Dumaguete City & Apo Island Tour

Apo Island, 30km south of Dumaguete, is the Philippines' most celebrated marine sanctuary — and one of the world's great success stories in community-based reef conservation. In the 1970s the reef was heavily damaged by dynamite fishing. The community voted to ban all fishing in 1985. By the 1990s it had become one of the most biodiverse reefs in the world.

The signature experience is snorkeling or diving with sea turtles. Green turtles and hawksbills are everywhere — you'll see 10–30 in a single snorkel session, completely comfortable with humans because they have been protected for 40 years. The coral is spectacular: table corals as big as cars, walls of soft coral, and a fish density that makes other reefs look empty.