Dive Review of Pintuyan Dive Resort in
Philippines/Leyte

Other Philippines reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Pintuyan Dive Resort: "Whalesharks & Critters", Apr, 2023, by Michael Bode, Braunschweig, DE ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12504.
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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Pintuyan Dive Resort is a German-Philippino run resort in Southern Leyte. Divers can stay in one of 5 Bungalows or one of the 3 rooms. There is also a pool, a big restaurant with a shaded terrace. All a/c bungalows have a room with a double bed with mosquito net and a separate bathroom with hot shower, washbasin and toilet. Food is served in the restaurant or on the terrace. In the morning you can choose from different breakfasts and for dinner we had to choose one of the two menus offered every day. Food was tasty and plenty. There is no beach at the resort. When entering the water in front of the resort you have to balance over boulders and big pebbles. Pintuyan, a small town, is 15 minutes on foot away and the main road is just behind the big wall which protects the resort from the traffic. There is not much traffic on the road and during the night it is very calm indeed. The diving area of the resort is behind the bungalows. There are several big tanks for watering cameras and diving gear. Every diver has a dedicated place where wetsuit, bcd, fins and regulator can be stored. In the morning the dive guides bring the tanks and guests do the setup individually. The dive guides carry everything on the dive boats. There are two dive boats. Many dive sites are quite close, others can be reached in 45 to 60 minutes. When visiting further away dive sites, divers usually do two dives and return to the resort for lunch. When visiting critter dive sites in the vicinity the dive boats return to the resort after every dive. One of the highlights of diving in Pintuyan is the presence of (resident and migratory) whale sharks. We often watched them from the shore just in front of our bungalow. The usual restrictions watching whale sharks apply here too: only snorkeling with the giants is allowed. However there is of course always a chance to see them during the dives. We were lucky and saw two whale sharks during a dive. Pintuyan is not Oslob. There are not many visitors here. Only on weekends locals come for the whale sharks and one or two tourist boats from the other side of Sogod Bay come for sightseeing. Until typhoon Rai hit Leyte in 2021 Pintuyan was a diver’s heaven with beautiful hard and soft coral up to the shallows. Napantao, a dive site to the north, was (and still is) one of the oldest underwater national parks in the Philippines. Sadly this is all gone now. Nowadays you have to dive down to 15 m to see some of the corals which once covered the shore. The reef top of Napanto which once was teaming with life is now a desert. There is only coral growth left on the wall. However Pintuyan is also good for critter hunting, which we did extensively. In the end we had an impressive list of critters: many frogfish, several mimic octopuses, blue ring octopus, seahorses. Underwater macro shooters will definitely enjoy diving here. One last tip: On the east coast of Panaon Island gold diggers are working underwater. With compressors standing on the shore these gold diggers spend hours under water filling sand in big sacks and eventually washing the gold on the shore. Conditions are extremely primitive. Every year people die and many suffer from DCS.
Websites	Pintuyan Dive Resort [same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Thailand, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Indonesia, Phillipines, PNG, Solomon Islands, Malaysia, Seychelles, French Polynesia
Closest Airport	Tacloban City	Getting There	Flight from Manila to Tacloban City. Transfer by car (4h) to Panaon Island in southern Leyte.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	26-27°C / 79-81°F	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	15-20 M / 49-66 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No deco dives.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Do not forget your macro gear.

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 623 dive reviews of Philippines and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Philippines Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Philippines
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Philippines reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.43 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Pintuyan Dive Resort in Philippines/Leyte

Pintuyan Dive Resort: "Whalesharks & Critters", Apr, 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):

Dive Review of Pintuyan Dive Resort in
Philippines/Leyte