In recent times the Philippines have not fared well as a dive destination - political troubles and rumours of mistreated reefs give the impression that this tropical idyll could well be avoided. But we always wondered about it and thought it would be mad to bypass a country with over 7,000 islands ringed
by coral reefs.

We headed to the Central Visayas region and Alona Beach on Bohol. This area has many small hotels dotted beneath coconut palms and the pace of life is extremely relaxed. Rows of dive boats are moored offshore - these native bancas - outrigger canoes - are about 50 foot long and are easy to dive from, with bamboo stabilisers making useful hand holds.

On our first morning, we sailed across to nearby Balicasag Island, a designated marine sanctuary. The reefs were in excellent condition, with nudibranchs, small fish and sea stars, schooling jacks, barracuda and huge fans. Visibility was excellent too, it felt like we could see for miles but we reckoned it was probably close to 40 metres. After a week we had seen much of the area with trips around Panglao and to Cabilao, and came to realise that the tales we had heard of wrecked reefs may had been deserved in the past - but certainly weren't now. The diving was definitely good enough to compete with other Asian countries.

In the evenings we would sit with our toes in the cool sand, gin and tonics sweating quietly on the table. It was just wonderful on Alona Beach. So much so that by the end of that week we really didn't want to leave, even though we were about to visit another Filipino island. We really wanted to just stay and absorb the atmosphere but we were off to another nearby island - would it be just as good? Check out the Dumaguete page...