Apo Island turtles & reef

Travel about 25 km south to Malatapay beach in Zamboanguita, a 40 to 60 minute drive, then take a banca across to Apo Island, roughly 30 to 45 minutes. A private transfer timed to your boat is the simplest way, especially with snorkel or dive gear. Boat hire and the sanctuary fee are paid locally at Malatapay.

The island is a barangay of Dauin, so that is the address you will see on maps and listings. The public outrigger boats out to it leave from Malatapay beach in Zamboanguita, the next municipality south, about 10 km beyond Dauin town. Dive resorts on the Dauin coast are the exception and run their own boats from their own beaches. If you are not diving with a resort, plan your day around Malatapay.

Yes, and it is how almost everyone visits. An early start lets you snorkel with the turtles and over the reef and be back on the mainland the same afternoon. The boat times set the shape of it: the first crossings from Malatapay are from about 7am, and coming back the last boats off Apo leave between about 2 and 3 in the afternoon, with 4pm the latest the coast guard allows. We time the drive to a morning boat so you get the calmest water and the full day rather than the tail of it.

Plan on being off the island by 3 in the afternoon. Boats back to Malatapay generally leave between about 2 and 3, and 4pm is the latest departure the coast guard allows, earlier if the sea is getting up. This is not a printed timetable you can book a seat on: you come back with the boat that brought you, so agree the return time with your boatman before you get off at the island, and treat the afternoon figure as a deadline rather than an option. Missing it is not a missed ferry. Apo has no pier, the bancas land on the sand, and there is nothing after dark, so it means a night on the island in a basic homestay with mains power that runs 6pm to 10pm.

It depends on your pickup point, group size, vehicle and waiting time, so we quote each trip individually. Send us the details and we will reply the same day with a fixed, all-in price for the car. The boat and sanctuary fees are separate and paid on site.

If you are snorkelling, yes: be back in the car at Malatapay about three hours before the flight (an hour for the road plus the two hours Cebu Pacific asks you to be at the airport), and off the island an hour before that, so a 1 PM flight means leaving Apo around 9 AM and a 5 PM flight around 1 PM. A morning flight does not fit. If you are diving, no: the no-fly surface interval is at least 18 hours after multiple dives, so the last dive has to be the day before you fly. Take the earliest boat back whatever time you fly, because the crossing is the leg the sea can move, and spend the gap at Dauin or in Dumaguete with your bags in the car.

In the "Anything bulky?" box on the quote form, with your bag count. It is worth doing even for a day trip, because the kit makes two journeys here: down to Malatapay in the car, then onto a banca and back, with your driver waiting through the crossing. A car sized to four passengers and nothing else is the wrong car for four people with full kit, and this is the one detail that decides which one we send. If you are diving with a Dauin resort that runs its own boat from its own beach, say so - the day looks different and the pickup is timed to the resort rather than to Malatapay.