Siquijor: Depths of Recovery

 

Diving, Conservation, and Community

For years, Siquijor has been cast as an island of mystery, known for stories of healing and folklore, white sand beaches, and turquoise waters that tourists chase on Instagram. But to the people who live here, the island’s true magic is less in its myths and more in what they’re fighting to protect.

“It’s one of the few places in the Visayas where, if you snorkel or dive, you are guaranteed to see pawikan,” said Dev Albao, a marine conservationist originally from Bacolod who has since made Siquijor his home. “We saw about six sea turtles of varying sizes and behaviors. This is, of course, an attraction for the foreign and domestic guests that come to the island.”

Albao’s words carry weight. It was a sight that, years ago, might have felt like a miracle. Today, it’s a hopeful promise. As a conservationist and diver, he has spent years observing the island’s reefs up close. What he sees now is both encouraging and urgent.

The pawikan is one of the marine wildlife that the residents of Siquijor is protecting - Aside from the divers, who else is part of Siquijor's marine wildlife preservation efforts?

“The marine life in Siquijor is very abundant and diverse,” Albao said. Despite the island’s small size, “there are coral reef ecosystems across six municipalities with healthy and thriving reefs,” he explained. “There are more than 20 marine protected areas around the island… sanctuaries like Maite, Tubod, Caticugan, even all the way to the north like Tulapos.”

But he also knows how fragile this recovery is. In the past, Siquijor, like many coastal communities in the Philippines, struggled with the consequences of overfishing and marine degradation. Now, it stands at a critical point, where tourism offers both opportunity and risk.

Luis Nathaniel Borongan, Siquijor’s Provincial Tourism Officer, sees the same crossroads. “Diving is now one of the most in-demand activities on the island,” he said. “That is why years ago, the program about establishing marine protected areas started becoming more and more popular in every barangay.”

Borongan notes that the shift wasn’t just environmental, it was economic. “In the past, we were victims of overfishing, and also illegal fishing,” he said. “This can really help, especially to replenish what we lost.”

The Coral Garden, a dive site nestled between the Maite and Tubod sanctuaries, illustrates that change. “It’s called Coral Garden because of the diversity of corals you can see there,” said Albao. “This is a requirement for a healthy reef – that it’s diverse, because so many kinds of fish depend on it, and of course, a larger ecosystem of other species in the reef, including marine reptiles like sea snakes and sea turtles.”

What has the local community been doing to preserve Siquijor's marine ecosystem? - The state of the seas was bad years ago. Have there been any improvements? 

What’s striking is how this commitment to conservation is rooted in the island’s older practices. Dev shared that long before tourism arrived, the island’s traditional healing practices already reflected an awareness of ecological balance. Healers sourced their materials from both the mountains and the sea, guided by a deep knowledge of local biodiversity. 

They knew which species could be gathered and which ones were becoming scarce. Because these practices were small-scale and need-based rather than commercial, they served as early forms of sustainable living – indigenous methods that respected natural cycles and took only what was necessary.

Today, Siquijor’s dive community is expanding. Local guides are honing their skills, organizing into associations, and developing their own specialties in underwater photography and freediving. Aside from diving and scuba, there has been an increasing number of freedivers and underwater videographers, said Albao.

Yet beneath the growing popularity lies a sobering reminder: all of this – reef, turtle, livelihood, identity – depends on balance. The island’s future is being shaped not just by its beauty, but by the choices of its people.

Writer: John Mari A. Marcelo
Photos: Paolo Correa
Underwater shots: Reef Turtle Dive Center, Paolo Lindaya
Video: Grilled Cheese Studios