Underwater attractions in Cebu

Thursday, 24th May 2012

Underwater attractions in Cebu

Underwater attractions in Cebu

I’ve always been fascinated with those different and colorful fishes and corals. Of course, there is plenty of life waiting to be discovered since Cebu boasts several spots in the wide marine area. After all, the whole Earth is made up of 75% water and a tiny bit of that percentage is allocated to Cebu’s oceanic scene.

In Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, the local government has established this idea to let tourists explore what they can boast in terms of aquatic attraction. For the tourists to really see what Cebu can offer when it comes to underwater exploration, they have to know what features are available along the shoreline of the Mactan Island. In that case, diving is one of the main things that are available for the tourists to get into.

On balance, Cebu does not only provide development and destinations on land but to underwater scenes as well. Tourists who dwell into island hopping should go underwater also and see the developments and attractions that Cebu’s aquatic region can offer.

The seven sanctuaries

Presently, Lapu-Lapu has seven maritime sanctuaries that cover about an area of 56 hectares. These are San Vicente, Baring, Cawhagan, Shangri-La, Tingo, Dakit-dakit, and Tingo.

Of the seven maritime sanctuaries, Dakit-dakit (which is found in Buyong town) is an ideal place for macrophotography since there are an ample sum of pygmy seahorses as well as other sea plants and tiny sea creatures. This is, of course, backed up by the information covered by the Community Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management (CFARMC).

Other than the “tiny” sea creatures that I mentioned, thresher sharks can also be found here. Two sites, Tingo and Talima, are almost guaranteed that divers can see these thresher sharks, which are found harmless, minding their own business.

Maritime maintenance and protection

The City government has dedicated an allocated time into protecting and maintaining the marine environment that back in 2005, they came up with a stewardship program. This allows marginal fishermen, private groups, local communities and non-government organizations to supervise and safeguard these protected areas for a certain period of time.

These groups came in hand-in-hand to establish the intended management and program to not just give attractions to tourists but to also maintain the beauty that nature gave to the island of Mactan and Cebu.