1 week trip to Cebu- must do dive sites and day + trips?

[clipgoal234]

Hi all,

Traveling to Cebu towards the end of May for a wedding and would love to hear some advice on how to maximize the trip. I'll be staying at the Shangri-La Mactan/Lapu Lapu.

It looks like Moalboal would be a great place to go. Malapascua looks like it would also be great, but may be too difficult to get to. Scanning the local dive shops, Cabilao, Balicasaq, twin caverns and Moalboal are doable from Mactan as a directly guided trip. Am I missing others? Which of these should I do, or is the diving on Mactan good enough that I wouldn't be missing out?

What other must do dive sites are there? is it feasible to get to other islands or even countries while I'm out there? It'd be amazing to get to Indonesia (if the diving is much better), but with a week long trip it'll be hard to get dives in with enough between flights. I wont get too many more chances any time soon to get so far from the US and I can't, unfortunately, increase the time of the trip. Any recommendations are appreciated. Thank you!

Clipgoal234

 

[Mucksavage]

I would strongly recommend getting out of Mactan. Not just for better diving but Mactan is a crowded urban environment, nothing wrong with that, but if you have come all this way you should experience the white beaches and tropical paradise feeling that is just a few hours away.Travel is slow around Cebu. You can get to Moalboal in about 4 to 5 hours by bus and Malapascua in about 5 with a boat ride after that. If you are happy to pay then both trips can be shortened by hiring a car and driver.Malapascua gets my vote for a once in a life time destination. Beaches, pristine environment and great variety of diving, not least seeing Thresher Sharks which can only be reliably seen there. May is the end of Hammerhead season so you may just miss out but its a good month for Devil Ray sightings also.Happy to help you plan that leg of the trip if you choose it.Bohol and Dumaguete are also all in range. I would suggest pick one location and enjoy it rather then several and spend a lot of time during your one week rushing about. If you plan to stay in Mactan then I don't think you can visit any of the places you mentioned. Scotty's offer Dive Safaris to those places but its a 3 to 7 day trip and not based out of Mactan - you ride the boat and stay and dive in different places each night. If you stay in Mactan you dive locally only.

 

[nudisusie]

Agree with Muck Savage - get out of Mactan and stay somewhere else for the duration! 1 week is too short and journeys too long to do much travelling about - you'll seriously deplete your dive time. Local sites in Mactan can be interesting but they are often crowded and there's lots of boat traffic/ jet skis zooming about in my experience.

Malapascua would get my vote if you wanted to stay closer to Cebu City. Great variety of marine life and the island is lovely.
Dauin is a fab option with critter dives and Apo island close by - take about 7hrs to get there from Cebu City - Bus/Ferry or Ferry. land based activities available such as waterfall hikes
Alona Beach / Balicasag - also a good option, though not such a nice beach there are other things to do close by like river tour and chocolate hills

With 1 week only getting to Indonesia is definitely out - sorry your comment did make me chuckle... you'd have at least a full day of flights. Places in Asia may seem close by much of the time they're a bitch to get to ;-)

have fun!
Susie

 

[clipgoal234]

Thanks for the replies!

Bohol looks beautiful and Malapascua looks like great diving (and beautiful). We're definitely interested in any place that's unique, especially the diving. I'm definitely interested in help with the how to get there/where to stay, Mucksavage. We don't have too much of a choice in being in Mactan toward the end of the week (after all, it is for a wedding I guess), but could certainly go straight from the airport to...wherever (leaning Malapascua). Looks like no whale sharks this trip without somehow making it to Oslob (which a. seems far and b. doesn't seem to be popular for it's eco habits), right?

Thank you for the help!

 

[extremetito]

From Mactan/Cebu City you have access to Malapascua, Bohol/Panglao, Moalboal, Dumaguete/Apo. But the logistics of getting to these sites will likely not allow you to accomplish more than 2 in a week (as others have already noted). If you are interested in Malapascua, most of the operators on Malapascua can also coordinate the transportation- land and water- for you.
From Cebu City-you are just a ferry trip to Bohol/Panglao
Oslob may not be the most ecologically conscious operation, but it is providing a living for the villagers, and whale sharks are pretty cool. If you get to Oslob, make sure to visit Tumalog falls or Aguinid falls. Sumilion is an easy banka ride from Oslob. Also, Oslob is halfway to Dumaguete.
As long as you are in Mactan, visit Zubuchon restaurant for the lechon (roast suckling pig)-there's a branch on Mactan Island as well as at the airport.

 

[Mucksavage]

As was mentioned you can get a private car and boat to get you straight from your flight to anywhere including Malapascua so you can get to the beach in about 4 hours. If you had three full diving days on Malapascua it would still be worth it. that would be three shark dives, a trip to Gato, some local dives and more. For teh second half of the week enjoy the wedding and do a few dives there with Scotty's on the local reefs.Oslob is 3.5 hours drive from Cebu. If determined it can be done as a day trip with early departure from Cebu, drive down, snorkel and drive back in one day. hard work in my opinion.I second a visit to Zubuchon!

---------- Post added October 1st, 2015 at 04:31 PM ----------

Sorry for lack or paragraphs and formatting. Seems a SB glitch!

 

[Centrals]

If you are using Scotty then you wont' be diving with the Koreans!!
Marigondon Cavern(36m) and the wall is pretty good along the Mactan' coast.
Hilutungan Island Marine Sanctury and Nalusuan Island Marine Sanctury are also good but it is a day trip.

Malapascua gets my vote but it is relatively far from Mactan Island.
Everyone loves the Thresher shark and it is not to be missed.
Evolution on Malapascua is my suggestion but there are places which offer more eg. swimming pool.
But if you want a professional operator then I wouldn't look further.
BTW, while waiting for the shark to show up don't forget to look up to see what is cruising above you eg. Devil ray.

 

[clipgoal234]

Thank you for all the replies!

Looks like it's settled on Malapascua for about 3 days. I see Evolution gets a lot of love on the forum for places to stay. Ocean Vida and Hippocampus appear to be on the beach. Any thoughts on them? Bounty Beach seems like "the" beach on the island. It looks like all the resorts I read about are beachfront. Will be diving a lot, but given that it's a quick trip I know we'll be trying to get as much in as possible. What else, besides diving, do you guys recommend doing on the island? Time to start buying some tickets!

 

[Mucksavage]

Ocean Vida is probably the most popular resort on the island and is in the higher price range. Hippocampus is a bit cheaper as is Evolution. Bounty Beach is 1km long and most businesses are located there. Some sections of the beach are pristine and some are not. Evolution certainly has one of the best and nicest sections of beach.There is not a whole lot extra to do on Malapascua. Dive, hammock, dive, lunch, hammock etc. Three days will disappear quickly especially if you start the day with a dive at 530am and finish with one at 530pm.

 

[clipgoal234]

One further quick wrench to throw in this. It looks like flying in to Manila and then on to Cebu later is actually a fair amount cheaper. Would the recommendations for where to go change if a 3-4 day trip within reach of Manila was an option or should I stick with the Cebu oriented areas?