Most divers arrive in Bohol with one word on their lips: Balicasag. What fewer of them realise is that Balicasag isn’t a single dive. It’s an island ringed with distinct sites, each with its own personality, and one of them has a name that sounds like it belongs in a fairy tale.
Black Forest.
Roll backward off the boat here and you drop into one of the most complete dives in the Visayas: a shallow garden that tips over into a deep, coral-draped slope, with a silver storm of fish waiting out in the blue.
Where it is and why the name
Black Forest sits on the flank of Balicasag Island, a 30-minute bangka ride from Alona Beach. The dive starts shallow, over a sandy, seagrass-dusted reef top at around five metres, then slopes steadily down toward 40.
The name comes from what grows in the deeper reaches: dense thickets of black coral. Here’s the fun twist, though. Black coral isn’t actually black on the outside. The living colonies can look green, brown, even golden. It’s the hard inner skeleton that’s dark, which is where the name comes from. Swim over these deep-water gardens and “forest” suddenly feels exactly right.
The silver tornado
The headline act at Black Forest isn’t the coral. It’s the jackfish.
A huge, permanent school of bigeye trevally lives just off the wall here, and when conditions line up they gather into a slow, swirling column, a shimmering tornado of silver you can hang beneath and watch for your entire safety stop. It’s the shot everyone wants and one of the most hypnotic things you’ll see underwater anywhere in the Philippines.
The current that feeds those fish also makes this a lovely gentle drift on the right day. You barely kick. The reef just slides past while you soak it in.
Turtles, macro, and the shallow finish
Black Forest isn’t all deep drama. The shallow reef top is a highlight in its own right. Green and hawksbill turtles graze the seagrass up here, and because Balicasag is a heavily protected marine sanctuary, they’ve long since stopped fearing divers. You’ll often drift right alongside one as it crunches through breakfast, completely unbothered.
Look closer at the coral shelves and the macro life reveals itself too: nudibranchs, shrimp, reef fish tucked into every ledge. It’s the kind of site where you end the dive shallow and slow, over the prettiest part of the reef, off-gassing while turtles cruise by.
Who it’s for
Because it starts shallow and eases you down, Black Forest works for a wide range of divers. Newer divers can stay up on the reef top and still have a brilliant time with the turtles and the fish.
To properly explore the black coral and get among the deeper action, though, you’ll want the depth training and comfort that come with Advanced Open Water. The best of Black Forest lives a little deeper, and it rewards divers who can get there calmly and within their limits.
Book early, dive happy
One thing every Balicasag site shares: access is capped. The local government allows only 150 diver entries per day across the whole island to keep the reef pristine, and there’s a small environmental fee that funds the sea patrols keeping it that way. That protection is the entire reason the fish school in their thousands and the turtles sit still.
The catch is simple. Slots go fast, especially in the December-to-April high season, and showing up without a booking is the most common way people lose a day of diving here. So plan ahead.
Ready to hang beneath the silver tornado and wander the black coral for yourself? Get in touch to book your Balicasag day trip and we’ll sort your slot, your gear, and your sanctuary fee so all you have to do is show up and roll in.
