Scuba diving in Mactan and Cebu
Why diving in Cebu and Mactan?
Cebu and Mactan are rich in marine biodiversity, and each dive at different sites offers a unique experience unlike any other. Because the Philippines is at the epicenter of the Coral Triangle, the marine life thriving underwater is a must-see.
If you want to explore underwater caverns, caves, and sunken wrecks, or swim with Thresher Sharks, Whalesharks, Dolphins, and Schools of Sardines, then Cebu and Mactan is the place to be! There are diving sites for every level of scuba divers; all is entirely welcome.
If you are novice diver, the Kontiki House Reef and Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary are perfect for you. Indulge in the pleasure of seeing colorful coral reefs and different types of fishes swimming around. There are also diving sites in Malapascua Island, Camotes islands, Gilutungan Island and more for you to explore.
If you are an experienced to advance diver, there are diving sites like the Marigondon cave, the reefs in the Cuatro Islas, Cabilao Island, Danajon Bank, Moalboal, Nalusuan Island, Olango Island and wrecks in Tambuli diving site. Get a chance to swim with Black Dolphins, sea turtles, Thresher and Hammerhead sharks, Whalesharks, schools of Barracudas, Sardines and so much more.
If you are a technical diver, Cebu has numerous caves that you can explore like the Tingo Point, Caubian cave, the Twin Caverns at the Danajon double-barrier reef, and the Pawod cave– a freshwater cave made of limestone formed by dissolution.
What are the recommended dive center and dive shop in Mactan, Cebu?
Scotty’s Dive Center has been teaching scuba diving for more than 30 years. They offer scuba diving courses for the novice to technical scuba divers. They will certify you from different scuba diving agencies (SSI, PADI, RAID, and GUE) which are recognized worldwide.
Scotty’s Action Sports Network have staffs of different nationalities at their headquarters in Mactan who can accompany and orient you during the classes. Scotty’s also offering night diving classes and underwater photo and video courses.
If you do not want to scuba dive
The Cebu province is rich in culture, history, and food. There is so much to see and discover while on vacation. If you are not into diving, Scotty’s Action Sports Network, Inc. offers an array of water activities and island hopping tours fit for you, your friends and your family. Get the most out of your vacation at Scotty’s!
The best dive sites around Mactan, Cebu
As a diver, we are always striking to find the best diving spots. In Mactan and the surrounding Cebu island. Scotty’s Action Sports Network have made a list of the best dive sites around. 
This Week at Scotty´s Dive Centre…
Photo: Gannon Murphy, http://www.gannonmurphy.com
Peacock Mantis Shrimps have been everywhere and extremely active! Peacock Mantis Shrimps are primarily green in colour, with orange legs and Leopard like spots on the anterior carapace, their ability to see circularly polarised light has led to studies to determine if the mechanisms by which their eyes operate can be replicated for use in reading CDs and similar optical information storage devices!!!
Beside them the other folks were also very active. We saw last week all kinds of Nudibranch, Crabs and Crustaceans; yellow tail Barracudas; Boer’s Batfish; Ghost Pipefish; yellow Angler Frogfish and so much more!
While conducting a SSI Stress & Rescue Course with Maike Silver from Germany, we must have spotted five individual Peacock Mantis Shrimps running about from here to there leaving nothing but sand storms and bad visibility behind them. Luckily we love them so much that they were forgiven almost immediately. Maike is a founding member of Scotty’s Dive Club. For any local residents here in the Philippines please contact us for details.
Also we would like to say a warm welcome to our new SSI Instructors Destan; Leora and Brandon. Right at their first discovery dive at the Shangri La Sanctuary. They were impressed about the healthy and beautiful reef and the colourful life we have right in front of our dive center.
Hope to see you soon with us in Mactan!
This Week at Scotty´s Dive Center – The Purple Illusionist: Flabellina Nudibranch
Photo: Gannon Murphy, http://www.gannonmurphy.com
Nudibranch are giving their best pose to the camera. We saw growing number of Flabellina Funeka. The “Purple Lady” Nudibranch or Flabellina Funeka is a species of Aeolid Nudibranch and is a very colourful sea slug. It has annulate purple rhinophores with pale tips. The illusionist under the Nudibranch makes her colour her weapon. It is probable that the bright colours of the purple lady serve to advertise to predators that she is toxic.
Also we saw our old friends the Coi Magnificent Nudibranch; Anna´s Magnificent Nudibranch, the common blue and orange Wartslug; Malesso Helgerda Nudibranch; Ornate Ghost Pipefish; Critters and Crustaceans of all kinds; Blue Spotted Stingray; Boer´s Batfish, Great Barracuda and many more!
Congratulation to Rayn from New Zealand who completed the SSI Open Water Course with their SSI Instructor Mike Morrison. The conditions are very good at the moment. Calm sea and crystal clear water. During their dive there were happy to see all different kinds of reef fish and a yellow pinkish Angler Frogfish walking trough the sand.
Andre and Michael from Switzerland went on a dive safari with our comfortable boat “S2” to the beautiful island Olanggo. Andre with his more than thousand dives was amazed with our dive sites Talima and Baring. They saw all kinds of varied macro-life. The variation of Nudibranch at this spot is unbelievable. Colonies of this coloured dots are decorating coral bommie and all different kind of corals. And to make the symphony complete. In between that a big numbers of soft corals are sticking out in blue, orange and pink.
Hope to see you with us in Mactan soon!
This Week at Scotty´s Dive Center – Its Frogfishtime!
This week in Mactan our SSI Divemaster Francis Dimen spotted four kinds of Frogfish at our beautiful dive site Shangri La Marine Sanctuary just in front of Scotty´s Dive center.
We saw also our homies the Ornate Ghost Pipefish; a Robust Ghost Pipefish; Backstriped Pipefish; Greater Pipefish; Orangutan Crab, all kinds of Nudibranch; Barracuda; Pufferfish; Blue Spotted Stingray and so much more!!
The technical drivers group has a new member, we say congratulation to Katie Sheffield for her first dive on her technical diver course with Scotty´s Manager and SSI Technical Dive Instructor Peter Mawby. Katie is amazed with the deep. Their first dive involved trying out the new equipment and working on trim and buoyancy just in front Scotty´s´Dive center.
We like to say also congratulation to our brand new SSI Open Water Divers Joshua and Javier. They went with their SSI Instructor Jona Dabocol to Oslob in southern Cebu to see the Whale Shark. They were amazed and impressed of the friendly and peaceful giants and had on top a fabulous dive nearby at Sumilon Island where they saw a Black Tip Reef Shark. And all at their first couple of dives as a certified SSI Open Water Divers. Better it can not get!
Hope to see you with us in Mactan soon!
This Week at Scotty´s Dive Centre – Life at Mactan is Blooming!
This week we saw amazing numbers of reef fish at our dive sites. Especially Boer’s Batfish also known as Spadefish and Golden Spadefish, we saw in a growing number. They are found in small groups along coral and Rocky Reefs and around Shipwrecks. They feed on invertebrates, algae, Jellyfish and gelatinous zooplancton and grow to a length up to 50cm. The fish derive many benefits from shoaling behavior including defense against predators enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate.
Also we saw small Critters and Craps all kind; Banded Boxer Shrimp; Orang Utan Crap; Hairy Spidercrap; Frogfish; Scorpionfish; Robust Ghost Pipefish and so much more!
We also want to say congratulations to Antti and Matti from Finnland who completed their Open Water Course with our SSI Dive Instructor Sabine Rottschaefer. They went to our dive site Talima. This dive site starts off with a beautiful massive plateau and slopes down to a impressive wall. The healthy reefs and the stunningly beauty of the under water world at the island Olanggo impressed them in a amazing way and there were ecstatic to be surrounded by fish any kinds. So many that they could not see almost the reef!
The first timer Meng Yang from China completed her SSI Try Scuba Diving with us. She was so amazed from her first open water dive at the diversity of fish life that she went on to do her SSI Open Water Course with our SSI Instructor Ailene Labra.
Hope to see you with us in Mactan soon!
Biological Happenings Around SMS by Chris Greising
Photo by Paul Cowell
Marine environments all over the world are being negatively affected by human actions. Corals are bleaching at alarming rates, shark and other fish populations are reaching dangerously low and unsustainable levels, and vast areas of our oceans resemble a landfill from all the plastics and other debris floating around.
Here on Mactan Island we have felt the effects of these environmental issues but Scotty’s, in cooperation with the Shangri-La Resort, is working to restore our Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary (SMS) to its former pristine glory.
Photo by Paul Cowell
Spearheading this initiative is the Shangri-La resident marine biologist Irene Grace Tan. Irene will have been working at the Shangri-La one year this March. Since she started at the Shangri-La Irene has begun implementing new projects whose effects can already be seen. It seems like every time I dive there, which is almost every day, the number and variety of fish and other marine creatures seems to grow and it is Irene’s intention to keep that trend going.
One of Irene’s first projects was to improve the corals in SMS. “We cannot avoid guests stepping on the corals,” Irene said, “so we take them from the shallows and transplant them to the deeper areas.” She explained that once taken from the shallows the damaged corals are placed on an elevated platform for two to three months. On this PVC platform the corals are allowed to heal themselves before being transported and planted onto the reef or, on another of her projects, a fish house.
Photo by Paul Cowell
These fish houses are another means of attracting new marine life, including squids and octopus, to the sanctuary. Irene was “try[ing] to find something more natural than ships or other objects,” and decided on the limestone and cement structures that will one day blend in seamlessly with the rest of the reef structure. The fish houses simulate rock piles and give the marine creatures plenty of hiding spots they love to call home.
Photo by Paul Cowell
While these two projects are ongoing, there are a few others that our marine biologist plans to implement in the near future.
The first will be to rehabilitate the sea grass beds present in SMS. Right now Irene estimates that they cover about 10 percent of the sanctuary but she wants to bump that number up at least another 10 percent. “[Sea grass] is a big producer for the marine environment,” Irene said, “It provides food and shelter for clams, fish, sponges and sea horses.”
She explained that there are two ways she plans to increase the sea grass numbers. One is to replant sea grasses that wash up on shore and the second is to save sea grasses from other locations that will most likely be destroyed by humans and transplant them in SMS.
Photo by Paul Cowell
Another future project is tied directly into the sea grass project. Irene plans to reintroduce sea horses into SMS once the sea grass numbers, a sea horse’s natural environment, increase.
“Sea horses are really amazing creatures, so many people are fascinated by them,” Irene said, “but it’s very easy to capture them.” This is one of reasons sea horse populations have declined globally she explained. They are favorites for both aquarists and, like such things as rhino and elephant horn and shark fin, a favorite ingredient in Chinese “medicine.” And the sea horse’s docile nature makes them easy prey for collectors. The other reason for the decline in their population, like so many other marine creatures, is that their natural environment continues to be destroyed by human irresponsibility. She hopes to begin this project within the year.
As she hopes all these project will help SMS continue to grow and flourish, Irene says that the first step is to educate the guests, especially the kids, and even those employed by Shangri La. Irene will personally take adult guests out for a snorkel safari and the kids out for a tour of the sanctuary.
Irene said, “we have to make people aware that each action of an individual can affect a marine environment… it’s our job to take care of it, we need to share the responsibility.”
A Blogger’s Introduction
Photo by Paul Cowell
I want to send a warm hello to all of our Dive Scotty’s Blog readers out there and, if you will allow me a few minutes of your time, give you an update about blog news and to introduce myself as the new editor-in-chief.
I’ve been here at Scotty’s for almost eight months now and have written a couple articles for the blog, as you can see below. Peter, our diving manager, decided recently to hand the reins over to me. It is my goal to keep this blog updated regularly with articles about diving off of Mactan Island and to give you the reader an idea of what life is like here at Scotty’s.
I am by no means a professional photographer but I hope that photography will play an important role in the revamped blog. We will be using photos I take, as I continue to work on my photo editing skills, but I will also be using photos taken by a good friend of the shop Paul Cowell. Paul’s a very good photographer with a great eye. He just went back home to Singapore but while Paul was here he took lots of photos that we are fortunate enough to be able to use for the blog.
I also ask you, the reader, to become engaged with the blog and with the stories and photos posted on here. If you are a blogger and have stories that pertain to the topic of this blog, topics like scuba diving, marine conservation, or the Philippines. I will be more than happy to link them here and, as a request, ask that you please link to our blog as well if you so choose. I think a community of bloggers is more effective at getting our thoughts and ideas out than one lone blogger working on their own.
Scuba diving is a wonderful and exciting sport that we here at Scotty’s love to share with any and all people out there.* Thank you for your time and look forward to engaging with you in the future and hope you keep reading our blog.
Sincerely,
Chris Greising
*There are few exceptions but more on that later
Ocean Diving by Chris Greising.
I’ve missed ocean diving. For the last 8 months, besides the very rare trip to the Florida Keys or Atlantic Coast, I had been relegated to diving fresh water springs in the heart of horse country Florida. Most any diving is good diving but there is nothing like exploring a sunken wreck or diving on a reef that’s teeming with life and color.
I got lucky too, getting the chance to come work here in the Philippines. When it comes to marine variety it doesn’t get much better than the Philippines! And here in Cebu we are located right smack dab in the heart of the Coral Triangle. For those who are unfamiliar with this geographic location, the Coral Triangle is home to the highest concentration of marine life diversity in the world. Earlier today I was diving with two students at the Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary (SMS) and in just two square meters I saw a Stone Fish, a couple of Lion Fish, a Snowflake Moray Eel, and a type of Nudibranch called Anna’s Chromodoris. While in the Florida springs I would see a catfish (a rather large catfish I’ll give it that), a soft-shelled turtle, and lots of rocks. And that would be every dive.
Needless to say, I have missed ocean diving very much.
The two students I had with me today are brother and sister Mats and Evy, on vacation from the Netherlands or Holland, one of the two.* Either way, they were Dutch, I do know that. They are both very good kids, Mats is on the national golf team and Evy is on the national tennis team. I had a sense I would be watching them winning Grand Slams and Major Tournaments in the near future and I’ll be able to say, “I taught them how to scuba dive!” Perhaps they’ll even be in the Olympics for their sports, I’ll just have to look in both the Netherlands and Holland delegations to try and spot them.*
Though I have missed ocean diving immensely, there is one thing that I miss about working at a local dive shop. Here when my students are finished with their course they fly back to their respective countries. I can only hope that they come back one day and perhaps take a specialty class or come out for a dive or two with me. But unfortunately more time than not they never will. While at a local dive shop they usually live close by so I was able to continue teaching them and diving with them. Basically it is always sad to have to say goodbye to a guest after getting the opportunity to share their vacation with them, in this case diving, something I love so much. On the other hand, I greatly enjoy getting to meet people from all over the world, so it’s a bit of a catch-22 I suppose. But on the whole I’m very happy to be here and looking forward to meeting my next guests.
Extended Range Diving – by Chris Greising
I was sleeping on a black sand beach in Hawaii while I hunted for my first job in the diving industry. I had flown out to the Big Island from the Florida Keys the day after I completed my training and had about $200 in my pocket, a small tent, and the determination to find work as a dive instructor. During one of my daily 20 mile hitchhiking commutes into Kona from Ho’okena beach I decided to stop into a small bookstore along the way. While wandering around the stacks and stacks of books I happened upon one that instantly caught my eye.
The book was called Shadow Divers and it seemed to have it all: exploration, adventure, mystery, history, and of course Scuba diving. It’s the story of a group of wreck divers that are tipped off to a possible wreck off the coast of New Jersey in some particularly dangerous diving conditions. After getting to the site and descending down they discover that the wreck is of a previously unknown World War II German U-Boat. After multiple dives to the wreck, there are no markings on the outside or clues found on the inside that can be used to identify this ill-fated submarine. The men attempt to track the history of the U-Boat on land and at 73 meters [240 feet] under the Atlantic Ocean at the submarine’s final resting place.
I instantly became fascinated by the type of diving they were doing. While recreational dive limits are 30 m or 100 feet extended range technical diving allows divers to go deeper for longer periods of time. Another area of technical dive training teaches how to enter, or penetrate, wrecks. It’s also a much more equipment intensive and physically and mentally challenging form of diving than recreational diving. So when I was offered the job here at Scotty’s and learned I could train in SSI’s Extended Range [XR] diving specialty, I jumped at the opportunity.
The course included me, Scotty’s diving manager Peter, married couple Philip and Silke, and our XR trainer Ray. The couple are both doctors from London. Philip works with the disabled, mostly veterans, and Silke is a pediatrician. They are a very nice and friendly couple who love diving and beer. Originally they planned to just come to the Shangri La and do some recreational diving but when Ray responded to one of their emails, Philip saw Ray’s XR Instructor certification and, in Silke’s words, his eyes lit up. Philip is a dive master and Silke a rescue diver so they both came into the training with a good amount of experience under their dive belts. This is a necessity when one begins to think about taking a technical dive training course.
Extended Range dive course is challenging and not something recommended for those without that experience and confidence in the water. The equipment is heavy, the dives are long and complicated, it’s physically demanding, and there’s a lot of new material to learn. You have to rely on your skills, your training and your problem solving abilities in order to have a successful XR dive. Even something as simple as deploying a surface marker buoy on a reel gets more complicated when you have to worry about run times, switching bottles, and maintaining your buoyancy and trim all at the same time.
But don’t let all that scare you off. Extended Range diving is completely worth it to anyone who has the desire and experience. There’s really nothing else like it.
Our first dive as certified XR divers was to the Liloan Wreck. The wreck sits on its side at about 50 meters with the top at about 35 meters. On the day that we went we were blessed with some fantastic visibility for the site. I had heard that on average it might be around five meters but luckily we had around 15 meters of visability for our dive. The wreck is about 30 meters long so we could see about half way down the ship from either end.
We came down the ascent/descent line and, unlike recreational diving where it is recommended that you descend fins first, we laid out flat on our stomachs with our knees bent and arms out, trying to give our best sky diving impersonation. From this position, watching the wreck as it slowly begins to emerge and take shape as we descended upon it was truly an incredible sight. Would be brilliant if white soft corals cover the wreck but at that depth everything has this dull green tint, it really is another world down there. We made our way around the wreck, reaching 45 meters in depth before coming up along the propellers to the side [top] of the ship. From there you can see into the ship’s interior but we never actually penetrated the wreck. After our 23 minutes were up we made our long, slow ascent back to the surface.
Philip, Silke and Ray made another dive this morning to Marigondon Caves. When they came back they told me they were able to see just how much of a difference being XR trained made. There was another dive operation at the site and as they got to the opening of the cave, the other non-XR divers peaked into the cave and had to come right back up since the opening sits at around 35 meters. Philip, Silke, and Ray, on the other hand, were able to actually enter the cave and explore around before they had to make their accent to the surface. I think that story perfectly sums up what being XR trained adds compared with recreational diving.
As a side note, I want to add that Silke really did have four cylinders on, two on her back and two stage bottles on her side. You’re welcome Silke, enjoy those well deserved beers, and it was a real pleasure diving with both you and Philip this past week!
Up, up and away…
I’ll admit I was a bit hesitant to go parasailing. I’ve never been one for heights so being strapped into a parachute then going a few hundred meters into the air while being pulled by a boat wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time. It took a little convincing by the other Scotty’s employees going but I finally relented when one guy’s partner failed to show up. It also didn’t help that we were last to go and so were able to see just how high up we’d be from the boat deck!
Once our time came, and after we listened to the safety briefing, a few butterflies were still flying around my tummy as they strapped us in. As the line was being let out I realized that it wasn’t nearly as harrowing of an experience as I was expecting. We slowly started to drift up and I soon saw what the big deal was, it was quite exhilarating and the view from up there is spectacular. We could see all the outer islands around Mactan and over to Cebu City. From up there the water and the reefs look amazing. It’s an experience I would highly recommend to anyone, even those who aren’t particularly keen on heights.
Diving with children…unforgettable experience!!! by Daniele Di Federico
When my child can start diving? How long it will take? These are the most common questions that come in the mind of everybody when we talk about diving and children….I used to answer “your child should be at least bigger than the tank!”
When I see that the child is too young to dive, (by the way there are different programs offered from the diving agencies SSI and PADI starting from 8 up to 12 years), they can take just few hours or keep them busy for several days. One of these is the Scuba Ranger program of SSI, the one Evan and Kevin joined yesterday morning here in Scotty`s. After filling the forms with their parents and watching a video showing what’s involved in diving they are then introduced to the swimming pool…Some additional information about breathing, swimming, buoyancy and review of hand signals and they were ready to start making their first bubbles under the water!!!
They were very fast learners, they enjoyed the time in the pool swimming and playing with the underwater Frisbee, and they were so confident that I decided to teach them also the clearing mask skill…I know many adults who would be jealous to see how easily they learn it!!After we took a lunch break the weather, waves, and visibility were perfect so we decided to continue our adventure in the ocean!!! We entered from the beach, but didn`t need to swim too far to find water “deep enough” for the descent down to in 2 meters. As we reached the bottom hundreds of colorful fishes were all around us giving us a very warm welcome to their underwater world! We continued to swim in the middle of beautiful corals unt
il we found HIM, the most famous tropical fish in the world….Nemo!!
Our mission was complete but the surprise didn`t finish there…pipe fish, cornet fish and a beautiful lion fish came under our sight to give us a nice goodbye.
Back at the dive center we shared some more comments about the experience we had, I gave them the participation certificate and helped them to ring our famous diving bell to close the best day of adventure. A day that will be hard to forget, for all of us!
The Best Dive in Mactan…? -by Chris Baker
A few dive sites may come to mind such as Marigondon Cave or Talima Marine Sanctuary. But what about Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary A.K.A SMS. I’ve been diving the site almost daily for 10 weeks now whether teaching open water divers, taking deep dives or floating around in the shallows looking for macro marine life. For me it’s simple because SMS has something for everyone.
For those of you who are unaware of the details of SMS it is a protected marine sanctuary that is taken care of by a group who work within the Shangri-La Resort, Scotty’s Action Sports Network and Amores Charities. The Sanctuary covers more than 1000 square meters and hosts a thriving coral reef with abundant marine life. Protection of the area was granted officially by the government in 2007 although many years of unofficial protection had already taken place prior to this. In 2011 SMS received its own wreck which has now developed corals and has small schools of glass fish in between its twisted stern.After spending a whole day completing a Digital Underwater Photography course with my student Lain from Indiana USA on February 1st to this morning’s dive with a colleague, SMS is still surprising me.
Some of the species within the sanctuary have decided to stick around and have quickly learned that they are less likely to end up on a dinner plate if they stick within the sanctuary zone.
This all makes for fantastic diving weather its deep or shallow and on every dive you can see something different whether it’s the huge groupers coming up from depth, the schooling trevally hanging out under the table corals, the hundreds of unicorn fish darting around, the large school of juvenile batfish or even the 2 or 3 barracuda that seem to have made the place ‘home’. The list goes on.
But today on February 3rd I was in for a treat as I was taking a picture of a Stargazer Eel a little tiny Blue Ring Octopus came dancing along the sandy sea bed. It was simply stunning I watched in amazement as two dangerous species came together. Then suddenly the Octopus darted towards a little hole in a rock and spooked out a white crab as it came tumbling out the other side. It was a fantastic moment underwater to see some of nature’s deadly predators coming together.
For me this is why the Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary is the best dive site in Mactan.
Another day ends at the office
Great diving again today. We had twenty meter visibility on the Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary, which was perfect for the SSI Photography course Chris was teaching.
Ailene took her guests over to Talima, but this time no sight of the Blue Spotted Ray living by the old wreck. However they did spot a Mantis Shrimp out of its hole, a Moray Eel, large Potato Cod, and they shared their safety stop with a circling school of Jacks.
Jovanih and Kayla volunteered to take a clean-up dive around the boat jetty and came back with a sack full of garbage – well done!
Back in the office it was left to Ray to hold the fort as both Peter and Yohann were off sick. He took bookings for several Open Water Courses and confirmed a candidate for the Instructor Training Course starting March 2nd.
Our guests from Mandarin Divers Hong Kong will leave today after six days teaching side mount and Poseidon MarkVI. It’s been a pleasure hosting them and we look forward to welcoming them back soon welcoming them again in the very near future.
And lastly congratulations to Peter and Mika on successfully completing their recreational Poseidon CCR course. According to our instructor Scott we were his two best students (that day)!
Dive Scotty 