Pescador Island - A Small Island Full of Surprises

Inhabited by two cats and equipped with a lighthouse, Pescador Island rises as a small pillar from a 300m depth to only a few meters above surface. Its diameter is only about 50m. But underwater, a fantastic, never ending world awaits you!

Starting at the Kasai Village Resort, the boat drive takes only 20 minutes. Slowly we dive down to the plateau surrounding the island with an extent of some to 20 meters. We go to the reef edge to descend and dive the wall.

At about 18m, the first unique experience is calling us.

Diving the Scary Area

Slowly we enter a hole. Inside a huge cave reaches from 40m to 18m. It's called "The Cathedral"- and it is a cathedral, with a really spooky and spiritual effect. So take care!

Enter the cathedral carefully and slowly turn around, getting startled by a huge face looking at you!

The lights through the entry holes make the face even more mystical.

Yes, there's life inside this face and it's worth exploring!

With better weather conditions, you can enjoy the sunrays entering the holes!

Diving the Cosy Area

Going round the Island, the scenery changes into the other extreme. A colourful soft coral wall warms your heart again.

It's time to switch from the big picture to small critters, and the other way round. The Philippines are well known for their critters and the region around Pescador Island is contributing to this image big time.

Colorful nudibranches all around!

Be patient and look on every soft coral, bubble coral, and feather star to find the marvels of Moalboals nature.

The reef is full of sponges, gorgonias, and various colored feather stars. Of course, such a fabulous reef is inhabited by thousands of reef fishes like the anthias, the sea goldies, and much more.

One of these marvels is the frogfish. Often sitting on a sponge around the corner, observing what's going on in his district looking for a good bite. You can easily overlook the froggy, despite its size.

According to the seasons, you can find different kind of froggies around Pescador Island.

Pescador Island is small. But it's worth making at least two dives there; One starting from the south and one starting from the west side of the island. It's about twenty minutes by boat from the Panagsama beach.

Twice, I've had a very good experience diving Pescador Island with the crew of Kasai Village Dive and Spa Resort. They have recently built a new dive boat and enlarged the divers facilities. They've even built a camera and charging room for photographers.

Meeting the Big Ones

Pescador Island is also a nice place for the big stuff. Whitetip reef sharks are common guests. With a bit luck, you'll see Thresher sharks and whale sharks. There's a good chance to see turtles too.

Barracudas or hunting trevallies can be observed as well as thunas. Looking closer to the reef we find the lionfishes, murays, or the scorpionfishes. The scenery changes a lot along the seasons.

Diving Pescador Island is possible throughout the year.

What About the Sardines?

We all remember the huge school of sardines, which stayed there recently for more than two years. Will they come back again? I asked the locals but they were unsure.

However, the conditions around the Island are so good that a new population may settle down and grow into a big school like the former.

What do we mean by conditions?

Plenty of food and shelter are only one part; the existing currents are another.

We finish the dive on the wonderful roof of the reef. It's obvious that fishing restrictions contributed to the huge biodiversity at this reef. The lights are fantastic here too.

The surface interval is very relaxing, and dreaming on the banca makes you really look forward to your next dives.

Pescador Island is for sure full of surprises and worth revisiting any time.

Further Reading

• Overview of Diving in the Philippines
• Directory of Dive Shops in the Philippines
• Directory of Dive Sites in the Philippines
• Overview of Diving in Cebu and Bohol
• More Articles by Henry Jager
• Dive into Henry Jagers absolutely incredible Image Gallery

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