5 days in Cebu - Bohol, Mactan, or Moalboal?

[houloulumulu]

Hi all, a bunch of friends and I will have a few days off in March and we're flying in from Singapore. We plan to leave at night on the 11th, arriving at 2am on the 12th at Mactan international airport. We'll fly home on the 16th in the evening. Assuming we don't dive on the 12th and 16th, that leaves us 3 full days to dive.

We were considering Mactan or Bohol initially, but now research has led me to look into Moalboal. Would you guys here recommend it? We've mostly got about 30 dives each but 2 of our friends who've never dived plan to do their OW on this trip too.

 

[drk5036]

Is it primarily a diving trip, or “partying” trip also? If you’re looking to party, moalboal has a significant backpacker young people partying vibe.

given your itinerary, you could also dive in malapascua, where the diving will be more interesting. It’s farther, but you’ve basically dedicated the first and last days as travel days anyway.

if you went to moalboal, you could do afternoon dives on the 12th if you wanted. On my arrival day I did an afternoon sardines dive. Just walking in from the shore and they’re right there.

 

[Tripophobia]

If it's purely diving I would consider Malapascua

 

[houloulumulu]

Is it primarily a diving trip, or “partying” trip also? If you’re looking to party, moalboal has a significant backpacker young people partying vibe.

given your itinerary, you could also dive in malapascua, where the diving will be more interesting. It’s farther, but you’ve basically dedicated the first and last days as travel days anyway.

if you went to moalboal, you could do afternoon dives on the 12th if you wanted. On my arrival day I did an afternoon sardines dive. Just walking in from the shore and they’re right there.

Not exactly looking to party but we went to Leyte 2 years ago and found that a purely diving trip with nothing to do above land was a bit much for us too. We'd like somewhere with at least some food and stuff to do above land. I did my OW in Malapascua and wouldn't mind going back, but would love to try diving elsewhere first though!

I'm leaning towards Moalboal now I think!

 

[Sbiriguda]

Moalboal is very good for diving, and quite good for night life. Having few days after a stop in Mactan Island / Cebu airport it's quite easy to reach by bus (good ones, with aircon and so, not the first ones I traveled with, where people used to bring caged hens and with no doors or windows…). Not far from Cebu City there is also Oslob (whale sharks), but they feed the animals and it's quite crowded. Bohol has nice dives and it's wonderful if you also want to see the Spanish churches, the tarsiers, the chocolate hills, Datu Sikatuna national park. It's easy to reach by boat from Mactan, it taks more or less one hour to Tagbilaran. Malapascua is also very nice, it's more complicated to reach (bus until Maia and then 30 minutes by ferry but not so many trips in a day). The dives are nice but really overcrowded. The dive with the thresher sharks is a must see in the Philippines. I have not been diving in Mactan island, but people say it's better than what you would expect in a place very close to a big town like Cebu and also worth it (don't know anyway). Between Mactan and Bohol there is Olango, which is a birds sanctuary, and might be interesting if you like this sort of things.

Considering the short time, I would stay only in Moalboal

 

[houloulumulu]

Moalboal is very good for diving, and quite good for night life. Having few days after a stop in Mactan Island / Cebu airport it's quite easy to reach by bus (good ones, with aircon and so, not the first ones I traveled with, where people used to bring caged hens and with no doors or windows…). Not far from Cebu City there is also Oslob (whale sharks), but they feed the animals and it's quite crowded. Bohol has nice dives and it's wonderful if you also want to see the Spanish churches, the tarsiers, the chocolate hills, Datu Sikatuna national park. It's easy to reach by boat from Mactan, it taks more or less one hour to Tagbilaran. Malapascua is also very nice, it's more complicated to reach (bus until Maia and then 30 minutes by ferry but not so many trips in a day). The dives are nice but really overcrowded. The dive with the thresher sharks is a must see in the Philippines. I have not been diving in Mactan island, but people say it's better than what you would expect in a place very close to a big town like Cebu and also worth it (don't know anyway). Between Mactan and Bohol there is Olango, which is a birds sanctuary, and might be interesting if you like this sort of things.

Considering the short time, I would stay only in Moalboal

Thank you! I think you're right and we'll go with Moalboal. Does anyone here have a dive center to recommend? I've been looking at Cebu Dive Center which has great tripadvisor reviews.

 

[Tripophobia]

We just stayed at Turtle Bay Dive Resort, overall good value for money, resort is nice an calm (if this is what you are looking for). It is a bit far from downtown so you have a 10min tuktuk ride...

 

[drk5036]

I went to Savedra. It was okay, it’s basically a diving mill so you don’t get to know your groups and your DM always changes, but for diving the sardines you couldn’t ask for a better location. The price was also right. We didn’t have any issues with the actual diving; they let us dive our tanks up to one hour, and when we asked to change sites they obliged. The people working at the front desk are also really nice.

 

[houloulumulu]

We just stayed at Turtle Bay Dive Resort, overall good value for money, resort is nice an calm (if this is what you are looking for). It is a bit far from downtown so you have a 10min tuktuk ride...

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll read their tripadvisor reviews and maybe reach out to them too!

I went to Savedra. It was okay, it’s basically a diving mill so you don’t get to know your groups and your DM always changes, but for diving the sardines you couldn’t ask for a better location. The price was also right. We didn’t have any issues with the actual diving; they let us dive our tanks up to one hour, and when we asked to change sites they obliged. The people working at the front desk are also really nice.

Thanks for your recommendation but I think part of what I love about diving is meeting and getting to know other people who do too, so that sounds like something I wouldn't really love.

 

[Tripophobia]

you might want to compare their rates on PADI.com. In our case the padi rate was cheaper so they matched this one for us...