Royal Garden

A Balicasag name with an unresolved identity

Royal Garden appears in a 2019 Philippine PPP Center statement about Balicasag Island as Cathedral or Royal Garden. This primary record supports the name’s use at Balicasag, but does not establish that Royal Garden is a separate site from Cathedral.

Confirm the name before comparing trips

Diveity currently retains both listings while that relationship is unresolved. Ask the operator whether Royal Garden and Cathedral refer to the same wall, different sections, or different itineraries in their naming system. Do not count the two pages as proof of two distinct dive sites.

What remains unknown

The reviewed source does not support Royal Garden’s previous 6–25 m range or 18 m average as independent site measurements. Its island-wide depth statement must not be assigned to this record. This partial guide does not transfer Cathedral’s coordinates, marine-life claims or route details. Current access, conditions and a distinct location still need confirmation.

Sources and remaining gaps

Philippine PPP Center (2019). This is a partial, source-attributed guide. It has not been verified by a local diver. Water temperature, seasonal conditions and a universal certification requirement are not established by this review.

What operator pages say about the dive

Alona Bohol Divers Club's Balicasag page, captured on 8 October 2026, lists Royal Garden as site 23 with a depth of 8-35 meter. It describes plenty of coral formations over a shallow sandy bottom, home to many reef fish, and sea grass areas where turtles are seen eating. The same entry names green sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, ribbon eel, titan triggerfish, moray eel, nudibranch, frogfish, robust ghost pipefish, anemonefish, pufferfish and porcupinefish in its marine life list, and says there is a possibility of finding the big school of jackfish, which is a possibility rather than a promise.

A second description and its limits

The bohol-philippines.com page for Royal Garden, also captured on 8 October 2026, places the site on the north-east side of the Balicasag Island and gives an average depth of 18 meters, with coral formations arranged like a garden at the sandy bottom, reef fish and resident sea turtles. That site describes itself as no-hype travel content and carries affiliate-link disclosures, so it is a travel guide rather than an operator log, and an average is not a range. It says most boats run Royal Garden and Rudy's Rock in a single morning. Alona Bohol Divers Club gives 8-35 meters while bohol-philippines.com gives an 18 meter average; the two are not reconciled here and neither is treated as a surveyed depth.

Royal Garden and Cathedral in operator listings

Alona Bohol Divers Club lists Cathedral as a separate entry, number 19 at 8-35 meters, and places it between Royal Garden and Sanctuary. Bohol Eco Divers' interactive dive map, captured the same day, lists Cathedral and Royal Garden as separate names among its Balicasag Island sites, beside Black Forest, Diver's Heaven, Marine Sanctuary Plateau and Rudy's Rock. These two operator listings treat the names as separate entries, whereas the 2019 PPP Center statement quoted above pairs them as alternative names. This guide records both usages and does not decide between them.

Sanctuary rules reported for Balicasag

Alona Bohol Divers Club says Balicasag is a marine protected area that permits entry to only 150 divers per day, and asks guests to book ahead with a deposit and a copy of their dive certification. The bohol-philippines.com page says Balicasag has been a protected marine sanctuary since 1985, that anchor damage and coral touching are prohibited, and that a sanctuary fee applies without publishing the amount. These rules describe the island, not Royal Garden alone, and current limits and fees should be confirmed with the operator.