My Dive Trip to Leyte at Sogod Bay in the Philippines

I'll be joining a group of friends (dive buddies) that I dive with at Green Island on holiday weekends. Many of whom live in Southern Taiwan and frequent Kenting regularly. There will be more than a dozen of us meeting in Leyte at Sogod Bay, on the Chinese New Year break this year (February of 2016).

The trip will be twelve days in all. The over all travel time round trip, will be roughly three days. From Taiwan to Manlia is a two hour and fifty minute flight, with an over night stay in the capital city. The following day will consist of a morning flight of one hour and fifteen minutes to Tocloban (Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport), in the Northern part of Leyte. From the airport we will hire a van, which will drive us (travel route) to the dive resort known as Peter's Dive Resort at Sogod Bay which will take two hours and 40 minutes one way.

There is a great deal to discover on the reefs around Sogod Bay. Most notable are the Whale Sharks that frequent the area. This is considered one of a few places in the Philippines where you can swim with these creatures. Most will agree that it is the best of the well-known destinations for guaranteed sightings. The reasoning is that the Whale Sharks in Oslob are hand-fed shrimp daily by local fisherman encouraging the tourist draw. The Whale Sharks there are juvenile (small in size) and unnaturally feed at the surface. The Whale Sharks known to migrate near Donsal, can be seen in their natural environment and are as mature as they come (large in scale). The Whale Sharks migrate to Donsal, to feed on the plankton that blooms in the waters each season. The drawback here is that the density of plankton, can cause visibility to be less than desirable. The other concern, is that this tourist destination is highly trafficked, with tons of divers in the water at any given time. With guaranteed sightings, ideal visibility, and fewer tourists, Sogod Bay is considered the best place for Whale Shark diving.

For more information on Southern Leyte scuba diving, visit this website. It has some interesting details.

As for my experience, I will follow up on this thread after my return and share what I have discovered.

So, we just returned from the Southern Leyte dive trip a few days ago. I'd have to say the thing that surprised me the most were the numerous Frogfish. I was fortunate enough to come across a Hairy Frogfish. They are known for being very elusive and not commonly sighted among divers.

I decided to put together a Cuttlefish video. One of the creatures on my bucket list was the Flamboyant Cuttlefish.

As for the Whale Sharks, we weren't so lucky. According to the local diving community there, they hadn't been seen for a few weeks and weren't likely to be checked off our bucket lists. Apparently when it rains it pours and there are windows of dry spells.

I'll post some more content once I have sorted out all the images and video.

I captured a Stargazer burrowing down in the muck and ambushing a passing fish. Watch him devour a fish by snatching it with his tongue.

Put together another short one of Frogfish. I got lucky and came across a Hairy Frogfish.