Diving the Bacuit Archipelago off El Nido

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
4
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
5
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
62 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Asia
country
Philippines
Length of time
1 day or less
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 80
Time of year visited
November
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
199th/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 60% SUMMARY RATING: Great experience

Summary

The Bacuit Archipelago is seen as one of the highlights of the Philippines – hundreds of islands with huge jagged limestone sides looking like something from the Lost World often opening up to reveal a turquoise coloured lagoon or perfect white sandy beach.  Most people go by a tour to check these spots out, but its also worth considering doing some diving around here – you still get to have the experience of taking a boat through the beautiful islands, but with some diving also included.  Only things you won’t see are the lagoons and spend time chilling on a beach

 

Top tips:

  1. Make sure you dive the Tunnel on Helicopter Island – you know that scene at the beginning of the Little Mermaid when she’s in her cave?  Yep, that’s it.  A 40m / 130ft long tunnel that runs through Helicopter Island, has two entrances and a large wide cave in the middle cave.  It also has the benefit of some great micro things to see – variety of slugs and even Mandarin Fish
  2. South Miniloc Dive is also great – this is actually the more famous dive.  There is a huge Cabbage Coral Garden (more impressive than is sounds) and thousands of Yellow Snappers
  3. I went with Submariner Diving Centre and would recommend
  4. Where to stay – El Nido has way more options than the likes of Coron, but still light on mid range (or at least very few if don’t book ahead).  I’d actually recommend The Outpost Beach Hostel – it’s a party hostel, so be prepared for that, but it more than makes up for it with its sensational views out to the archipelago
  5. When to go – for weather, you ideally want November to May as this is when it’s driest in Palawan.  For visibility – lower your expectations.  The sensational 80+ visibility to the east of Palawan in places like Tubbataha Reef is not found in El Nido.  But, it is by no means restrictive and aiming for April – May time will see a clear improvement

highlights

#1 Heading into the wonderful Tunnel dive site on Helicopter Island

#2 Seeing the thousands of Yellow Snapper in amongst the Cabbage Coral Garden

#3 Taking the dive boat through the simply stunning Bacuit Archipelago and gorping at the views between dives

#4 Seeing al of the other marine life on display in the various reefs dotted around the Archipelago

#5 Chilling out in El Nido proper

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"?  That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others.  That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score

This overall experience score is calculated by:  take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10).  Then convert into a score out of 100

Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique".  Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides.  So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique".  But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience).  So, both of these scores are standalone