Cervera Shoal - Dive Site in Bohol

Approximately 646 km from the Philippine’s capital City in Manila is the Cervera Coal, a famous diving haven for expert divers. The Cervera Coal is popularly known as the Snake Island, Monad Shoal, Spaghetti Reef and Sunken Island.

The Cervera Coal diving site is situated about approximately17 km from the Tagbilaran port along the southern Island of Bohol. Divers can get to the vicinity for about 30 minutes boat drive from the mainland.

The diving experience required to merit diving the Cervera Coal must be PADI advance diver or higher level. The diving location has an average depth of 18 meters with a maximum depth of 35 meters.

The current at Cervera Coal is about 1-2 knots with good visibility at 10-30 meters. The dive type consists of cave, shoal and reef and is not suitable for snorkeling. Diving activities at Cervera Coal are excellent for marine biology and marine life photography.

Cervera Coal is popularly known as the Snake Island because of the numerous sea snakes that overflow the diving area. In the 1980’s, literally hundreds of sea snakes are seen by divers which is a guaranteed breathtaking site.

However, the snakes were over harvested by the local fishermen. The snakes were sold at only 20 pesos each at the local town market thereby contributing to the drastic eradication of the sea snake population at Cervera Coal.

These days, divers can only see a few snakes mingling along the Cervera Coal. Along with this are the fewer corals left due to the rampant dynamite fishing in the shoal that wiped out its coral sanctuary.

It is notable that the currents along the Cervera Coal can be quite strong at times. Owing to the strong currents, divers find the need to make a few safety stops on free waters. The divers can easily drift to blue waters when making these stops hence it is advisable to bring an inflatable tube to signal the boatmen as to the location of divers when they surface.

The shoal has a slope edge of 45 degrees downwards to about more than 100 feet where the snakes are commonly found. The Cervera Coal has a steep wall dropping to more than 200 feet on the southwest side of the shoal.

The dive to Cervera Coal is usually a second dive combined with diving activities at Pamilacan Island. Diving at Cervera coal is worth doing to enjoy the opportunity to view small reef fish, a few corals and sponges, the starry moray eel, Nudibranchs, Moray’s like wide-eyed and the famous black and white banded sea snakes.

The top of the shoal is teeming with sea urchins and although the surface current may at times become tough to divers, the currents usually mellow once divers reach a little deeper on the shoal.

The Snake Island of Cervera Coal is a famous diving site among tourists and Filipino divers. The breathtaking underwater site gives divers a one of a kind diving experience with a brushing experience of sea snakes.