Ultimate Visayas Safari – Malapascua, Bohol & Oslob, Philippines
A$7,690
Duration: 11 Days | 10 Nights
Vessel: Atlantis Adventurer liveaboard (maximum 16 guests)
Embarkation & Disembarkation: Atlantis Dumaguete Resort, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental
Season dates: 27 June – 12 December 2026 | 28 August 2027 – 15 January 2028 | 9 September 2028 – 6 January 2029
Spend a longer time in the Visayas, one of the most beautiful and bio-diverse regions in Asia. Ten nights, a different dive site every day, and a route built around the encounters divers travel to the Philippines for. The stunning walls of Cabilao. Malapascua’s Gato Island, a protected breeding sanctuary for the sea krait and home to resident whitetip and bamboo sharks. Kalanggaman Island with its magical sandbar and nearby islets. And the Malapascua favourite, Kimud Shoal, known for frequent sightings of thresher sharks. From there the Adventurer continues on to Bohol — Anda, Panglao and the sanctuary of Balicasag — with a grand finale of diving with whale sharks in Oslob and the reefs of Sumilon and Apo Island.
Because you sleep on top of the dive sites, there is no pre-dawn banca ride from a resort to reach Monad Shoal. You wake with a coffee already moored above it. This itinerary is hard to beat if you want a wide variety of locations as well as incredible diving.
Day 1: Embarkation, Dumaguete
Board the Atlantis Adventurer at 5pm at Atlantis Dumaguete Resort. Welcome briefing, dinner on board and an overnight cruise north through the Bohol Sea.
Day 2: Cabilao Island, Bohol
A famously healthy reef with dramatic drop-offs and one of the best gorgonian walls in the region. Look out for… scorpionfish, frogfish and mandarinfish at dusk, with schooling tuna and jacks patrolling the blue off the wall.
Day 3: Gato Island, Malapascua
A marine sanctuary and protected breeding location for the beautiful sea krait, with resident whitetip and bamboo sharks sleeping in the caverns and a shark tunnel running clean through the island. Gato is alive with nudibranchs, harlequin ghost pipefish and pygmy seahorses; photographers will find it hard to choose between macro and wide angle.
Day 4: Monad Shoal, Malapascua
Malapascua’s reputation was built on close-up encounters with thresher sharks at the Monad Shoal cleaning stations, with manta and eagle rays also frequent visitors. These mesmerising creatures are the highlight of any trip. Rather than a pre-dawn start from an island resort, the Adventurer is moored right on top as you enjoy a morning coffee.
Days 5 & 6: Kimud Shoal & Kalanggaman Island
Kimud is a sunken island rising steeply from deep water — another reliable thresher shark cleaning station and a magnet for pelagics, with schooling hammerheads a possibility in season. Kalanggaman is the perfect paradise island: a magical white sandbar, blue water and beautiful wall diving with an abundance of small creatures and the occasional ray or shark. An excellent opportunity for a beach day.
Day 7: Anda, Bohol
Bohol’s quiet east coast, and some of the finest macro diving in the country set against healthy hard coral gardens. Look out for… ornate ghost pipefish, flamboyant cuttlefish, pygmy seahorses and a long list of nudibranchs, with pelagics cruising the wall.
Day 8: Balicasag Island
A marine sanctuary of dramatic multi-hundred-foot vertical walls, four kilometres south-west of Panglao. Look out for… turtles, whitetip and blacktip reef sharks, schooling barracuda and trevally, and large groupers and napoleon wrasse hiding in the overhangs.
Day 9: Panglao Island
Reef and wall diving along Bohol’s south coast. Look out for… turtles, frogfish, ghost pipefish, pygmy and thorny seahorses and many different species of nudibranch. An optional land excursion is available for those so inclined — Bohol’s renowned Chocolate Hills and the tarsiers, the world’s smallest primate, or a cruise on the Loboc River.
Day 10: Oslob, Sumilon & Apo Island
A grand finale. The day begins snorkelling at Oslob with the gentle giants, the whale sharks, before diving the coral gardens and drop-offs of tranquil Sumilon Island. Conditions permitting, the day finishes at Apo Island — one of the world’s best known community-organised marine sanctuaries, home to over 650 documented species of fish and an estimated 400 species of coral.
Day 11: Disembarkation, Dumaguete
Disembark at 7am at Atlantis Dumaguete Resort, followed by your transfer to Dumaguete Airport. End of tour.
Important – before you book:
• Advanced Open Water certification with a minimum of 25 logged dives is required.
• Minimum age is 15 years. Children under 15 are not accepted on dive charters.
• Dive and accident insurance is mandatory on all Atlantis liveaboard charters.
• A dive computer is mandatory, and every diver must carry a visible (signal tube) and audible (whistle) surface signalling device.
• Maximum recreational depth is 30m/100ft with a maximum dive time of 60 minutes. Night dives and dives below 18m/60ft require the relevant certification or the SSI Night/Deep module.
• The Atlantis Adventurer carries a maximum of 16 guests and requires a minimum of 8 paying guests to sail.
• The vessel carries spare dive equipment but no rental equipment on board. Rental gear can be hired for the week from Atlantis Dumaguete Resort and must be collected before embarkation.
• We strongly recommend arriving in the Philippines at least one day before departure. The charter departs on schedule and will not wait for missed flights.
• Embarkation is 5pm on Day 1 and disembarkation is 7am on Day 11. Early check-in and late check-out are not available on the liveaboard.
• The final itinerary and dive sites are at the Captain’s discretion and may change for weather, safety or logistical reasons.
Tour Price
• Price shown is per person, twin share, and includes return land transfers between Dumaguete Airport and the vessel.
• All prices displayed are subject to availability and can be withdrawn or varied without notice.
• Prices are guaranteed once booking is confirmed by us and paid in full by the due date.
• Depending on your needs and group size (individual, couple, family, group, etc.) we will provide the final pricing for your tour.
• Single travellers are quoted at the single-occupancy rate shown above; a solo diver also pays a double fuel surcharge, as the surcharge is levied per cabin space.
Approximate add-on costs (not included – confirmed at time of booking):
• Marine park fees: approximately PHP 12,500 per person, paid on board to the vessel.
• Fuel surcharge: approximately PHP 25,000 per cabin space, paid on board to the vessel. Single occupancy uses two spaces, so the surcharge is doubled.
• Nitrox for the charter: approximately US$267 per person.
• Rental equipment, full set (excluding dive computer): approximately US$41 per person per day, hired from Atlantis Dumaguete Resort. Dive computer approximately US$17 per day.
• Air transfer Manila – Dumaguete or Cebu – Dumaguete: from approximately US$149 per person each way, including economy airfare, 30kg checked baggage and terminal transfers.
• Transit hotel, Manila: from approximately US$135 per room per night, including breakfast, based on two sharing.
• Apo Island day trip, pre or post cruise: approximately US$139 per person.
• Oslob whale shark day trip, pre or post cruise: approximately US$160 per person, minimum 6 people.
• All add-on amounts are indicative only, are set by third parties and local municipalities, and are subject to change without notice.
• Add-on amounts are shown in the operator’s published currencies, US dollars (USD) and Philippine pesos (PHP), and are converted at the rate applying when your booking is confirmed.
Inclusions:
• Ten nights twin share accommodation on board the Atlantis Adventurer.
• Return land transfers between Dumaguete Airport and the vessel.
• All meals and snacks on board.
• Complimentary local soft drinks, and social servings of local beer, rum and wine with dinner.
• All scheduled diving, up to five dives per day including a night dive where conditions allow.
• Tanks, weights, air fills, boat and dive guide.
• Use of the lounge, deck and TV areas.
• Wi-Fi on board, subject to reception.
Exclusions:
• International and domestic airfares.
• Marine park fees, payable on board.
• Fuel surcharge, payable on board.
• Nitrox.
• Rental equipment and dive courses.
• Land excursions and day trips.
• Transfers other than the Dumaguete Airport transfers listed above.
• Transit hotels in Manila, Cebu or Dumaguete.
• On-board purchases.
• Travel, dive and accident insurance (mandatory).
• Airport taxes and charges.
• Any private expenses.
• Personal incidentals such as telephone calls, room service and laundry.
• Tips to the crew and dive guides, porterage fees and others which are personal in nature.
• Any other services not mentioned in the itinerary.
Please refer to our Standard Booking Conditions for booking terms and conditions.
