Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte offers many other stimulating activities in addition to fabulous, uncrowded whale shark watching.
Scuba diving is the most popular activity, and there are 3 established dive shops in Padre Burgos offering diving led by experienced dive masters and a range of diving courses for beginners up to dive master level. With some of the least disturbed coral reefs in South East Asia, there are about 25 recognised dive sites in Sogod Bay, with Napantao wall dive and the night dive at Padre Burgos pier being especially commended.
With plenty of shallow reef beds and over 500 species of coral to be found, snorkeling in Southern Leyte is superb. Dolphins and, to a lesser extent, pilot whales are common all year around and with tourist numbers being very low, most visitors watching dolphins will do so without another boat, let alone another tourist, in sight.
There is an extensive network of fascinating caves in the hills close to Padre Burgos, with guides available to help you explore them. The town of Libagon at the top of Sogod Bay, offers trekking in a wild gorge to reach spectacular waterfalls while at Agas Agas the highest zip line in the Philippines spans another steep and deep gorge. The island of Limasawa, guarding the mouth of Sogod Bay, is recognised as being the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines after the explorer Ferdinand Magellan held the ‘First Mass’ there on Easter Sunday 1521.
Padre Burgos Castle Resort offers catamaran sailing, with introductory lessons for novices, and sea kayaking as well as whale shark watching and all the activities mentioned above.
Dive shops in Padre Burgos include Peter’s Dive Resort, Sogod Bay Scuba Resort and Southern Leyte Divers.
Sogod Bay News 