4th time back and stuck between Malapascua or Moalboal

[omnio]

Hello -

I've been doing research the board trying to decide between Malapascua and Moalboal. There seems to be great advantages for each one, but I haven't been able to find enough details recently to help me decide between the two. Any additional insights you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Just a little bit of background about me/trip. This will be my 4th time (2000 - Alona Beach, 2002 - El Nido, 2008 - Puerto Galera) to the Philippines. Every trip had different things to offer, but loved every single one. I will be in Cebu from April 26th, 2015 to May 2nd, 2015, so that leaves me with 5 days of potential diving and 2 travel days. I'm traveling with one other guy who has never been to the Philippines. We are both in our mid-30s. Due to my time constraint, I've narrowed it down to Malapascua and Moalboal. Things we are looking for in order of priority:

1) Good diving: Moalboal offers sardines and great wall diving at Pescador. Malapascua offers thresher, rays, and mandarian. People have mentioned that after a few days, Moalboal diving gets "boring". We are from Texas, so seeing a living animal in the ocean is pretty exciting already. We are not really into muck diving, so I'm leaning towards Moalboal for diving. Does one of these destinations have better "average" visibility than the other? Has Malapascua fully recovered from Typhoon Yolando?

2) Land excursions: While we will most likely be diving most of our trip, I do want to take a few afternoons to do some land activities. There are some waterfall around Moalboal. I couldn't find any land activities on Malapascua.

3) Nightlight: While we don't have any plans to party, we do enjoy a good beer after diving. Does one have a particularly better nightlife than the other in terms of number of bars and people?

Based on our circumstance would you recommend Malapascua or Moalboal?

 

[Mucksavage]

I will announce first that I have a business in Malapascua but in this case I will speak as someone who dived both destinations as a diver before Evolution started.

And predictable I give Malapascua my vote. For me Moalboal was nice and I also appreciate the colour and life but I did find each dive the same so after 3 days and 9 or ten dives I was done. Moalboal is quite spread out and so if you want to get from your resort to the main area you may need to walk or get a bike which can be a pain.

I think the main thing that should swing it to Malapascua is Thresher Sharks and the fact that in April and May we get great aggregations of Devil Rays and great conditions so you can expect some great sightings. With the best weather of the year at that time you can expect day trips to Gato Island, Kalanggaman, the famous Dona Marylyn wreck and all the local stuff.

Malapascua has plenty of beach bars and great happy hours so its not hard to suck a cold beer with some fellow divers and then find some good food. Others will have more insight but I found Moalboal resort life isolating and boring so I would head to Panagsama which does have a nice bar or two but isn't the most attractive location. Others of course will strongly disagree!

Malapascua has fully recovered from Yolanda and is everything it ever was.

 

[TheWartHog]

Last year I dived both Malapascua and Moalboal on the same trip and enjoyed both very much but if I had to choose between the two for a diving trip then I would choose Malapascua. The diving's great there I think. Like Mucksavage I too don't like to be 'holed up' in an isolated resort and in Malapascua one can just step out from your digs and wander about choosing a bar or restaurant for the evening/night.

 

[ElGaucho]

The small size of Malapascua definetively helps with choices for dinner, bar, etc. I dined almost every night at Evolution's own restaurant/pub, but that's because the food was that good . Being a small island, you can always veer off to other locales and everything is walking distance. That is the way I like to spend my vacation time. But everybody's different.

 

[Hutch12]

Having dived both my advice would be.......do both!!!!

I am doing this over the coming Chinese New Year and cannot wait! I think it is hard to compare the 2 places because they both offer very different diving which is why both should be on any Cebu itenary.

Moalboal and Pescador Island do have great walls, vis and probably better overall reef diving. The reefs of Malapscua, Gato island etc I found distinctly average. As has been mentioned above, the early morning Thresher Shark dives are excelllent and the early evening / dusk / night dives are great too with Mandarin Fish, Seahorses, Pipe fish crab etc.

I would also second the above in that Malapascua has a better night life, some great beach bars with out being trashy though there are no land tours / excursions other than walking the island.

With 5 days I would suggest 2 days in each with a days travel imbetween.

If it helps, we are going to Moalboal first to dive the walls and then to Malapascua, we will dive the early mornings and then likely skip the day dives and relax on the beach while waiting for the dusk dive.

 

[TheWartHog]

With 5 days I would suggest 2 days in each with a days travel imbetween.

Each to their own but I wouldn't do this – what's it? 6/7 hours travelling time?

 

[Tippytoes12]

Great advice from the Warthog....unless you love travelling in developing countries, packing , unpacking , negotiating prices , getting used to dive shops....spend all your time in one spot....Malapascua would also have my vote.

 

[PRO-FOUND]

If you choose Malapascua I recommend Thresher Shark Dive Shop.

Personally I hate Malapascua island but not the diving, Gato island is a great dive

 

[Centrals]

"Ruby"(the super typhoon hoovering around Philippines now) might have the final say on the matter!
Good luck Philippines.

 

[Mucksavage]

Malapascua is fine. Its still windy today but businesses will reopen tomorrow.