Big fish, small fish, weird fish and everything in between. That's the allure of Magic Island Dive Resort. This dive resort sits at the southern tip of Cebu Island's Moalboal peninsula, which is regarded as one of the most popular diving destinations in the Philippines.
Magic Island is a boutique property with ten thatch-roofed and palm-shaded guest cottages tucked into an oceanfront garden. This exclusivity allows the resort staff to focus on personal attention and small group diving experiences. Each of the traditionally designed residences incorporates modern comforts such as air conditioning, mini bars, and WiFi connectivity. Private porches open to landscaped pathways that connect guest cottages to resort amenities and the dive center. On-site facilities include an on-site spa, yoga terrace, pool and an open-air dining pavilion serving international and Asian favorites. Resort offers breakfast, half board and full board meal plans.
Magic Island's waterfront dive center is located for easy access from guest rooms. It is a PADI 5 Star Dive Center with classroom spaces, photography workspaces, individual gear storage areas, three compressors for redundancy and nitrox capabilities. A trio of traditional banka launches provide three daily boat dives, with night dives on request and scheduled trips to the marine preserve at Pescador Island.
Magic Island offers excellent shore diving on an expansive house reef that begins right at the dive center steps and includes various underwater landscapes, The diverse nature of the house reef accommodates everyone from snorkelers to technical divers. Nearshore areas of rock, rubble and seaweed create ideal environments for muck diving activities. This area rewards macro enthusiasts with sightings of pipefish, frogfish, octopus and hundreds of species of invertebrates.
Hard and soft coral growth takes over beginning at depths of ten feet, and the seabed follows a gradual slope to the edge of a wall that drops to depths of 200 feet. The house reef's topography is ideal for multi-level profiles and repetitive dives, as there is a large area to explore. Turtles are frequently sighted and at dusk, mandarinfish emerge to perform their famous courtship rituals. Night dives on the house reef bring out decorator crabs, harlequin shrimp, cuttlefish, nudibranchs, snake eels and more.
A highlight of the Moalboal region is diving with massive schools of sardines. At a site not far from Magic Island Dive Resort, small sardines form schools numbering in the hundreds of thousands. These protective formations in turn draw predators such as trevally, barracuda and sharks. Big animal enthusiasts can also sign up for day trips to swim with whales sharks in the Oslob region.
Magic Island boats visit sites on Pescador Island, which is known for big wall dives, bright soft coral groves and hard coral reefs that form grottoes, canyons and small overhanging caverns. A sampling of signature sites includes Goby Point, where a seabed of sand and boulders shelter a menagerie of marine life that includes boxer shrimps, signal gobbies, mototi octopus, ornate ghost pipefish and a plethora of nudibranchs. Talisay Wall is covered in black coral and riddled with small caves that shelter cryptic species. The slopes at nearby Talisay Point are prime hunting grounds for frogfish, crocodile fish, flamboyant cuttlefish, snowflake moray eels, and blue-ringed octopus.
Caradonna Adventures works with Magic Oceans Dive Resort and the sister property Magic Islands Dive Resort, which is located on the island of Moalboal. Agents can custom-tailor stay & dive itineraries that give divers the ultimate Philippines diving experience. Combo packages are available for divers wanting to experience the best of diving in both regions; stay & dive at both Magic Oceans & Magic Island Dive Resort are available. Please contact your Caradonna agent for more information on combo packages & more.