How to learn to dive in the Philippines

Getting a Padi Open Water certification is a breeze if you know where to go, says Cathy Adams

The Philippines is the perfect place to learn to dive (Blue Orchid Resort)

Crossing the Padi Open Water certification off my Asia travel bucket list seemed as essential as making it to Thailand’s full moon party or hiking Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu (although I still haven’t done either).

I’d done some tepid introductory dives off Zanzibar, Tanzania, Boracay – the currently shuttered party island in the Philippines – and Cebu, a slender island further south, where I’d dived with whale sharks a few years previously. But I was always a beginner.

Where to do it

This beginner wanted to be a certified one. There are plenty of places to get certified in Europe, although the chances of seeing any interesting marine life are slim.

Which is how I arrived at the Philippines: it’s cheap (the Padi qualification costs just over £300, and living expenses are reasonable), the weather is great (summer typhoon season aside) and the waters are gin-clear. Plus the marine life is world-class, with whale sharks, tropical fish of all shades and green turtles all swimming about metres underwater. And it’s still got a little sniff of the unknown about it.

Green and hawksbill turtles swim in the waters off Cebu (Blue Orchid Resort)

Cebu, in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, has developed fast as a tourist-friendly resort and scuba island, with dive shacks dotting both coasts. It has marine life on its side, too. There are thresher sharks swimming around in the waters to the north and whale sharks abound in the south, near the town of Oslob, where I’d dived a few years earlier.

I went in the middle and chose Moalboal, a finger of land on Cebu’s western flank. It has 19 different dive sites with varying degrees of interest – coral formations, sardines (more on those later) and wrecks. I was sold.

How to do it

First, I needed to find a resort to register with. I chose low-key, friendly Blue Orchid Resort, which comes with a house reef, enthusiastic instructors and a homely vibe to relax in afterwards.

Becoming Padi Open Water certified involves three things: diving theory, confined water dives (in a swimming pool) and then four open water dives.

Cebu is beautiful in and out of the water (Cathy Adams)

I’d done the online knowledge course first, which saved a day spent in a classroom looking longingly outside at the blue-green Philippine Sea. Which meant it was straight into the pool to learn basic skills – such as how to fit the regulator (what divers breathe through) to the buoyancy device, how to affix the mask and which flippers to wear. Then came the more technical stuff: including removing the mask and draining it, removing the regulator and floating about in the pool for 20 minutes to prove that you can swim.

The underwater bit

Then for the fun stuff – open water diving. The Padi Open Water certifies you to dive to a depth of 18 metres, all tracked very efficiently via a dive computer that’s strapped to my wrist.

My first dive was easy: my dive instructor Matt and I walked in straight from the shore to the reef, past the many moon jellyfish hanging around at the top. Reaching a depth of almost 11 metres, I swam with hawksbill turtles (critically endangered, recognisable by their colourful shells) and baby giant moray eel.

Cathy is A-OK under the water (Blue Orchid Resort)

The second dive, a couple of hours after the first, still ranks as one of the most exciting dives I’ve ever done: the Moalboal sardine run. Around 20 metres from Panagsama beach in Moalboal, the reef drops off dramatically. Here, thousands of sardines congregate in a tight blob, swirling around underwater in an enormous ball. I spend half an hour gently swimming with them.

My third and fourth dives were at the Dolphin House dive site (spoiler: no actual dolphins). Here, it’s not just the marine life that’s worth seeing, but rather the diverse range of coral, including staghorn and bubble coral. There are also wacky sea creatures like the nudibranch, a royal blue sea slug, and I clocked pipefish, an ugly stonefish wedged into a bit of coral and five green turtles, with visibility of around 15 metres.

The sardine ball is not to be missed (Blue Orchid Resort)

Out of the water, I downed a couple of happy hour Red Horse beers (a Philippine brand that’s strong enough to strip walls with) to celebrate my newly gained Padi Open Water certification, which means I can dive with any Padi-recognised shop without doing the introduction dive first.

I’ve since done better at the bucket list: diving with a pod of bottlenose dolphins and baby reef sharks in a remote atoll in the southern Maldives. Which is far better than a full moon party…

What you’ll see

Clownfish

Better known as the colourful fish from Finding Nemo. The orange and white striped fish live among the stinging sea anemone (so don’t touch them).

Triggerfish

These striking flat fish glow bright colours underwater. I spied blue and green striped versions in Cebu.

Divers can see clownfish, made famous by ‘Finding Nemo’ (Blue Orchid Resort)

Lionfish

These fish are instantly recognisable by their red, white and black fanned out fins and headdress.

Turtles

Both green and Hawksbill turtles swim in the waters off Cebu. Even if you don’t dive, you can occasionally see them popping their heads out at the surface.

Lionfish are on show with their fanned out fins and headdresses (Blue Orchid Resort)

Jellyfish

Translucent moon jellyfish like hanging around on the surface of the warm waters. To avoid them, dive down a few metres.

Sardines

Particularly around Panagsama beach. The best time to see the sardine ball is in the morning.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Philippine Airlines flies to Manila from London Heathrow. From Manila there are regular domestic flights to Cebu.

More information

A Padi Open Water course at the Blue Orchid Resort costs around £306.

padi.com