How To Get To Apo Island
Apo Island is perhaps one of the most beautiful dive sites in all of Philippines. Getting there can be a little tricky. There are actually only two places to stay on Apo Island.
If you want to go diving you’ll want to stay on the larger island called Negros Oriental. If you are on Cebu Island you’ll head south by bus towards a town called Bato and from there take a little taxi to a smaller town called Liloan. The taxi should cost around $1 a person. There you have hourly ferries until 6:30 pm heading across to Sibulan.
From Sibulan you can choose to go to the next and largest town called Dumaguette. It has the most accommodations to choose from and it’s about an half hour drive from the ferry to Apo Island. If you want to do some diving you’ll want to head over a little closer to Apo. Just across from Apo is a little town called Dauin. Here you will find a number of dive shops, resorts, as well as some places to eat. It’s not a huge town, but most people are there mainly for the diving anyways.
Bongo Bongo Dive Center
After taking the local bus from Dumaguete to Dauin (about 30 minutes away) we were dropped off on the side of the road and walked a few minutes down towards the beach to get to Bongo Bongo Dive Center. We heard many good things about the place and they came highly recommended by our dive center in Moalboal where we did our Advanced Open Water Dive Course a few days prior.
The awesome thing about the dive center is that you can stay right there. They have single (400/pp) and double rooms (700 for two people) available with a shared bathroom and shower. There’s also a shared kitchen area with free water, tea and coffee for guests. The rooms have a fan and a mosquito net. They are comfortable and simple, so it’s perfect for those who want to do a few days of diving and have a chill place to come back to. There’s also a hammock area to relax in after a day of diving.
After checking into our room we signed up for the Apo Island diving day trip for the next day. It included three dives, lunch and dive equipment for 3,999 php/pp which is approximately $75 USD per person.
We then set up our diving equipment with one of the dive staff. The equipment was all in great condition and up to date.
Apo Island Day Trip
The day trip started out early in the morning the next day. We got on the boat and it took about 30 minutes to get to our first dive spot. Our dive master was Miko. He had many years of experience and did a lot of diving in the area. We also had a dive master in training with us who helped guide our group of three people. She was on her way to completing her dive masters course. These three dives were our first fun dives after completing the Advanced Open Water Dive Course in Moalboal a few days before. We were excited and couldn’t wait to see the beauty of Apo Island!
Chapel Dive Spot
The first dive spot was at the front of the island where the chapel of the island is located hence the name, “Chapel”. The water was warm, 28 degrees celcius and the weather was sunny and clear. We went down to 22.4 meters and stayed down 44 minutes before going back up.
We saw beautiful varieties or coral, schools of fish, nudi branches, a medium sized octopus hiding under a rock, and a crab.
Largahan Dive Spot
After a mini water and snack break we were taken to our next dive spot, Largahan. We also down to 22 meters and stayed down 51 minutes. It was a beautiful dive with large coral, different varieties of fish and coral reef snakes.
Katipanan Dive Spot
We couldn’t wait to get back into the water after eating a delicious lunch. This time we went down to 24 meters and stayed down 53 minutes. This was the dive spot where we saw a huge sea turtle. It was an incredible moment of awe and joy. During our dive we also saw two coral reef snakes and a frog fish.
Our Experience
Before we even knew it we were already heading back to shore. We were given a warm towel to wash off our salty faces which felt very refreshing! To be honest Apo Island has been our highlight dive spot in the Philippines. It just has so much coral, different types of fish, and many sea turtles.
We really enjoyed our time with Bongo Bongo Divers. The staff were all so kind, helpful and knowledgeable. It all felt very personal. The dives, day trips and courses they offer are all very affordable. If you are thinking of doing some diving on Apo Island, check out Bongo Bongo Divers!
Places to Stay
Bongo Bongo is a relatively rustic place with basic backpacker accomodations. If you are interested in staying somewhere a little more luxury there are a few places worth looking at in town.
Ceazar’s Place – Rated 9.1 on Booking.com it has basic rooms. They are one step above Bongo both in comfort as well as in price.
Pura Vida Beach & Dive Resort – Rated 8.8 on Booking.com this location is quite luxury. With an outdoor pool, private beachfront, and fitness center it has everything you would want.
Want to get $25 off your next stay? Use our Booking.com link to get $25 off!
Where to Eat
Public Market – Dauin has a public market as well as little stores at every corner where you can buy fresh groceries. Bongo Bongo has a little kitchen you can use for your cooking needs.
Dauin Dive Cafe – Around the corner from Bongo Bongo is a little cafe/restaurant. The prices are fair and the food is good.
Fin Bar – This place is a little further away, approximately a 1o min walk. From the outside it looks a little run down. Once you step in, however, you are greeted with a beautiful interior, games, and delicious food.
Disclaimer: Bongo Bongo Divers gave us free dives in exchange for working with them. This means that we featured them on our Instagram, Stories, and agreed to write this post about them. None of the content was dictated by them, and all opinions, and experiences are our own. If you would like to read about our experience working with them check out our Patreon account where we write about it in our post titled Working with Bongo Bongo Divers.
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