Cebu Dive Prices (2026): What to Budget for Diving

TL;DR: A single fun dive in Cebu costs ₱1,600–2,300 (US$28–40) depending on area, with Mactan cheapest and Moalboal/Malapascua a little more due to marine park fees and boat fuel. A one-day Discover Scuba Diving taster runs ₱3,500–3,950 (US$60–68), and a full PADI Open Water certification costs ₱14,500–25,500 (US$250–440) — Mactan is the budget option, Moalboal the priciest. Add gear rental (₱350–400/dive if you don’t own equipment) and marine park fees (₱100 in Moalboal, ₱300–700/day in Malapascua) on top of the headline dive price. Verified July 2026.

Diving is one of the best-value things you can do in Cebu, but the pricing is scattered across a dozen shop websites, each bundling things differently — some quote all-in totals, others tack on marine park fees and fuel surcharges at checkout. This guide pulls together real, current prices for every stage of diving here: a single fun dive, a taster session, a full certification, gear rental, and the fees that don’t always make it into the headline number. It covers Cebu’s three main dive hubs — Pescador Island and the sardine run off Moalboal, the thresher sharks of Malapascua, and Mactan’s easy, airport-adjacent reefs and the Airplane Wreck. Whether you’re planning a single taster dive or a week of daily diving, use this as your budget baseline, then confirm the exact number with your chosen shop before booking.

Cebu Dive Prices at a Glance

Item	₱ (PHP)	US$	Area	Notes
Fun dive, single (shore)	1,600–1,900	$28–33	Mactan / Moalboal	Mactan often includes gear
Fun dive, single (boat)	2,100–2,300	$36–40	Moalboal / Malapascua	Site-dependent
5-dive package	~9,975	~$172	Moalboal	~₱1,995/dive
10-dive package	18,900	$326	Moalboal	~₱1,890/dive
20-dive package	35,700	$616	Moalboal	~₱1,785/dive
Discover Scuba Diving (DSD)	3,500–3,950	$60–68	All areas	One guided dive, no certification
PADI Open Water Diver	14,500–17,900	$250–309	Mactan	Cheapest area for certification
PADI Open Water Diver	23,500–25,500	$405–440	Malapascua
PADI Open Water Diver	24,900	$429	Moalboal
PADI Advanced Open Water	19,900–20,900	$343–360	Malapascua / Moalboal	5 adventure dives
Gear rental, per dive	350–400	$6–7	Moalboal / Malapascua	Full set: mask, fins, BCD, reg, wetsuit
Gear rental, full day	750	$13	Moalboal
Marine park fee	~100/dive	~$2	Moalboal	Pescador, sardine run, wall sites
Marine park + fuel fee	300–1,200/day	$5–21	Malapascua	Higher for Gato/thresher shark trips
Thresher shark trip (2 dives, no gear)	~5,150	~$89	Malapascua	Includes park fee + fuel surcharge
Thresher shark trip (2 dives, with gear)	~5,950–8,000	~$103–138	Malapascua	Package-dependent

Verified July 2026. ₱58 ≈ US$1. Prices vary by shop, season, and group size — confirm the exact total with your dive operator before booking.

How Much Does a Single Fun Dive Cost?

A one-off fun dive in Cebu runs roughly ₱1,600–2,300 (US$28–40), with Mactan the cheapest and Moalboal or Malapascua a bit pricier because of longer boat runs and marine park fees. In Mactan, shops like Dive Funatics quote fun dives from around ₱1,600 with gear, guide, and facility fees already folded in — you’re diving reefs and the Airplane Wreck a short boat ride from Kontiki Reef. In Moalboal, Cebu Fun Divers charges ₱1,900 for a shore dive and ₱2,100 for a boat dive (the kind you need for Pescador Island or the sardine run wall), on top of a separate ₱100 marine park fee. Malapascua runs about ₱2,300 per dive for the first nine dives, dropping to ₱2,100 once you hit ten, plus separate park fees and fuel surcharges on shark or Gato Island trips.

If you’re diving daily, buy a package rather than paying per dive — Cebu Fun Divers’ 10-dive package brings the per-dive cost down to about ₱1,890, and the 20-dive package to roughly ₱1,785.

What Does Discover Scuba Diving Cost?

Discover Scuba Diving (DSD), the one-day taster for non-certified divers, costs about ₱3,500–3,950 (US$60–68) across Cebu’s main dive hubs. You get a briefing, gear-up, and one guided dive to about 12 meters with an instructor holding your hand the whole way — no exam, no card, no obligation to go further. Cebu Fun Divers in Moalboal quotes ₱3,950 for this; Mactan and Malapascua shops run similar or slightly less. It’s the cheapest way to find out if diving is for you before committing several days and considerably more money to a full certification — see our guide to learning to dive in Cebu for the full DSD-versus-certification breakdown.

How Much Is a PADI Open Water Course?

A full PADI Open Water certification in Cebu costs ₱14,500–25,500 (US$250–440), and the area you pick makes a real difference. Mactan is the budget option — Dive Funatics quotes ₱14,500 (or ₱16,500 for a two-day intensive with full gear and eLearning), and SiDive runs ₱15,900 for two or more students, ₱17,900 for a private one-on-one course. Malapascua sits in the middle at roughly ₱23,500–25,500. Moalboal runs highest, with Cebu Fun Divers at ₱24,900, but that price gets you a course based a few minutes from Pescador Island and the sardine run, so you can go straight from certification to genuinely great diving without traveling anywhere.

All these figures typically include eLearning, confined water training, the required open water dives, equipment rental, and your certification card — but always ask what’s excluded (some shops charge extra for the physical card or for gear beyond the basics). For a full breakdown of the course structure and how to pick a shop, see our guide to getting PADI certified in Cebu and our cheapest diving courses roundup.

What About Advanced Open Water and Specialty Courses?

PADI Advanced Open Water costs about ₱19,900–20,900 (US$343–360), covering five adventure dives — usually a deep dive, a navigation dive, and three electives (wreck, drift, fish ID, night diving, and so on) — and it extends your certified depth from 18 to 30 meters. Malapascua’s shops run around ₱19,900; Moalboal’s Cebu Fun Divers is closer to ₱20,900. It’s a worthwhile add-on if you’re already certified and staying more than a couple of days, since it opens up deeper sites and night dives that Open Water alone doesn’t cover.

How Much Is Gear Rental If You Don’t Own Equipment?

A full rental set — mask, fins, BCD, regulator, and wetsuit — costs ₱350–400 per dive (US$6–7), or about ₱750 (US$13) for a full day in Moalboal. Malapascua runs about ₱400 per dive. Mactan shops often bundle gear into the quoted dive price already, so double-check whether the number you’re seeing is “dive only” or “dive plus gear” before comparing shops. If you’re taking a certification course, gear is almost always included in the course fee; it’s really only fun divers who need to budget for it separately.

What Are Marine Park Fees and Fuel Surcharges?

Expect to pay a separate marine park fee on top of the dive price — about ₱100 per dive in Moalboal, and ₱300–700 per day in Malapascua, with an extra ₱500 fuel surcharge on longer runs like the thresher shark grounds or Gato Island. These fees fund local marine sanctuary management and aren’t optional; they’re collected by the dive shop and passed on to the local government or marine protected area. This is the part of Cebu diving pricing that trips people up most, since a shop’s advertised “per dive” rate often doesn’t include it. When you’re comparing quotes between shops, always ask for the full itemized total — dive fee, gear if needed, park fee, and any fuel surcharge — rather than comparing headline dive prices alone.

How Much Is a Full Day Trip or Dive Package?

A 2–3 dive day trip to a specific site — Pescador Island from Moalboal, or the thresher sharks from Malapascua — runs roughly ₱4,000–8,000 (US$69–138) all-in, depending on gear and group size. In Moalboal, a two-dive Pescador trip works out to about ₱4,200–4,600 once you add the ₱100-per-dive marine park fee to two boat dives at ₱2,100 each. In Malapascua, the classic thresher shark trip to Kimud Shoal (two dives, one pre-dawn) runs about ₱5,150 without rental gear (dive cost plus a ₱600 park fee and ₱500 fuel surcharge) or ₱5,950 with gear included; some shops package it as a flat ₱7,400 with gear plus the park fee, so the exact total depends on how the operator itemizes it. Either way, book direct with the dive shop rather than through a resort’s marked-up day-tour desk if you’re trying to keep costs down.

Moalboal vs Malapascua vs Mactan — Where’s Cheapest?

Mactan is the cheapest overall for both fun dives and certification; Moalboal and Malapascua cost more per dive but for a specific reason. Mactan’s shops are a short hop from the airport and compete hard on price, so if budget is your only concern and you don’t have a bucket-list site in mind, start there. Moalboal costs more because you’re paying for boat access to Pescador Island, the sardine run, and marine sanctuary fees — but the diving is genuinely some of the best beginner-to-intermediate diving in the country, so most divers consider the premium worth it. Malapascua sits in between on course prices but adds the highest per-trip cost because the thresher shark dives at Kimud Shoal require a longer, fuel-heavy pre-dawn boat run and a dedicated marine park fee. See our province-wide diving overview and best dive sites in Cebu roundup if you’re still deciding where to base yourself.

How to Keep Your Dive Budget Down

• Buy a multi-dive package if you’re diving more than three or four times — the per-dive savings in Moalboal alone can run 5–10%.
• Ask for an itemized quote up front, including marine park fees and fuel surcharges, so you’re not surprised at checkout.
• Bring your own mask and, if you have one, your own wetsuit — gear rental adds up fast over a multi-day trip, and a mask that actually fits your face is worth the suitcase space regardless.
• Book fun dives and courses directly with the dive shop, not through a resort’s activities desk or a general tour agency, which usually mark up the price.
• Travel in the shoulder season (July–October) if pure cost is your priority — Malapascua’s shops report their lowest prices of the year outside the December–June peak.

The Honest Take

Cebu diving is cheap by global standards, but “cheap” here still ranges from ₱14,500 to ₱25,500 for the same PADI Open Water card depending purely on which town you pick — that’s a nearly two-to-one spread for identical certification. If your only goal is the cheapest possible card, Mactan wins outright. If you want the card and a good story, pay the Moalboal or Malapascua premium and dive somewhere memorable right after you’re certified. Watch for shops that quote a low headline price and then stack marine park fees, fuel surcharges, and gear rental on top until it matches everyone else’s total — the quote you should compare is always the final one, itemized. And don’t let a rock-bottom fun-dive price be the only factor: a shop that runs 6:1 student-to-instructor ratios in peak season to save money is a worse deal than a slightly pricier one that caps class sizes, especially if you’re new to diving.

Ready to Book?

Start with a Discover Scuba Diving or PADI Open Water listing on Klook to compare bundled prices, or search Pescador Island dive trips on GetYourGuide if you already have your certification and just want the sites. For where to stay, compare Moalboal hotels near Panagsama Beach on Agoda or Malapascua accommodation on Agoda depending on which coast you’re diving from. Once you’ve got your numbers straight, pair this with our Moalboal diving guide or Malapascua thresher shark guide to plan the actual dive schedule.

Sources

• Cebu Fun Divers — prices and rates (Moalboal fun dives, packages, courses)
• Malapascua Diving / Thresher Shark Divers — dive prices 2026 (Malapascua fun dives, park fees, surcharges)
• SiDive — PADI Open Water Diver course (Mactan course pricing)
• Dive Funatics — fun dives and courses (Mactan fun dive and course pricing)
• Prices cross-checked against current dive-shop listings and traveler reports, July 2026. Confirm the exact total with your chosen operator before booking. Verified July 2026.