Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte is known as a place to snorkel with whale sharks migrating through Sogod bay. We went around Christmas time hoping to see the whale sharks but they were not yet there – their migration patterns are not well understood. We still had a great time diving and exploring the area. Padre Burgos diving has good macro and coral reef in excellent condition.
For now Southern Leyte is more of an off beaten track diving destination in the Philippines. There are only a couple of diveshops and not many divers, especially during the periods when whale sharks are not around. We enjoyed diving in small groups with no other dive boats around. There is also an excellent night diving at Padre Burgos jetty – probably among the best night dives we ever did. To take a break from diving we rented a motorbike and explored the area driving through hills, rice fields and along the ocean coast.
What to see
Logistics
There are a number of ways to get to Padre Burgos. We flew to Tacloban which has direct flights from Manila and Cebu. We then hired a taxi and drove south to Padre Burgos. The road is paved all the way and is in good condition. We travelled in late December 2014 – about a year after typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit the area causing major destruction and loss of life. Key infrastructure including airport and main roads was fully functional when we travelled though most public and private building were still being repaired.
On the way from Tacloban to Padre Burgos you pass the Leyte Landing memorial commemorating the landing by General MacArthur in October 1944 marking an important moment in the liberation of the Philippines in WWII. The monument is very popular for photos and is one of the major tourist attractions in the area.
Once out of Tacloban the road passes through picturesque rice fields, climbs up and winds through the forested hills before descending to the coast of the Sogod Bay. The road is in very good condition with traffic only picking up along the coast of Sogod Bay. Total journey from Tacloban to Padre Burgos took about 4 hours.
We stayed and dove with Peter’s Dive resort. The resort is on the beach of Sogod Bay and our room had a terrace overlooking the Bay with water within five meters of our doorstep. The diving operation is well organized and professionally run. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. We spent Christmas night at the resort and had a delicious seafood feast -basically guests put together some money and the cook went to the market and bought fresh fish, prawns, crabs and cooked us superb seafood dinner.
We hired a motorbike and went around exploring the area. There is a nice restaurant and bar at Southern Leyte Divers. Going further along the shore there is a very good restaurant Baybayon seafood at Kuting reef resort. The restaurant is right on the beach with excellent sunset views. Since we were traveling during Christmas season every village along the road had some kind of a holy family installation – all very creative.
We were combining Padre Burgos trip with a trip to Bohol. So after our stay in Padre Burgos we took a ferry from Hilongos – about two hour drive from Padre Burgos along the western shore. The ferry was a huge banca and the crossing took about four hours. The schedules and departure points of the ferry seem to vary a lot – sometimes going from Maasin or Bato instead of Hilongos and stopping entirely during the rainy season. It is best to call the resorts and confirm what ferry options are available at the time.
On the day we were taking the ferry Hilongos had their town fiesta. So while we were waiting in the port for our ferry we could watch preparations including many decorated boats getting ready for a procession with lots of music and very festive crowds.
All in all it was a very nice trip to the part of the Philippines not yet fully discovered by tourists. We had nice diving, ate great seafood, and got to see all sorts of local fiestas and celebrations even though we missed the whale sharks (we got to see them eventually on a trip to Donsol more on which is here).
