currier
Contributor
I've just returned from a week spent on Panglao, Bohol. This was my first experience in the Philippines, and I'm pleased to share it with you in my first SB trip report 
Having just completed my semester, I packed and headed to the airport with my gf. We had to wait until 1:25am for our flight from Taipei to Manila, but the excitement of the voyage exceeded the dread of such a late evening flight. Our landing in the Philippines only commenced a 5 hour layover in the capital ...
To cut things short, we finally arrived at 9:40am at Tagbilaran, and we were met immediately by a car from the first of our reserved resorts - Isis on Alona Beach. We were both quite tired by his point, yet we were able to keep our eyes open as we enjoyed the ride from town to the beach.
We were impressed with our lodgings and the food we ordered at Isis. They'll serve standard western fare, as well as tasty local dishes. For those of you who enjoy Thai, well they do that, too ... and do it well. Breaky is good, try the Spanish omelette for P120.
After speaking to a few shops around the beach (there's enough of a selection), I decided to go out to Balicasag with Alona Divers. We met at the shop at about 8:45am for a 9:30 departure. I was happy with the size of the boat, but would likely have been concerned should we have had many more than 12 divers on board.
(DAY THREE) Dive 1 - Black Forest
25m vis., 28m depth, 5 sea turtles, rainbow triggers, lengthy dive time, slight current to assist you along your way.
Dive 2 - Sanctuary
25m vis., 31m depth, another lengthy dive, one ENORMOUS turtle, and a phenomenal variety of sea life all along the wall.
Our dive guide Zaldy decided to take the more experienced divers, while the OW divers went with another guide. It's been a while since I was the LEAST experienced diver in the group, having been joined by an instructor from HK and a French guy who appeared to have his stuff together while taking pictures for himself ... perfect group ... :cool2:
(DAY FOUR) Dive 3 - Rudy's Rock
25m vis., 34m depth, lots to see along another wall.
Dive 4 - The Wall
25m vis., 27m depth, frog fish, lots of other magnificent things underwater ...
Zaldy went with an OW diver while I buddied up with the instructor form HK ... we remained within sight of the entire group. The only bad thing about ANY of these Balicasag dive was hitting a tidy little patch of jelly fish on our ascent after The Wall ... I wore a shorty suit, and received the majority of injury ...
My gf and I hired a car to take us on a tour of Bohol ... well, the tourist stuff, at least. We enjoyed the butterfly conservatory, the chocolate hills, and of course, the tarsiers! Upon our return to Panglao, we checked in at our second accomodations, the Bohol Sea Resort in Danao. Great food, wonderful service, nice pool, and their own dive shop.
(DAY SIX) Dive 5 - PPB
10m vis., 26m depth, intersting poking around in the sands, fine variety of colorful reef fish, frog fish, 1 1/4 hr. dive.
Dive 6 - Kalipayan
8m vis., 26m depth, wonderful wall on which we spotted grouper, nudi, old wreck, weird clawless lobster (those boys are fast when you're intent on catching them ...), 1:21 dive.
Dive 7 - Haward End
8m vis., 25m depth, weird little white worms in anemone, little little translucent boxer shrimp?, more lobster, bat fish, GREAT wall and a slope to (seemingly) nowhere at all.
These dives were conducted with Hanshi, a spectacular guide, all alone ... VIP dives, as he liked to call them ... we dove until my tank was at 50 bar, and I kept a close eye on my NDL the whole time, since my Gekko is about as conservative as they come ... super dives, phenomenal sites, fantastic service on boat and afterward, definitely a shop I'll dive with in the future.
:snorkel2:
To those who live in (or frequent) PI, I'm envious of your dive destinations. Since I live so close, I'll be back soon!
Those who have never visited, this destination is worth the travel. Maybe not as picturesque as other places in the Philippines, and maybe not your #1 choice for challenging dives, but a relaxing place with lots to see and do (snorkelling, dolphin watching, island tours, etc.).
Let the crowds go to those other beaches!
BTW my gf is not a diver, and she enoyed the vacation - we'll likely return at some point in the future.
Having just completed my semester, I packed and headed to the airport with my gf. We had to wait until 1:25am for our flight from Taipei to Manila, but the excitement of the voyage exceeded the dread of such a late evening flight. Our landing in the Philippines only commenced a 5 hour layover in the capital ...
To cut things short, we finally arrived at 9:40am at Tagbilaran, and we were met immediately by a car from the first of our reserved resorts - Isis on Alona Beach. We were both quite tired by his point, yet we were able to keep our eyes open as we enjoyed the ride from town to the beach.
We were impressed with our lodgings and the food we ordered at Isis. They'll serve standard western fare, as well as tasty local dishes. For those of you who enjoy Thai, well they do that, too ... and do it well. Breaky is good, try the Spanish omelette for P120.
After speaking to a few shops around the beach (there's enough of a selection), I decided to go out to Balicasag with Alona Divers. We met at the shop at about 8:45am for a 9:30 departure. I was happy with the size of the boat, but would likely have been concerned should we have had many more than 12 divers on board.
(DAY THREE) Dive 1 - Black Forest
25m vis., 28m depth, 5 sea turtles, rainbow triggers, lengthy dive time, slight current to assist you along your way.
Dive 2 - Sanctuary
25m vis., 31m depth, another lengthy dive, one ENORMOUS turtle, and a phenomenal variety of sea life all along the wall.
Our dive guide Zaldy decided to take the more experienced divers, while the OW divers went with another guide. It's been a while since I was the LEAST experienced diver in the group, having been joined by an instructor from HK and a French guy who appeared to have his stuff together while taking pictures for himself ... perfect group ... :cool2:
(DAY FOUR) Dive 3 - Rudy's Rock
25m vis., 34m depth, lots to see along another wall.
Dive 4 - The Wall
25m vis., 27m depth, frog fish, lots of other magnificent things underwater ...
Zaldy went with an OW diver while I buddied up with the instructor form HK ... we remained within sight of the entire group. The only bad thing about ANY of these Balicasag dive was hitting a tidy little patch of jelly fish on our ascent after The Wall ... I wore a shorty suit, and received the majority of injury ...
My gf and I hired a car to take us on a tour of Bohol ... well, the tourist stuff, at least. We enjoyed the butterfly conservatory, the chocolate hills, and of course, the tarsiers! Upon our return to Panglao, we checked in at our second accomodations, the Bohol Sea Resort in Danao. Great food, wonderful service, nice pool, and their own dive shop.
(DAY SIX) Dive 5 - PPB
10m vis., 26m depth, intersting poking around in the sands, fine variety of colorful reef fish, frog fish, 1 1/4 hr. dive.
Dive 6 - Kalipayan
8m vis., 26m depth, wonderful wall on which we spotted grouper, nudi, old wreck, weird clawless lobster (those boys are fast when you're intent on catching them ...), 1:21 dive.
Dive 7 - Haward End
8m vis., 25m depth, weird little white worms in anemone, little little translucent boxer shrimp?, more lobster, bat fish, GREAT wall and a slope to (seemingly) nowhere at all.
These dives were conducted with Hanshi, a spectacular guide, all alone ... VIP dives, as he liked to call them ... we dove until my tank was at 50 bar, and I kept a close eye on my NDL the whole time, since my Gekko is about as conservative as they come ... super dives, phenomenal sites, fantastic service on boat and afterward, definitely a shop I'll dive with in the future.
:snorkel2:
To those who live in (or frequent) PI, I'm envious of your dive destinations. Since I live so close, I'll be back soon!
Those who have never visited, this destination is worth the travel. Maybe not as picturesque as other places in the Philippines, and maybe not your #1 choice for challenging dives, but a relaxing place with lots to see and do (snorkelling, dolphin watching, island tours, etc.).
Let the crowds go to those other beaches!
BTW my gf is not a diver, and she enoyed the vacation - we'll likely return at some point in the future.
