Diving with Palawan Divers in El Nido

El Nido is famous for the limestone cliffs, hidden lagoons and islands of Bacuit Bay. Nearly everybody sees that on an island hopping tour, from a boat, looking down. There is a whole other half of it below the surface, and a day of diving is the easiest way to get at a side of Palawan most travellers skip entirely.

The dive sites around El Nido are reefs with the same clear water and the same limestone, seen from underneath. They are all within boat range of town, which means a day of diving slots into a stay here without costing you anything else.

Palawan Divers is a PADI 5 Star IDC dive centre in El Nido, which means they run everything from a first breath underwater through to training new instructors. Never dived? Do a discover scuba dive or your PADI Open Water here. Already certified? Join the guided fun dives or carry on with a course.

They work in small groups with personal attention, which matters most when you have never done this before. If you want to dive in El Nido, this is where we would send you.

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Never dived before

You can get in the water here with no experience at all. A discover scuba dive is the gentle introduction: you learn the basic skills and the safety rules first, and then you actually go diving with an instructor beside you.

You find out what it is like to breathe underwater and you see the reef at El Nido up close, without committing to a full course. The right first step if you want to know whether diving is for you.

Getting your PADI Open Water

If you want the certification rather than the taster, the Open Water course takes two days and six dives, and at the end of it you can dive independently.

During the course you learn to:

• handle your equipment
• descend and ascend safely
• control your buoyancy
• communicate underwater
• deal with the standard problems before they become problems

Finish it and you are a certified PADI Open Water Diver, allowed to dive anywhere in the world to a maximum of eighteen metres. The certification does not expire, so you can keep diving for the rest of your trip.

If you have three or four days in El Nido, we would go for the Open Water rather than the taster. You come away with the certification and the foundation for every dive you do afterwards, in Coron, Moalboal, Malapascua and anywhere else.

Fun dives if you are already certified

Already have a card? Join the guided fun dives. Which sites you visit depends on the conditions that day and the experience level of the group.

Fun dives here are also run in small groups, so there is more attention on you and less swimming along at the back of a line of twelve people.

Going further

If you want more out of your time in El Nido, they also run:

• PADI Advanced Open Water
• PADI Rescue Diver
• PADI Specialty courses
• PADI Divemaster
• Refresher dives
• Night dives, when the season and the weather allow

Night diving is not available all year in El Nido. Whether you can get in the water after dark depends on permission from the local authorities, the season and the conditions, so ask when you book whether it is possible during your stay.

Had your certification for a while but not been in the water lately? A refresher dive is worth it. If it has been two years or more, sort your skills out on a refresher before joining an ordinary fun dive.

What diving costs at Palawan Divers

From June to the end of September you pay a lower off season rate. In the price block further down you can see both rates side by side with the euro conversion, so you can see immediately what a fun dive, an Open Water or an Advanced costs during your travel window.

What you end up paying depends on the number of dives and the programme you pick. On fun dives your equipment and a PADI divemaster are included, with a maximum of four divers per guide. On a full day out, lunch, fruit and drinks are included too.

The Open Water course runs over two days and six dives, and includes the eLearning, all equipment, a dive computer, food and drink, a shirt and your logbook.

You pay on the spot in Philippine pesos. Check the current prices with Palawan Divers before you book, so you know you have the latest rate.

And the best part: the Rebels on the Road discount comes on top of this, in either season. The figure in the block is your starting point, not your final price.

Why we recommend this

Almost everybody experiences El Nido from the water: island hopping, lagoons, hidden beaches. Underneath it there is an entirely different place, and one dive day gets you there.

What sets Palawan Divers apart for us is the small groups and the attention that comes with them. Whether you are diving for the first time, working towards your Open Water or already certified, they look at your actual level rather than putting everyone on the same boat and hoping.

Diving is one of the things we would genuinely think about in El Nido, and especially if you want to see the famous lagoons and islands from a completely different angle.

Rebels on the Road discount

Diving in El Nido with Palawan Divers? Use the code REBELSONTHEROAD when you book and you get the discount for Rebels on the Road readers. Current prices, courses and available trips are on the Palawan Divers site.

Already certified? Tell them your highest certification, how many dives you have logged and when you last dived. That way they can match the dives to your actual experience rather than guessing.

Diving in El Nido: worth it or not?

Staying three or four days in El Nido? Then we would spend one of them in the water. The island tours show you the lagoons, beaches and cliffs of Bacuit Bay from above, and a dive shows you a completely different El Nido.

Never dived? A discover scuba dive is a good introduction. You do not have to commit to a whole course, and in half a day you find out whether diving is for you, which leaves the rest of your time for the lagoons, Nacpan Beach and everything else.

Want the PADI Open Water on this trip? El Nido is a good place to do it: warm water, sites within boat range, and small groups. Leave enough days for the course and enough time after your last dive before you fly.

And if you book with Palawan Divers, do not forget the code REBELSONTHEROAD.

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