Kasai Village Dive Resort…Sardines galore!
Kasai Village offers serenity and underwater gems!
Kasai Village is a small diver’s resort outside of Moalboal Village on the island of Cebu, Philippines, offering both quiet and simple comfort. They offer amazing service, a welcoming ambiance, swimming pool, attentive dive staff and enjoyable meals. From the Cebu International Airport it’s roughly 2 ½ hours by car. This 13-room resort, 9 sea view and 4 garden view rooms, has a laid-back vibe but has all the comforts of a well-organized larger dive resort.
Rooms are simple with a spacious shower but limited counter space for toiletries. Both room types (sea view and pool view) offer air conditioning, desk, armoire, and either 2 twin beds or one queen-size bed. Without TVs in the room there is nothing to distract you from the serene atmosphere.
Diving is via traditional Philippine Bangkas (a unique looking oversized outrigger canoe) which provides ample gear storage space and comfort, but make for an unusual giant stride entry. Fortunately, the ladder for returning to the Bangka is very wide and comfortable with a large camera table and marine head. Most dives are 60 minutes but with the option for small extensions if you and your dive buddy group have the air to spare for longer dives. The boats depart from a very long concrete dock, so you want to have your diving gear organized to avoid the long walk back to the dive shop or your room. Water and fruit are provided during your surface interval.
Super typhoon, Odette, damaged the island in December 2021. Since then, the top side signs of damage are limited with the diving rebounding to the point of being enjoyable again. Signs of the damage can be found in the shallow of some specific dive sites but once you reach a depth of 40-60 feet, signs of damage disappear and, in some cases, reveal amazing gorgonian sea fans and other abundant marine life.
The sardines are still seen with regularity, and en masse, as close as within a 10 minute boat ride of Kasai Village. Viewing these schools of sardines move and morph as a single unit is an awesome sight I never tire of. Other sites, like those found around Pescador Island offer plentiful sites including eels, turtles, shrimp, sea crates and colorful coral with good visibility. Additionally, we saw warty frog fish, pipefish, common octopus, zebra eel, porcelain crabs, anemones and clown fish, orangutan crabs, juvenile emperor angelfish (a personal favorite), mandarin fish, Pegasus Sea moths, various nudibranchs of all sizes and some quite active, boxer crabs and stonefish.
Are there signs of storm damage? Yes, but diving in this area is still worth a visit as there is a broad range of critters and even those areas with storm damage are enjoyable once you are in deeper water.
