3 months in Philippines, where dive ?

[Centrals]

For more costly but memorable experience a 5 to 7 day live aboard trip from Palawan to Tubbataha Reef.

Which liveaboard boat will go out there from Dec to Feb?
I thought the Park only open from mid-Mar to mid-June.

 

[katherineaw]

Can't help with Liveaboards (although I recall looking at the Hans Christian Anderson). I spent 7 weeks across Jan/Feb/March in the Philippines this year on the recommendations of people on SB. I keep meaning to do a trip report, but in short I had an amazing time and did some fabulous diving.

My itinerary:
* Coron (1 week)
* Malapascua (1 week)
* Moalboal (3 days)
* Bohol (2 weeks): (Panglao - 1 week, Anda - 1 week)
* Subic Bay (didn't dive as I was exhausted)
* Puerto Galera (2 weeks).

The best of all the places I visited was Anda, which is about 2-3 hours along the east of Bohol from Tagbiliran. It's a bit of a honeymoon destination, but I found a great budget room and great diving. It was the closest I came to truly untouched reef, I think. Often there were only 2 or 3 divers in the water and the quality of the dive sites is amazing. Highly recommended. Actually, Bohol was a don't-miss. The top-side activities were great, the culture everywhere was lovely and the diving was the best all-round.

Being a bit of a wreck nut, I loved Coron. That being said, it's a dive-factory and they seemed to put a lot of inexperienced divers inside wrecks with poor visibility and bad torches. On one occasion I had to help a diver from a group of 8 get out of a wreck as she started panicking with claustrophobia. If you can run to it, pay for a private dive guide and try and dive from a smaller boat. I can't speak to Subic as when I got there I really ended up sleeping and relaxing and didn't end up diving.

Malapascua was fabulous. Stayed & dove with Evolution and can't speak highly enough of the quality of the operation. The diving was great and small dive groups the norm. I think we rarely had more than 4 and mostly it was just my friend and I. They also have plenty of dives going out each day, which means if you're minded to sleep in, that's fine, or if you want to do all your diving in the morning, that's okay too.

Moalboal was good, Pescador Island was a great dive site, but I found the diving became a bit repetitive and we dove pescador daily as did everyone else. I also didn't really enjoy the ambiance of Moalboal that much. Perhaps because it was sleepy-season and mid-week, but I was a bit disappointed generally.

Other places I looked at (and would have liked to go): Sogod Bay, Siquijor, Anilao, El Nido.

If you would like any more information, feel free to PM me. I do still have most of my information and all of my dive details, I've just been lax about doing up a trip report. FWIW the trip reports people have posted here and on Thorntree were really very helpful for me in planning my trip. I also asked the same question you did in about November 2011, and got some great advice on timing and stops.

Good luck & have a great trip!

 

[paolov]

if you can get hold of the people in the british embassy here in manila, they could point you to some of the other destinations that may interest you.

them folks go to a lot of places hehehehe its like they are here for an extended vacation with pay ;P

 

[divetheworld006]

Thanks to Katherineaw for information. I also went to Apo Island in front of Dumaguete, the place was really relax, no electricity at night time, nice local people and great diving. Most people come here from dumaguete, but i recommend to stay on the island to enjoy the dive.
I enjoyed a dive cruise in Tubbataha in march 2011, crossing from Anilao to Apo reef and Tubbataha. It was nice, visibility was very good, a lot of fish, a very nice deep wall, but no much big stuff and no macro (nudi...), There was no much current, so I guess it is one of the reason for missing the big stuff. One Hammerhead in Apo reef, one school of grey shark in tubbataha, few black tip, around 16 dive.
I will be in Coron in January, so I will post more about this wreck diving place. Then Alona Beach and more for freedive and dive.
I take ny advice.

 

[DevonDiver]

i spoke with the philippines embassy today and they said i can get a visa
in jakarta. Otherwise just go out every 21 days ...

You won't need to go out every 21 days. It is easy to extend a tourist visa - either in Manila (Intramuros) or at any one of dozens of satellite immigration offices around the country.

The first visa extension is from the on-entry 21 days to 2 months. You then extend by 2 month intervals, up to a maximum of 18 months (when you have to leave and re-enter the country). Plenty enough time to fully explore the country.

Visa fees and charges are here: Tourist Visa Extension Fees

Sub-Office Locations are here: Philippines Immigration Sub-Offices Check the exact address/opening in advance by email or phone - this is the official government website, but I know for sure that the details for the Subic office are 4 years out-of-date, the office moved but the website was never updated. Expect this level of "professionalism" with all Philippines government functions...

 

[Blustington]

Please join me for some diving if you are coming to mactan :cool2:

cebu dive guide | Dive in Mactan and around Cebu

I can show you around the great dive sites.