Ron took us to his favourite site, Napantao
Fish Sanctuary, on the eastern side of the bay. Fully protected, this dive
site is magnificent, and easy to see why it is rated as one of the best dive
sites in 
Known to the locals as Ihotiki, and
better known to divers as whale sharks, these gentle giants are found in
It’s an early start for whale shark day, with everyone on
the boat by 6.30am. We then headed across the bay and down to Sunok. There we
picked up some guides, local fishermen, no spotter planes needed here, and then
cruising off a nearby village looking for dark shapes in the water. It didn’t
take long to spot the first shark.
We grabbed our snorkel gear, while Phil briefed us on the
whale shark guidelines. No touching, keep 3m away, no camera flashes and the
shark always has right of way.
When the boat stopped in front of the shark we slipped over
the side and followed Pedro. With 20m visibility we had a fabulous view when the
8m long whale shark swam out of the blue. We then swam with the shark for the
next ten minutes, following it while it swam over the coral reef and into deeper
water.
Over the next two hours we swam with two other whale sharks;
a 4m baby and a 9m giant. The last shark was only seen by two scuba divers, who
reported it was a monster 12m long. This is without doubt one of the best places
in the world to swim with whale sharks, and at a very affordable price.
One week in
International flights to the
Information and bookings – Sogod
Bay Scuba Resort
Article appeared in Sportdiving No.138 Feb/Mar 2010