Talisay Wall
Also known as: Talisay, Talisay Point
A coastal wall three minutes south of Panagsama Beach, run as Moalboal's turtle dive and the shortest boat hop on the schedule.
Last updated October 2026
The dive
The wall starts almost under the boat, with the reef top at about 5 metres, so the dive is a choice of level and there is no swim to find the site.
Along the top the hard coral is thin. A diver working it in July 2025 found one 10 metre stretch of branching coral left at about 8 metres. Gobies sit paired with their shrimps in the shallows, with juvenile reef fish and pipefish among them.
The face below is where the dive happens. Black coral, sea fans and sponges grow on it, canyons cut into it, and small caves open in it that nobody swims into. Off the drop-off, small barracuda school and a Spanish mackerel sometimes comes through hunting.
One operator puts the interesting depth at 5 to 15 metres, and one dive logged in July 2025 reached 24.7 metres over 62 minutes in 28 degree water. Below that the face keeps falling.
What makes it special
Green and hawksbill turtles rest on the ledges of this wall, and operators lead their descriptions of the site with them. They come to feed: Moalboal's turtles use this coast as a feeding ground and nothing nests on it.
The rest of the coast is one wall cut into named sections by the shops that moor on them. Talisay is the section a kilometre from the beach, three minutes in a banca, against roughly seven to Tongo Point and eight to Dolphin House.
The wall face came through the December 2021 typhoon better than the shallows, with gorgonians, carnation coral and black coral still on it in 2025.
History and origin
The name comes off the land. Sitio Talisay is a sub-village at the southern end of Panagsama Beach, in barangay Basdiot, and the wall in front of it took the settlement's name the way Tuble, Tongo and Kasai took theirs. It was on the town's dive lists as Talisay Wall in the early 2010s, and diver video under the name goes back to 2012.
The wall has no sanctuary status of its own, while the sections at Tongo and Tuble carry the label1. A 2013 survey in barangay Basdiot put live hard coral cover in the shallow zone at about 34 per cent, rated fair2, eight years before the typhoon went through.
Know before you go
Two operators publish Open Water as the level for Talisay, and it is run guided. The band one of them singles out, 5 to 15 metres, is the reef top and upper wall, which is the part of the dive an Open Water diver is there for. Below it the wall has no bottom to stop a descent, and published current runs from nothing to 3 knots, the widest band of any near-shore site on this coast. Fix a maximum before you drop.
Leave the turtles alone. Touching marine life is banned across Moalboal's waters, and on a dive sold on animals resting within reach that is the rule that bites. Keep hovering above the reef top.
One operator recommends the site for a night dive, on the strength of the slope above the wall. Ask a centre what it runs.
Moalboal has no chamber. The nearest is in Mandaue City, 82 km and about two and a half hours by road, and as of early 2025 only three were working in the whole country. Badian Hospital is 20 minutes down the coast.
Why Dive Talisay Wall
What makes this dive site stand out.
- Three minutes from Panagsama
One kilometre south of the dive strip, the shortest boat run of the Moalboal day
- Turtles as the headline
Green and hawksbill rest on the reef, and it is what the local shops sell the site on
- Reef top thinned by Odette
A July 2025 dive found one 10 m patch of branching coral left at about 8 m
- Wall past recreational depth
Worked at 5 to 25 m, with the face continuing below that
- Slope sitting above the wall
The combination is why one operator puts the site forward for night diving
Depth & Profile
Location
9.9425°N, 123.3677°E
Conditions & difficulty
The dry amihan from December to April brings the calmest surface and the best visibility. The wet habagat from June to October still dives most days.
Open Water is the floor the local operators publish, and the reef top and upper wall sit inside its limits. The deeper wall does not, and nothing here is sold as a deep profile.
Summary
Run as a guided Open Water dive along the reef top and upper wall. What lifts it above easy is that depth is governed by the plan and the gauge, since the terrain sets no limit, and that published current reaches 3 knots.
Safety considerations
What can go wrong here, and what divers do about it. Conditions change - take the briefing from the operator on the day.
- Depth: The wall has no bottom inside recreational range, and the published envelope reaches about 55 mFix a maximum in the plan and hold it on the gauge, because the terrain will not
- Current: Published from nothing to 3 knots, the widest band of the near-shore sites on this coastSlack water is the standing local timing advice, and the guide sets the direction of the swim
- Marine life: Stonefish and scorpionfish sit on a reef top where the coral cover is now patchyHover above the reef top and keep off the substrate
- Surface and boat traffic: Banca traffic on a three minute run out of a busy beachDeploy an SMB before surfacing
- Remote location: The nearest recompression chamber is 82 km away in Mandaue City, on a road governed by Cebu City trafficConservative profiles on a wall with no floor, and insurance that covers a chamber
Marine Life
Regulations
An Environmental User's Fee ticket is compulsory before diving anywhere in Moalboal's municipal waters, under a no ticket, no diving rule, and centres normally buy it with the trip. Confirm the current amount and whether it is charged per trip or per dive when you book. Taking, catching, selling, possessing or transporting turtles and reef sharks has been banned throughout Moalboal's municipal waters since April 2002, with escalating fines. Touching any marine life is separately prohibited.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Talisay Wall the same as Talisay Point?▾
Yes. Three names cover one section of coastal wall, Talisay Wall, Talisay Point and plain Talisay, and which one you meet depends on which shop wrote the page. All of them mean the same position, 9.9425 N 123.3677 E, a kilometre south of Panagsama Beach off Sitio Talisay in barangay Basdiot. Keep it apart from the other Talisays while you are booking: Talisay City sits 35 km away on the east coast of Cebu, and there are Talisay municipalities in Batangas and Negros Occidental. None of them has anything to do with this dive.
Is the reef top still the coral garden some operator pages describe?▾
No. Some operator pages still describe a reef top densely covered in hard coral, wording that predates Typhoon Odette of December 2021. A diver here on 4 July 2025 found a single 10 metre stretch of branching coral left at about 8 metres, and described the face below as a decent showing of gorgonians, carnation coral and black coral. In August 2024 another diver found the reef decent, with plenty of turtles and frogfish. Plan for a thinned top and a wall that came through better.
Is Talisay Wall a boat dive or can you enter from the shore?▾
Every centre runs it as a boat dive, and the run is a kilometre and three minutes from Panagsama Beach. A public accessway sits near the southern end of the strip, and a snorkeller used it in July 2025 to swim out past the site, but no operator sells a shore dive here and the entry has no established route. Book it as the short boat hop it is.
References
- 1.Municipality of Moalboal — What to do, including the register of tourism-related municipal ordinances
- 2.Unico Conservation Foundation — SPR Moalboal, Philippines 2013 (Saving Philippine Reefs expedition report)
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