Hi All,
I'm travelling the Philippines during the Christmas season probably for 10 days, so I have 8 days for dive excluding flight time. I'd like to take AOW course for the first 2 days, and do fun dives for the rest. This is my first trip there and want to get some advice on where to go among Mactan, Moalboal, Bohol, and Dumaguete considering things below
1. I'm new to scuba. I'm an OWD and got certified last year in Playa del carmen, Mexico. my diving experiences might not be enough for some diving sites, and I gotta exclude them.
2. I'm a solo traveler and don't want to get bored after my diving is done for day. not exactly looking for some night parties or something, but I just love backpacker atmosphere. if it's not too much, I'm also okay with touristic places.
(any recommendations of dive centers that are for relaxing and socializing are welcomed.)
3. Actually I was thinking of Bohol at first, but now combination of two destinations.. Visit Bohol first and then Dumaguete or Mactan and then Bohol something like that... what do you think? wouldn't it be boring spending 8 days diving in Bohol only? or would it be too hectic or to cover two places in 8 days?
Thanks in advance
It really depends on how much diving you're expecting to do? If you move around you'll lose at least one dive day and those are limited already. I'd focus on one spot chosen for the variety of diving. Truth is that the diving is good pretty much everywhere in the Philippines, it's just a matter of "degree"
Some places are better for certain things than others though.
I'm in the planning stages of a trip right now which would be virtually identical to yours. 10 days with 8 dive days. I expect to do around 30 dives in those 8 days. To do that I need to maximize time wherever I go. The easy places to get too relatively quickly (not catching connecting flights or ferries) are Anilao and Puerto Galera if you fly into Manila. Moalboal or Malapascua if you fly into Cebu. It's true that flight times are short, but connection times have to be added too, and both ways!
I would rule out Anilao. Like Dr. Bill just said, it's pretty focused on diving. There is virtually nothing else to do there
The diving is good in Moalboal. It's almost all wall diving though. I do consider Pescador Island one of the better dives in the Philippines
Having said that it's pretty concentrated along the wall and Pescador Island. Three or four days would do it for me. That's a destination I would add on when I had time to do multiple destinations. That leaves Puerto Galera or Malapascua either of which would be great choices for a first dive trip.
Puerto Galera is great. One of the top dive destinations in the Philippines. Lots of different types of dives there. The Verde Passage (Puerto Galera on one side and Anilao on the other) is considered the "center of the center" of marine bio-diversity of shore fish for the entire planet. Realistically you're not going to see every species in a week though
You should see, frogfish, corals, big schools of sardines, jacks, lionfish, scorpionfish, turtles, sharks, nudibranchs... the "usual suspects" I call them
Truth is the whole Philippines is like that though
I'd call the Puerto Galera vibe a little edgier. You can definitely "party hard" there if that is what you're into. As was mentioned by another poster, I don't know if Sabang would be the best choice for a woman traveling alone, but that is where most of the dive operations are based. You'd be fine at one of the upscale resorts, but you have to pay more for those.
Then there is Malapascua.... Along with the "usual suspects", Malapascua is one of the few places in the world you can reliably see thresher sharks. They also have an afternoon manta ray dive which is pretty reliable for seeing manta's out at Monad Shoal, and they have mandarinfish mating which is very cool to see. I think the sighting of pelagics is more reliable at Malapascua. I get the overall diversity that I see most other places, plus the pelagics
Malapascua has plenty of places to eat and drink, but has a very laid back feel to it. Definitely a different vibe than Puerto Galera. I should add that "muck" diving is in a different category and one I think underwater photographers find more "interesting" than probably the "average" diver
For what it's worth, this is my 7th trip to the Philippines. I've dived almost every major dive destination there. I've made almost 200 dives there so far. With only 8 dive days this time I'm planning a third visit to Malapascua Island and I plan to dive with Evolution
Evolution Diving Resort in Malapascua, Cebu, Philippines for the second time. The Craic House Irish Bar at Evolution has really AWESOME food
It's a great place to hang out with other divers. Malapascua will have plenty of sites that are appropriate for an OW diver with your experience level. If you knock out your AOW when you first get there, that will open up even more dives for you. I guarantee after a few days of diving and given the variety of sites you will get to experience your comfort level is going to go up and you'll be having the time of your life
Nothing beats experience!
Wherever you decide, don't wait to long. You're going during high season, so reservations are definitely recommended!
If you have any specific questions as you research your trip feel free to ask. Someone on this board will know the answer
AND be sure to take lots of photos and let us know how the trip went when you get back
Best of luck!
