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Campomanes Bay Marine Sanctuary

Campomanes Bay is about is several minutes boat ride further south of Punta Ballo. The bay itself was a former port area and is now a protected marine sanctuary. The waters are full of diverse marine life including fish, coral and a couple of shipwrecks for the scuba diving enthusiasts.

As you enter the bay, there are rugged, towering limestone cliffs, which I was reliably informed by a former geologist co-worker of mine, were formerly underwater coral formations. When you look closer, it’s easy to see how this could’ve occurred.

Campomanes Bay Sipalay's Protected Marine Sanctuary limestone cliffs

The Sipalay Eco Port in the foreground, with the amazing limestone cliff formations as the backdrop.

Campomanes Bay Sipalay's Protected Marine Sanctuary

The bay itself is totally amazing with very still waters and limestone rising up everywhere.

campomanes bay beach

The beach isn’t the most pristine beach, but it’s clean and very peaceful with only local fisherman around.

Campomanes Bay Sipalay's Own Protected Marine Sanctuary

Heading out towards the Sulu Sea on glass-like water

How to get there

Philippine Airlines (PAL) fly to Bacolod from Manila daily five times a day with the flight taking approximately one hour, and they also fly to Dumaguete from Manila twice daily with the flight taking just over one hour.

Campamones Bay is in Sipalay which is approximately 175kms from Bacolod (four hours via car) and 170kms from Dumaguete (3.5 hours via car).

Ceres Bus Lines depart from Bacolod and Dumaguete and pass through Sipalay City, departing hourly. Fare one way is less then P300 and takes about 5 hours from Bacolod and Dumaguete, as Sipalay is almost exactly in between these two cities.

You can either drive or boat to Campamones Bay from Sipalay City, or even Punta Ballo. My recommendation would be to go by boat and enjoy the amazing water and scenery.

Dezza´s Tip

You can hire a boat from Punta Ballo to take you boating anywhere around the area. My recommendation is to hire a boat from Punta Ballo, go up to Poblacion in Sipalay City through all limestone islets in the cove, then back down past Punta Ballo to Campomones Bay, then down further to Balanban Point. Cost is about P1500 for a full day. Make sure you take an ice box for drinks and food.