3-4 weeks December/January - suggestions please?

[bshort4]

Why are you ruling out Dauin? You need to understand that Christmas isn't the big holiday in the Philippines as it is elsewhere. Now New Years is a different animal. Flying on Christmas day shouldn't be a big problem if you get your reservations now. Then wherever you go be sure to stay there until after New Years and then all travel after the first of January will return to pretty much normal and ferry travel will be much easier. You can fly to Dumaguete (Dauin) from Manila and lay low there and dive for a week then take the ferry from there to Bohol (Alona) and do your diving. Or follow xrcjdx"s advice on getting to Leyte. I'd probably go crazy staying in one location for 18 days and diving the same places when I knew I could be diving in a new location. I've traveled by ferry and planes on or around Christmas and New Years both and New Years was by far the worst--so lay low in one place until after New Years and everything will return to it's normal chaotic self there and traveling will be much easier. Best of luck--you'll be ok--remember they can't eat you.

 

[divv]

@ xrcjdx - yes I have accommodation booked at S Leyte.
@ bshort4 - I HAD accommodation booked in Dauin but now my arrival will be after the dates I had booked there, so I either have to try and rebook everything for later or drop the Dauin leg - and this seems the easier option.
I have managed to move my Bohol booking a few days later, so my (current) plan was arrive in Cebu (or Manila) and ferry??? to Tagbilaran ON Christmas day (I get it may not be ideal??) spend a week there (missing the 1 January madness) before moving to S Leyte and spend 7 to 11 days there.
I have communicated with the ferry operators and they say booking is not yet open but they insist they will be running those days so I will just keep trying because from Cebu to Bohol its my only option (as far as I can tell?)
Thanks.. especially bshort4 for the assurance that they can't eat me LOL...

 

[bshort4]

Your best bet if you're going to Bohol first is to plan on flying into Cebu. If you fly into Manila you will need to book another flight into Bohol (Tagbilaron) which is actually quite cheap. If you fly into Cebu then you can take the ferry over to Bohol. There are two ferry lines that operate to Bohol and they run trips four or five times a day so that shouldn't be a problem booking one. You'll need to take a taxi from the airport in Cebu to the ferry dock and the traffic can be brutal--allow at least 45 minutes for that ride depending on when you arrive. Once in Bohol you can get a taxi (van) from the pier to Alona and your hotel for about 600 pesos. They were supposed to have the new airport in Bohol on Panglao island opened this past August but I don't know if it's been opened yet for flights or not. The old airport is so tiny you don't have room to change your mind there. Yes Alona is touristy--not many places in the Philippines aren't-- but it didn't bother me in the least. As far as them eating you--do watch out for the Koreans--they all looked hungry to me. One more thing--diving at Balicasag island is limited on how many divers can go there each day--the dive shops need to get a permit for diving there and so they all can't go there everyday. I dived several other places because of that and they were both so so--house reef and west coast of Panglao island.

 

[divv]

bshort4 - thanks for that input..
(I'll beware of the Koreans.)
I had spoken to the operator at Alona about reserving a place for Balicasag - I will follow up on that.
Perhaps if the rest of the diving there is only so-so I should look at leaving BEFORE New Year and rather spend the extra day at S Leyte.. Perhaps 4 days is enough in the area.. Did you do Cabilao Island?

 

[bshort4]

No I didn't get to Cabilao---I spent some time in Anda with friends diving there--also so-so diving. I think four days of diving at Alona would be enough--I dived five days--three at Balicasag and then two other sites which I mentioned before were only so-so. One problem I did encounter with my dive op at Alona was that they told me that we were going to Balicasag the next day and when I showed up they said they couldn't go---that kinda ticked me off. If your dive op pulls that stunt just walk down the beach and ask another op--someone else will be going for sure. Make sure you get out of Bohol at least two days before New Years--the day before is a mad rush for traveling. To bad you can't rearrange things to be able to dive in Dauin--it's a easy ferry ride over. I've stayed at Mikes Dauin Beach resort the last few years and it's great. But over the holidays you need to contact the resort directly to see if they have any rooms--they block out all websites they are listed on over the holidays to keep people out that don't come there to dive but just party--I'll be back there come Dec. 4th after a week in Sipalay. Good luck and good diving.

 

[xrcjdx]

where are you staying in s leyte and what's your arrival date?

 

[divv]

where are you staying in s leyte and what's your arrival date?

Staying and diving at PDR - based on many favourable comments here on SB.. Arriving 2 or 3 Jan.

After much consideration of things, especially bshort4's question of why I was not going to Dauin, I am considering a few days there after all.
HOWEVER it WILL mean catching a ferry on 30 December.. (not to mention the extra flights and ferry costs to get to Dumaguete).
So for those with experience, would you put up with the the extra expense and hassle of 30 December ferries in order to gain 4 days of Dauin - while still doing 3 - 4 days of Bohol since I have to pass through Tagbiliran anyway - as opposed to less additional flights and simply doing 6 - 7 days of Bohol before heading for S Leyte?

 

[xrcjdx]

i'm not a big fan of the whole alona experience so.... i like the idea of going to dauin. i don't like the idea of traveling from dauin to leyte. ideally you would start in dauin, go to alona for a couple days, overland to ubay, and ferry from there to bato leyte. depends on your tolerance for travel.

 

[divv]

xrcjdx, that's pretty close to my plan - Fly into Manila, arrive just before midnight and catch the earliest flight to Duma, arriving early enough in the day to dive, do another 3 days diving then ferry to Tag (30th) and a few days in Bohol before ferrying to S Leyte - I was planning to go to Hilongos because then the transfer to PDR is less pricey for a single person.

But the "overland to Ubay" bears investigation... I'd welcome more info.

 

[xrcjdx]

now you're talking.
the transfer should be the same - bato is 10-15 minutes closer to padre burgos than hilongos. message peter's - they will have a complete handle on your arrival options. but i think you will find your best option by far is from ubay.