Diving in Pamilacan Island

Three dives share one small coral island, and which side you drop in on decides how the day goes. Pamilacan is an island barangay of Baclayon, built on coral and fossilised seashells and ringed by a fringing reef, and Panglao shops sell it as a boat day. Spanish Tower and Sanctuary sit on the sheltered side. Spanish Tower is coral gardens and boulders under a ruined watchtower, with a beach on the shore that suits snorkellers. Sanctuary is a shallow coral shelf that tips into a steep slope, worked slowly for frogfish, pipefish, nudibranchs and garden eels, beside a no-diving fish sanctuary. Dakit-Dakit, which operators place at the island's southeast tip, is the exposed one: a long sandy slope with strong current, run as a challenging long drift, with a wall starting around 25 metres. A resident-diver guide names it a favourite and reports jacks on the deeper slope; operators add barracuda. One diver on a 2026 trip had to swim against the current for five to ten minutes at the start of the island dives, so weigh the current before the depth. Large green turtles are reported year-round.

The reef around the whole island is a Marine Reserve, and diving is allowed across it. Inside it, buoys mark an 11.9 hectare Fish Sanctuary that is closed to diving and to taking anything1. It is a local designation under Municipal Ordinance No. 1, Series 1994, governed by the Municipality of Baclayon and enforced on the water by the Pamilacan Fishermen's Association, an island people's organisation. A 2023 survey measured target fish biomass in the sanctuary at 44.4 kg per 500 square metres1. The Sanctuary dive runs beside the core and operators brief it as a no-diving zone, so stay outside the buoys and follow your guide, who knows where the line falls.

The name belongs to the hunting, not the diving. The municipality records two readings, "resting place of the mantas" and pamilac, the harpoon used to take whale sharks, manta rays and dolphins2; the former is etymology and no promise of sightings. A peer-reviewed study documents the iron hook, the pilak, used by the island's hunters, and found that after the 1998 national ban Pamilacan was one of six sites where a mobulid ray fishery stayed active, with manta rays still being caught3. So the tale of whalers turned watchers is half true, whole for whales and dolphins and not for rays. The island's spotters and guides are described as former hunters, though a 2013 press account found tourism supporting only a small fraction of the local economy4. Whale and dolphin watching runs about March to June or July and happens at the surface. No construction date has been established for the island's fort2; its watchtower was declared a National Cultural Treasure on 29 August 2011.

Operators do not agree on the entry card. One pitches the island to certified divers and another listing asks for Advanced Open Water or higher, so ask your shop what it requires. Whatever the card, Dakit-Dakit is where drift experience counts, and the sheltered pair suit a diver with less of it.

Boats leave from Panglao, mostly Alona and Danao, and the crossing takes about 40 minutes to an hour each way. Most shops run two dives at the island and a third at a Panglao site such as Danao Wall. Environmental fees are charged on top of the diving, and one operator includes them in its trip price, so confirm what your quote covers. From early July to late September visitor numbers fall and rougher seas can change schedules and site access. Distance is the hazard to settle before you sail. Pamilacan is a further hour offshore than the Alona sites, so every step of an emergency is longer from here, and the Philippines had only three operational hyperbaric chambers in February 2025. Carry insurance with hyperbaric cover and agree the evacuation plan with your shop.