Kalipayan - A Dive Site in Bohol

Kalipayan is a diving spot in Danao in the island of Panglao (Panglao Island is connected to Bohol by Tagbilaran) . Kalipayan is located approximately two kilometers near the Belleview Rock Resort. It is also linked with the Atlantis Dive Resort on Alona Beach, Panglao (six minutes by boat). Kalipayan is also known as the “Happy Wall” and easy dive house reef of Alona Beach. The navigating conditions are usually calm and without currents (0-1).

Kalipayan is 09°32.494N; 123°45.639E of Danao, Panglao Island, Bohol, Philippines. Its depth is 3 - 25 metres (10 - 80 feet). Most interesting at 7 - 12m (23 - 39'), not so interesting below 25m (80'), while its visibility is 10 - 25 metres (30 - 80 feet). Kalipayan is a good dive since it is not affected by dynamite fishing.

To describe the Kalipayan dive further, one can encounter a series of sea water flora like the Nive Blue and Sea Fans and Table Corals and Brown Daisy Corals, and fauna like the Dothead Rockcod, Black and Yellow Harlequin Ghost Pipefish, the Comet, Banded Pipefish, and Small Baracuda. You can even catch the aggressive fish Blue-finned or Titan Triggrefish from May to June. These are just among the things that make the dive worthwhile. And note that Kalipayan is also close to the Danao Beach Habagat Wreck.

To dive Kalipayan, you will start sloping to the right shoulder going south west. But you will start in a wall dive and then slope at the end. The wall starts at about three to four meters and drops down to about twenty to twenty five meters where you will find a sandy bottom. It is a good long dive good for two dives. The dive is most interesting at the higher levels at seven to twelve meters and not so much below twenty five meters. The dive could either be shore dive or a drift dive with a boat. It is also good as easy dive for PADI Open Water Divers or higher. In addition Kalipayan is a good site for snorkeling.

It is best to dive anytime of the year since Bohol is not quite on the radar of typhoons, though it is a wet season during February, which is still not particularly bad for diving. The southern part of Bohol on the other hand has no distinctive wet or dry season. And although there may be a wet season for your Bohol diving, remember that the location is tropical so the rains are short, sweet, and relieving.

Bohol with these descriptions of the Kalipayan, it only proves that Bohol indeed already boasts of a vast sub-terranean sanctuary that many scuba divers all over the world is visiting for its colorful corals and wide array of fishes and hard to find creatures of the vast deep.