Diving in Moalboal with Amigos Dive Center

Most backpackers come to Moalboal for one thing: the Sardine Run. A shoal of millions of sardines swirling just off Panagsama Beach, every single day of the year. With a snorkel from the surface it is already impressive. But only when you dive do you hang right in the middle of it, with the shoal closing over your head.

At Amigos Dive Center, a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center on the Panagsama coast road, that shoal is quite literally the house reef. You put on your wetsuit in the dive shop, walk into the water and swim out to the sardines. A short boat ride further out is Pescador Island, with the opening in the rock that everyone here calls the Cathedral.

Amigos opened in 2018 and within a few years grew into a dive center with three boats of its own, a pool, an air conditioned classroom and an in-house underwater photographer. The instructors teach in a whole list of languages, so there is a good chance yours is among them.

See Amigos Dive Center

Never dived before

No experience? You can still join in here. On the Amigos Try Scuba an instructor walks you through the basics in shallow water, and then you take an easy dive over a calm, shallow reef. There is no course attached, so you take all the time you need. It costs ₱2,000, or ₱3,000 if you want an action camera along for your own footage.

Rather go straight for the official version? Then pick the PADI Discover Scuba Diving at ₱3,500. You start with a briefing and a session in the pool, and then you dive with your instructor to twelve metres at most. If you want more afterwards, that dive counts towards your Open Water later on.

The only thing you do beforehand is fill in a short medical questionnaire. Travelling with kids? There is the Bubblemaker programme for them, and from ten years old they can get their Junior Open Water.

Getting your PADI Open Water in Moalboal

Want your certification? The PADI Open Water at Amigos takes two to three days. You do the theory in the classroom, practise in the pool and then make four dives in the sea. After that you are a certified PADI Open Water Diver, cleared to dive to eighteen metres anywhere in the world.

On the courses an instructor never has more than four students at a time. Your lessons can be in English, but also in Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish or even Basque, as long as that instructor is around at the time. So just ask when you book.

The course costs ₱19,000, about €268. Everything is included: PADI eLearning, your certification card, the full gear, the Moalboal dive fee, the boat trips and drinks and snacks on board. Already know you want to go further? Then take the Open Water and the Advanced together for ₱35,000.

Fun dives at the Sardine Run and Pescador Island

Already certified? Show your card at the counter and you are in. A dive on the house reef with the sardines costs ₱1,500, a boat dive ₱1,700. Amigos dives around fifteen regular sites around Moalboal, from Pescador Island and Talisay Wall to a Moai statue at 25 to 40 metres, for anyone with their Advanced.

The most popular option is the three dive package for ₱4,500. At seven in the morning you dive the Sardine Run first, then you hop straight on the boat to Pescador Island, and the third dive is somewhere else along the coast. You are back around midday, with the afternoon free for the rest of Moalboal. Staying longer? Amigos puts together a ten dive package for ₱15,000.

Besides the sardines, Amigos says a normal dive here brings green and hawksbill turtles, anemonefish, boxfish, frogfish and sea snakes. And if you are really lucky, a whale shark swims past. The boats are built for divers: the biggest, Aurrera, dates from 2024, has room for 26 people and two toilets, and the coffee is ready on board.

Curious what it looks like underwater? Take a look at Amigos’ Instagram and Facebook.

InstagramFacebook

Your own photos among the sardines

What really sets Amigos apart is Pablo S. Quiza, their in-house underwater photographer. He has been a photographer for almost thirty years, for a long time with the Reuters news agency, and now dives with guests to capture them at the Sardine Run or another site.

A photo session costs ₱6,000 per diver and takes about forty minutes to an hour. You get at least ten high resolution photos, sent the same day through a link. It does not have to be your hundredth dive: even on your first time underwater the divemasters help you into the right position. Prefer freediving? That works too.

Taking your diving further

Hooked? At Amigos you can climb the whole PADI ladder. The Advanced Open Water (₱17,900) takes two days and gets you to thirty metres. After that come Nitrox, Rescue Diver and Divemaster, and because Amigos is an Instructor Development Center, you can carry on here and train as an instructor.

Further along already? Then Amigos is one of the places in Moalboal where you can learn technical diving, with sidemount, decompression diving and rebreathers.

What does diving with Amigos Dive Center cost?

What you pay depends on what you want to do. An intro dive starts at ₱2,000, a fun dive at ₱1,500 and the PADI Open Water costs ₱19,000. The main prices are in the price block further down, with the converted euros underneath.

The fun dives include the full gear, the Moalboal dive fee, your dive guide and drinks and snacks on board. You get a dive computer and a torch during a course; on a fun dive you rent them on top. Nitrox is ₱250 extra per tank.

You reserve through WhatsApp, with a deposit of ₱1,000 per diver that comes off the total. Once booked, a course cannot be refunded, but it can be moved. And if a dive is called off because of the weather, you get your money back or a new date. Prices can change, so always check the current rate with Amigos Dive Center itself before you book.

Why we recommend Amigos

Moalboal is a dive village, and along the Panagsama coast road one dive school sits next to the other. What we like about Amigos is that they are right opposite the Sardine Run: no bus, no tricycle, you just walk into the water. On a morning with three dives, that really saves time.

On a first course, what matters most is who is in the water next to you. At Amigos an instructor has four students at most, and you notice it. On top of that, this is a place that takes the reef seriously: Amigos is a PADI Eco Center, a member of Green Fins and regularly organises beach and reef clean ups.

And want a photo of yourself among the sardines that you will actually want to frame? There is hardly a better place to arrange it than here.

Discount with REBELSONTHEROAD

Diving with Amigos? Mention the code REBELSONTHEROAD as soon as you message them or reserve your dive. The discount applies to everything: fun dives, intro dives and courses.

Amigos charges you directly, with no booking platform in between, so there is no button that sorts the discount for you. Put the code in your very first WhatsApp message, along with your dates and what you want to do.

Diving in Moalboal: what do we recommend?

In Moalboal? Then we would definitely spend a morning in the water. You can see the sardines with a snorkel too, but only when you dive do you really swim right through the middle of them.

Never dived? Start with the ₱2,000 Amigos Try Scuba or the ₱3,500 PADI Discover Scuba Diving. In one morning you know whether it is for you, and you keep the afternoon for the rest of Moalboal. Got three days and want more? Then the Open Water is a certification you will get to use for the rest of your trip through Southeast Asia.

Already certified? Then take the three dive package: the sardines first, then Pescador Island. When you book, pass on your highest certification, how many dives you have logged and when you last dived. Was that last dive more than six months ago? Brush up your skills first. And do not plan your last dive right before your flight: leave at least a day in between.

Amigos is on the Panagsama Beach coast road, right opposite the Sardine Run. Want to see what it looks like underwater first? Check out their Instagram and Facebook.

InstagramFacebook

Mention the code REBELSONTHEROAD in your first message, or you miss out on the discount.

See Amigos Dive Center