3 Days Diving during mid-January for a beginner

[pakman]

isn't malapascua for advanced divers? would love to go to dumaguete but i'll have to see if they have enough beginner dives for me. i've gone 30m once but it was a few years ago... does bohol have good dives too?

Marianne, I wouldn't say Malapascua is strictly for Adv. divers. But, to be able to see the threshers, you should be comfortable diving to 24-25m. It's a pretty safe dive with no currents and you basically descend onto a underwater plateau and just literally sit there waiting for the threshers. Ideally you should do the thresher dive on nitrox to maximize bottom time. The lighthouse dive is a very easy shallow 5-8m dive with a great mating mandarin fish show at nite. Gato island, I thought was also an easy dive. If you stay at Exotic Divers, they have a nice artificial house reef right in front. Shallow and lots of interesting critters.

Bohol, any good dives? heck yeah! Stay in Alona and dive over in Balicasag Island (short 1/2hr boat ride). Beautiful little white sand island with nice coral and amazing schools of barracudas.

I did a 1 1/2 week trip thru Bohol/ Balicasag, Dumaguete/ Apo Island, and Malapascua. Loved them all. [click on the color links to see some photos I took at each location.]

 

[rhadamantus]

whooooo......

Malapascua... mantas on moad shoal in the afternoons...

not up to Mike Veitch quality, but here's a snap of a manta we saw at Moad Shoal...

 

[shugar]

whooooo......

pak sure knows how to rummage through veitch's trash huh... this one's a keeper

Jag

 

[ishbaby]

malapascua's great if u want to spot thresher sharks, mantas and mandarin fishes. if u get lucky though with all 3. I missed on the manta on an afternoon dive . . . *sob*

 

[Rhoody]

Hi from Dumaguete, most of our coastal divesites are easy relaxed diving here. Most things are happening between 5 and 20 meters. Apo Island is a daytrip with 3 dives. You can expect shallow coral-gardens colorful and healthy like I have seen nowhere else. Some bloe-spotted stingrays right at our Atlantis house reef.Just drop me a line if you need more infos.
All the best

Rudi

 

[marianne777]

I am debating between Bohol, Dumaguete & Malapascua. Atlantis Visayas safari liveaboard goes to both Bohol & Dumaguete but not sure they have a scheduled trip between Jan 10-18. Anyone have any recommendations for liveaboards for 3 days of diving only? I've never tried a liveaboard so I'm a little scared to be on a boat full of strangers.... Also if you have recommendations for a decent priced hotel in either Bohol, Dumaguete or Malapascua, or if you know of any great packages or websites offering packages, please let me know!

 

[Rhoody]

Hi Marianne,
it's really a hard decission. In Dumaguete we offer some trips each week to Apo Island. and up to 5 dives a day. Sure, Dumaguete is well known for small stuff, but occationally sharks at apo were sighted. Atlantis Dumaguete is not the cheapest one, but what you pay is what you get. The groups are small and the divemasters very professional
cheer
Rudi

 

[pakman]

I'll second uwrudi... I've stayed at the Dumaguete Atlantis and their service was excellent. A bit pricier than the neighboring competition, but worth it given the attention and level of service you get there.

 

[jbb]

I am debating between Bohol, Dumaguete & Malapascua. Atlantis Visayas safari liveaboard goes to both Bohol & Dumaguete but not sure they have a scheduled trip between Jan 10-18. Anyone have any recommendations for liveaboards for 3 days of diving only? I've never tried a liveaboard so I'm a little scared to be on a boat full of strangers.... Also if you have recommendations for a decent priced hotel in either Bohol, Dumaguete or Malapascua, or if you know of any great packages or websites offering packages, please let me know!

Concentrate on what you might want to see. Malapascua - possible thresher and mantas at Monad but best if you have good air usage (had a manta wing come right over my head on one dive, we dove in the morning for thresher and got up close with the manta). There are not schools of fishes but there is a lot of small critters like mantas shrimp, nudibranch (Gato Island), mandarin fish and seahorses. There are plenty of other dives that would suit your experience level. I recommend Thresher Shark Divers. There are a number of places to stay depending on budget but you are talking about the "high season". I stay at the Kuan Bar.
Apo Island - good mix of a lot of small stuff (nudibranch) and good schools of fishes (mackeral and baracuda) and sea turtles. They also have nice healthy corals. I stayed on the island at Liberty Lodge which gives you a 15-20 minute boat ride around the island to any site. I was there a couple of years ago and if you had more than 5 dives the price was discounted. Actually I think this is one of the best all around dive areas in the Philippines. They have a few current sensitive sites but they can advise you which sites are better. I really like the clown fish city dive and the night dive in front of the shop was pretty good too. If you dive out of Dumaguete - I have heard the Pier is one of the best dives for small stuff. A group of German photographers and videographers raved about it - heard it was controlled by one dive shop though?

Good Luck.

 

[marianne777]

Thanks for the tips! I think I want to go to Dumaguete for 2 days for my Advanced Open Water certification (hopefully get to go to Apo Island), then head over to Malapascua for 2 days for a chance to see the Thresher Sharks and mantas. I have a few more questions... While waiting for the Thresher Sharks, are there other things to see??? I find that during dives when I don't see anything, I tend to focus on my breathing too much (after all, I am a beginner diver!). Are there small stuff to look at? How long does it take to get to Malapascua from Dumaguete? Another thing... Were Dumaguete and Malapascua dive sites affected by the last typhoon? Is typhoon season over in January? I'm a little scared because I'm traveling by myself! :-(