Balicasag Island

Balicasag Island is about 10 kilometers to the southwest of Panglao. On the southern side of the island is a 400 meter Marine Sanctuary characterized by vertical walls over strong current deep water. There are world class diving site in the area: Rico’s wall, here can find an amazing coral garden on a shelf ranging from 7 to 11 meters. A large amount of nudibranches, sea stars, crinoids, hydroids, reef fish and anemones can also be seen in the garden. Drop down to few more meters of the wall then one can encounter sea lionfish, moray eels, reef sharks as well as barracuda. Also seen in the deep are varieties of sponges decorated on the wall; Black Forest is a site for advance divers, located on the north of the island with an average depth of 20 meters and a maximum depth of 40 meters, with its black coral bushes it is a nice dive site where in one can have a chance to see shoals of barracudas and mackerels as well as snappers and colorful batfish. There are also an abundant number of sea stars, sea cucumbers and crinoids.