Dive Review of Magic Island & Magic Oceans/https://magicresorts.online in
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Magic Island & Magic Oceans/https://magicresorts.online: "Magic Island/Magic Oceans Combo: Very Good Diving!", Jan, 2023, by Michael Wood, WA, US ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 15 Helpful votes). Report 12333 has 2 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After 3 years of Covid delays, our group of 14 finally made it to the Philippines. Magic Island on Cebu Island (Moalboal area) was our first stop for 6 dive days. All flew into Cebu but from various other Asian hubs. Consensus was to avoid Manila and Philippines Air, both being disorganized and inconvenient. Flying into/out of Manila requires luggage claiming, tight connections and a taxi ride from a distant terminal to the other. We chose land based resorts to avoid the Petrie dish of liveaboards with Covid, back in 2020. Proof of vaccination and filling out an online e-travel app required for entry. Mask use inconsistent in transit, none used at either resort, which is all open air, of course. I dove Magic Island 12 years ago and remembered the plethora of frogfish, ghost pipefish, soft corals, nudis and a sardine swarm out by Pescador Island. The typhoon that blew through Dec. 2021 significantly damaged the reefs around Magic Island, though we were able to get to the less damaged ones and visit the sardine swarm that had moved from Pescador Island to near White Sand Beach. The Dive Center Director inexplicably had the boats go to the two most damaged dive sites for our first two dives, and we all came up disappointed and questioning why we had come all that way for diving rubble. The diving got better as we explored more dive sites and enjoyed Pescador Island for its own beauty of overhangs and walls. All in all Magic Island diving turned out to be good. Diverse coral, plentiful fish schools, nudis, a couple frogfish, common pipefish, schooling razorfish, turtles, pygmy seahorses, many species of anemones/clownfish, eels and a few nudis. Viz was marginal, but that can happen anywhere. I mainly shot macro because of the heavy backscatter. However, the last afternoon of diving there produced a whale shark encounter that was epic for the 4 divers who witnessed it. We didn’t see any sharks. Magic Oceans, which involved a day trip by van-ferry-van from Magic Island to the Anda area of Bohol Island was very worth the effort. The reefs over there were not damaged by the typhoon. There we saw numerous nudis, frogfish, pygmy seahorses, fantastic soft corals at “Coral Garden” dive site especially. At the top of Turtle Point we saw no less than 10 turtles lying about with giant remoras cleaning their shells. Juvenile batfish, scorpionfish, giant puffers, porcupinefish, hairy squat lobsters, many schooling tropicals, ornate and common ghost pipefish, pygmy seahorses, whip coral gobies, tiny crabs & necklace shrimp were all common. Saw one clown triggerfish and one juvenile harlequin sweetlips. One dive we were on a mission for nudis and between our dive guide and others we spotted and photgraphed at least 10 different species, plus a very vibrant flatworm. All in all, I’d dive Magic Oceans for the next 2 years, then go back to Magic Island to let the reefs recover. Viz was significantly better at Magic Ocean. Currents both places were either non-existent or mild 1-2 knots a few times. We did a whale shark dive about an hour north of Magic Oceans, and while it was fun to get close to the gentle giants and video them, there were several dozen snorkelers that were irritating. The local town had a boat in the bay feeding shrimp to the whale sharks, which we didn’t know was going to happen until we were on our way there. The dive staff and kitchen staff were fantastic. Customer service was top notch, responsive and helpful. The traditional Philippine dive boats were spacious (except one) including a “comfort room”. Water was 80F consistently—5 mil wetsuits advisable. Both resorts threw a party our last night with a band, roast piglet and dancing, with the staff joining in. They had laundry service both places, which is really helpful, as nothing ever dries out from hand washing due to the 90% humidity and rain at times every other day or so. February-May are probably better weather months. Transfers from the airport to Magic Island, Magic Island to Magic Oceans and back to our Cebu hotels were well organized with contract vans. Food was good, and flexibility for customizing was always happily accommodated for pescatarians, low carb, vegetarians, dairy-free. Never had beef, but plenty of pork, chicken, fish, ribs, shrimp and veggies/rice/noodles. Decent desserts, strong coffee but bring your own decaf unless you like instant. The cabins, dive shops, dining areas were all well maintained. Magic Oceans had more spacious rooms, as it was built after Magic Island and they made improvements. Inexpensive massage at both places. Some large “fat” tanks available at both resorts for those not good on air, but you must reserve them in advance. All of us dove nitrox, for which there is a nominal charge. A/C good and continuous hot water heaters made for good long hot showers after two dives. Some took tours to Kawasan Falls river hike “canyoneering” near Magic Island, and a day trip to the tiny monkeys reserve, riverboat cruise, ATV-ing and zipline all in one day near Magic Oceans. I ended up spending about $3,000 for my stay with the 27 dives I did, all in, a bargain these days!
Websites	Magic Island & Magic Oceans https://magicresorts.online
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Indonesia, Maldives, PNG, GBR, Philippines, Hawai'i
Closest Airport	Cebu	Getting There	Through any Asian/Middle East hub.
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-81°F / 27-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Loosely enforced 55-65 minute dives.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	1 or 2
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Lots of outlets in rooms. Magic Oceans had a camera room in the dive shop, which I never used. Staff handled gear carefully and carried my big rig out the long jetty onto the boat and into a garbage can with fresh water. Lots of opportunities for macro, some for wide angle with soft corals and schools of fish, with limitation of scatter/viz not great.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Norbert Melnick in CA, US at Jul 07, 2024 15:59 EST

I would like to know how the house reef was and the temp of the water.

By report author: Michael Wood in WA, US at Jul 07, 2024 18:35 EST

I never dove the house reef nor do I remember if my buddies did. I imagine it’s ok but not great. Water temp was 80F virtually every dive.

By Jason O'Rourke in CA, US at Jul 15, 2024 20:23 EST

House Reef at MI was fun and had lots, but could be very shallow with low tide. You want booties and matching fins here as you might walk 100 yards. Also an issue for day dives getting to boat. At MO, they ran the boat every night, so never did the 'house reef.'

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Dive Review of Magic Island & Magic Oceans/https://magicresorts.online in Philippines/Magic Island & Magic Oceans

Magic Island & Magic Oceans/https://magicresorts.online: "Magic Island/Magic Oceans Combo: Very Good Diving!", Jan, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Magic Island & Magic Oceans/https://magicresorts.online in
Philippines/Magic Island & Magic Oceans