bonairefans
Contributor
March 14-31, 2013
This was our first trip to the Philippines, and it was so memorable in all the right ways.
Sangat Island Resort was a perfect match for our style of island living: remote, rustic yet plenty of creature comforts, surrounded by intoxicatingly beautiful scenery, unique diving experiences, and wildlife. We had a blast observing the macaques on their daily visits.
We stayed in the Villa, a mulit-floored structure that comes with its own beach. The outdoor shower grotto is exotic AND erotic, and water is warm/hot during the day as the hoses are exposed to the sun. The staff is fun and high-spirited, the food delicious, and vegetarians are well-cared for. Both the resort and diveshop are really well-run.
We bought a 10-dive package, which included unlimited shore diving. The wrecks are a short boat ride. We dived 6-wrecks, 4 reefs, and completed 20-shore dives. Some thought we were nuts for spending 20-hours underwater on the house reef, but each dive was different and brought unique experiences.
We spent 11-days on Sangat Island, and this video covers our first 24-hours:
[video=youtube;-h2X8TTELOU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h2X8TTELOU[/video]
Barracuda Lake: If only we had a lake near our home that was heated to 103 degrees especially when its snowing. Over-heated water in the tropics may seem like overkill, but this is a dive no one should miss:
[video=youtube;9lcjuRNzsmY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lcjuRNzsmY[/video]
4-Day Liveaboard to Apo Reef
For those who want to complement their Bay of Coron experience with dives that include larger pelagics, theres Apo Reef, located 67- miles east of Coron.
We completed 11 dives, all drift. We had read all the reviews for the DiveCal boat, so we knew the living conditions would resemble camping. Food was good and plentiful. We really enjoyed the company of the other divers: 2 Israelis and 1 Singapore-based Brit.
This was our Apo experience:
[video=youtube;OFvvb4VFmpU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvvb4VFmpU[/video]
This was our first trip to the Philippines, and it was so memorable in all the right ways.
Sangat Island Resort was a perfect match for our style of island living: remote, rustic yet plenty of creature comforts, surrounded by intoxicatingly beautiful scenery, unique diving experiences, and wildlife. We had a blast observing the macaques on their daily visits.
We stayed in the Villa, a mulit-floored structure that comes with its own beach. The outdoor shower grotto is exotic AND erotic, and water is warm/hot during the day as the hoses are exposed to the sun. The staff is fun and high-spirited, the food delicious, and vegetarians are well-cared for. Both the resort and diveshop are really well-run.
We bought a 10-dive package, which included unlimited shore diving. The wrecks are a short boat ride. We dived 6-wrecks, 4 reefs, and completed 20-shore dives. Some thought we were nuts for spending 20-hours underwater on the house reef, but each dive was different and brought unique experiences.
We spent 11-days on Sangat Island, and this video covers our first 24-hours:
[video=youtube;-h2X8TTELOU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h2X8TTELOU[/video]
Barracuda Lake: If only we had a lake near our home that was heated to 103 degrees especially when its snowing. Over-heated water in the tropics may seem like overkill, but this is a dive no one should miss:
[video=youtube;9lcjuRNzsmY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lcjuRNzsmY[/video]
4-Day Liveaboard to Apo Reef
For those who want to complement their Bay of Coron experience with dives that include larger pelagics, theres Apo Reef, located 67- miles east of Coron.
We completed 11 dives, all drift. We had read all the reviews for the DiveCal boat, so we knew the living conditions would resemble camping. Food was good and plentiful. We really enjoyed the company of the other divers: 2 Israelis and 1 Singapore-based Brit.
This was our Apo experience:
[video=youtube;OFvvb4VFmpU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvvb4VFmpU[/video]
