3 weeks in Philippines - Visayas initiary?

[zelda]

Hi.
I´m new to the forum, although I have already had great help from it for planning a trip to the Philippines March 2013 - so thank you! I´m a vaccation diver, been to great places like the Galapagos islands, the Great Barrier reef and Fiji, done some drift and wall dives, but not at all experienced (22 dives). I picture 2-4 dives at each "place". As my travel buddy love to snorkel, but is not a diver, a major aim is great beaches with reef, laid-back atmosphere, and for me to do possible day-dive trips. We fly in from Manila -> will be getting to the beach and reef ASAP

Here´s what I have narrowed it down to:
Malapascua -, Apo-, and Panglo island for our 3 week initiary with a possible stopover at Oslob for whaleshark sighings, although I am not sure I want to support what I hear about feeding etc. I would love to see the Palawan-area also, however, don´t want to cram in too much, but i am open to suggestions, i.e skip Visayas altogether and focus on the Palawan area or somewhere else less touristy (don´t mind divers though!). I love big fish, but have never done any wreck or muck diving - but that might be cool. But healthy reef for snorkel is a major bonus so my boyfriend won´t bore to death. Thinking about staying at Apo island for 2 days- however, how is snorkling/diving at Siquijor (could do day trips to Apo island from here I hear).

So, really I would love for some help and thoughts on where to go and possibly where we should start off when in the Philippines - (might to the advanced PADI course finally) and some recommended dive agencies. I.e won´t bother with going to Alona if Malpascua is "better" (i know..subjective) - travel-wise it might be better for us to combine Malpascua with Moalboal - but I don´t want to miss out if Alona area if it is well worth it.
PS: After the Philippines got another 2.5-3 weeks to see Sipidan and Borneo OR Sri Lanka (haven´t decided yet - although I´m sure Sipidan is better than Sri Lanka diving)

 

[Centrals]

1. Donsol for the whaleshark but it is slgihtly off the beaten track!
2. Malapascua offers great diving but I am not sure if it is suitable for snorkeller. Dona Marilyn is a great wreck at 35m. Both the Monad Shoal for the thrasher shark and Dona Marilyn are for experienced diver only. The island is very small and there is not much to do at night.
3. Boracay needs no introduction.
4. Anilao and Puerto Galera has good diving and there is a regular overnight ferry from Batangas to Caticlan(for Boracay).
5. Palawan the last frontier(?), I had dived the Honda Bay and El Nido, very ordinary.
6. Alona Beach: diving is good and there are other things to do beside diving. More lively at night than Malapascua.

 

[Nishan]

Sogod Bay is also good for whale sharks and has some good reef and macro diving with a nice house reef but again a bit off the beaten path. Malapascua is not ideal for a snorkeller in my view.

For your post Phils plans, Sipadan is definitely several steps better than Sri Lanka unless you are into wreck diving. Then Sri Lanka is a lot better than Sipadan

 

[g6abyss]

FYI, My hubby and I moved to Manila for work last year and took up diving since Jan 2012 this year. Have logged about 26 dives so far so we are similar that way. (All dives but 2 are in the Philippines.) We just did our AOW in Puerta Galera last month (for US$300pp in case you are wondering.) It's one of the cheapest place to get certified.

I think for 3 weeks, you can do some Visayas and some Palawan.

My most amazing dives in the Philippines so far are:
1. Balicasag in Bohol (stay on Alona Beach like Centrals suggested - it's like a mini version of Boracay - more chilled than Boracay - and there is sightseeing stuff to do. Massage on the beach for 300php! The dive trips I went on had some snorkelers too so you can go together for sure but the snorkelers told us that the current was quite strong for snorkeling so be prepared. We went in Feb this year.) My sister did snorkeling near Virgin Island in April and saw many fish and even saw dolphins from the boat on the way back.
2. Anilao - no beach though and not much to do besides diving (and snorkeling) But it is great for macro. (One of my favorite dives was a magical night dive at Cathedral Rock.) (We dived with DiveNet Philippines. They are based in Manila - we did our OW with them. Great husband and wife team. They are affiliated with Aquaventure which has very basic accomodation with a small swimming pool but they did upgrade their bar area recently.)
3. Puerto Galera - Small La Laguna Beach - we did our deep dive training at a dive site called Middle Canyon - saw some amazing big fish!! It wasn't "difficult" skill-wise but you do need a good DM knowledgeable to read the current and look after you. There were some interesting sea lives we saw and wreck dive and a floating bar with a water slide which was fun after a day of diving Small La Laguna Beach wasn't really a good beach for swimming - it's all rocks no sand but that is where a lot of the dive shops are. The nice thing about diving here is that you can do one dive and come back to your hotel / shore instead of waiting out at sea for the second dive since all the dive sites are less than 10 mins away. So it's convenient for hanging out with your BF after each dive. There is a white beach a short boat ride away for partying. (We dived with Simon from Action Divers twice. He was so good that we decided to return to do our AOW with him. Oh yeah, and it took us from only 1pm Saturday to 3pm Sunday to complete all five dives for the AOW.)
4. Palawan North - Coron - (I am going for Christmas so I haven't dived there yet but I know it will be amazing ;-) ship wrecks and thermal lake diving (I read - "a wreck is a wreck / a reef is a reef / but thermal lake diving is one of those unique experience many divers had never had before.") There is a ship wreck and lake that is good for snorkeller/swimming there also. You can also do a looong day trip to Apo Reef (second largest reef in the world) from Club Paradise which I plan to do.

Other places in the Philippines that I've been to:
Palawan Central - is where Honda Bay and the Natural Wonder of the World underground river is. We stayed in Sabang - 5 min walk to the underground river tour. The Sabang beach had really big waves and fine brown sand - it was an interesting beach, no crowd (not blue/green water/fine white sand but one of my favorites in the philippines so far.) There is ziplining and ATV which was fun and cheap. The underground river tour itself was fun for maybe 15 min but 45 min of looking at rocks that look like different vegetables just wasn't my thing (maybe we just had a bad tour guide. There is no diving near Sabang though. So it will be a good break from diving for a day or two. The 2-hour bumpy car ride there could be a negative though.


Apo Island/Dauin/Siquijor
I am going to Dauin at end of Nov - you can do a day trip to Apo Island too (30 min to Apo Island) which is closer than Siquijor (2 hours to Apo Island). I went to Siquijor in June, stayed at Coco Grove - wasn't impressed with the beach or the hotel (I am spoiled after seeing other beaches in the Philippines) but there is snorkelling right off of the beach and the visibility for diving and snorkelling was really good but the stuff we saw felt familiar to us so it wasn't a wow moment for us. And the boat ride to Siquijor from Dumaguete was in a very rundown speed boat that only ran twice a day so we ended up having to wait at the airport for like 4 - 5 hours for our flight. So I would suggest skipping Siquijor. Will let you know how diving in Apo Island is ;-)

Donsol
I did Donsol in March and it was really a disappointment. You have to wait for the whaleshark to show up and when one did show up there were like 50 other people trying to snorkel with it. The beach there was not nice at all and there is some firefly tour at night which we heard was 45 minutes of looking at fireflies which could become boring pretty quickly. So if you want to see whaleshark, I did hear that Oslob is a better choice now. (I must admit it was pretty cool once I saw a whaleshark after waiting 3+ hours to no sighting on first day and 2+ hour and finally saw one on second day during March supposedly high season!)

Boracay
The best beach in the world as Travel+Leisure rated. The sand was really the best fine white sand we have seen so far (if you stay at end of Station one) And it was interesting people watching (if you don't mind the crowd esp during Easter) some good restaurants and really beautiful sunset sailing. We did only one dive at the Crocodile island. It was just okay for us. We plan to go back for the advanced Yapak wall diving though now that we did AOW.

Malapascua
I haven't dived there. It's 4-hour drive from Cebu (negative for me). And my friend never saw a thresher shark there (she's not AOW.)

Subic
For wreck diving. Two hour drive from Manila but visibility is questionable in March we went this year.

Cebu
Loved the Shangri-la Mactan resort there. Snorkeling right off their beach - saw more fish than some dives I have done.

 

[LiquidDivingAdventure]

I would agree with Anilao / Batangas area. Great for macro! Aquaventure Reef Club is nice.

 

[zelda]

wow. Thanks for the response guys. People mention Donsol for the whalesharks, but I read that Oslob in cebu is another place to see them while snorkeling.. that would definitely fit the picture better for us regarding our initiary plans in the Visayas. I actually had to narrow the trip in the Philippines down to about 16 days since I booked Sipidan in the end
We´re thinking Apo island and Bohol for sure - then I just have to continue with research. Or might skip it altogether and just do Palawan. This forum has been great help - thanks a lot!

 

[Rogersea]

I dont dive Malapascua very often, but I have to say that if you go to Malapascua and dont see the Threshers you are in a tiny tiny Minority. So if that was on your wish list I would do Malapascua.

I was on APO in July I have been there many times and really enjoy the diving there I always stay at the APO Island Resort when I go there. The only negative right now is that the Marine Sanctuary is closed due to damage that was incurred as a result of the Typhoon which came through last Dec.

The diving in Puerto Princessa is OK, I think Coron is great for wrecks but there is some many other things to do in PALAWAN that it is really a great destination...

Hope you enjoy your time in the Philippines!!!

Cheers,
Roger

 

[aquashik]

Hi Zelda!here's my suggestion if you want to maximize your philippine dive experience in 3 weeks: dive bohol--balicasag for jacks, turtles, and (maybe barracudas) and an amazing and very colorful reef and tons of colorful reef fish. then you can head to malapascua to satisfy your need for the bigger pelagics (thresher sharks, mantas, mobulas) and see some good macro diving (seahorse, all sorts of shrimps etc). and as an environmentally responsible diver, i would go with Philippine Fun Divers in Bohol and Evolution in Malapascua.If you have seen a whaleshark before, skip Oslob. it's a circus out there and you will feel bad for the sharks. Donsol has better practices but is quite a distance from the Visayas.In my opinion, the only good place to dive in Northern Palawan is in Coron for the WW2 wrecks. It has beautiful top side scenery as well. El Nido is also very beautiful top side but diving is mediocre compared to Bohol and Malapascua. Cheers,Michelle

 

[wannadive64]

wow. Thanks for the response guys. People mention Donsol for the whalesharks, but I read that Oslob in cebu is another place to see them while snorkeling.. that would definitely fit the picture better for us regarding our initiary plans in the Visayas. I actually had to narrow the trip in the Philippines down to about 16 days since I booked Sipidan in the end
We´re thinking Apo island and Bohol for sure - then I just have to continue with research. Or might skip it altogether and just do Palawan. This forum has been great help - thanks a lot!

Hi Zelda.
For uncrowded and totally natural whale shark watching, Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte is superb and easy to combine with both Bohol & Cebu.

 

[Fun & Sun]

Hi Zelda,

I reckon you have a great list of spots to choose from.

Malapascua is one of my favorite place and I have been there for the past 10 years (before I decided to go jump into the diving industry). There are actually very nice spots for snorkeling as well where I bring by kids (7 and 9 years old) snorkeling every time we are up on the island.

We are just back from a 4 days trip in Southern Leyte. It is indeed an awesome area to encounter the whale sharks while diving or snorkeling. Best to spend a few days there to ensure you have enought time to spot these gentle creatures.

PM me if you have any plan to be in the Visayas and we may have a trip scheduled when you are around you may join.

Cheers

JC