Advice on Philippines diving

[pakman]

So, is there any particular dive shop you recommend? What about cheap/moderate places to stay?

Ah, where to start? Probably best to do a little research on each of the locations and see which ones of are interest to you and then people could chime in with specific shop locations.

I guess you could try Scubaworld, they are the closest thing to a nationwide scuba shop with shops in various locations. I think the owners are also the owners of the Expedition Fleet.

 

[CODMAN]

Klassy, I was also overwhelmed by all the great info throuwn at me by the great PPDers. It took a while for me to get a grip on the general areas and particularities of the diving there. Now (1 month before my trip), I think I have a decent grasp in general. This website helped me out a lot (Asia Dive Site | Philippines dive sites :: Bohol). The info is not as good as the PPDers (they have actual "been there" points of views and are so generous with their help), but it gives a broader aspect of things as well as a few maps to orient yourself!

My biggest frustration is I'm going to be there for over a month (doing my DM course) and will not get to visit very many regions due to time and travelling constraints). I'd want to see it all!!! Ah, that just means I'll probably have to make multiple visits...:14:

Hope this helps!

 

[Hank49]

Thanks for the help. I was looking at the Explorer liveaboard. Can you tell me how the Cebu sites compare with the Tubbataha liveaboard? ?

I went to Tubbataha, Jessie Beazely and Bastera in 95 on the boat (I forget the name) that sank in Manila Bay last year. I'm going to do it again soon but on a local bangka....I feel safer.
To me, nothing compares to waking up at first light, looking at the crystal water while getting geared up and jumping in and over the walls at all those places. You're out in the Sulu Sea, 90 miles from the nearest island. I guess there are other comparable places in the world but I don't see how it could get any better. I saw marine life there I'd never seen before or since. Guitar fish was one.

 

[pakman]

jklassy, this might help to get a taste of various diving available in the Philippines... Here are some nice videos done by a local pinoy videographer named Carlo de Leon. I love his Tubbataha videos.

DivePixel.com: Underwater Videography by Carlo de Leon

edit: download speeds are bit painful but his videos are worth it... best to right click and save. Files are quicktime .mov format.

 

[pakman]

And here's a nice article from Singapore based dive magazine Fins about Puerto Galera.
http://finsonline.com/data/magazine/6_2/pdf/06-2PuertoGalera.pdf

 

[pakman]

And here is an article on diving in Bohol from Action Asia magazine (HK based regional sports mag in English).

Action Asia: Bohol Aloha Alona

 

[pakman]

Oh I almost forgot, we've built up a bit of a dive map for the Philippines on google map. It's not very polished (work in progress) but will give you an idea where everything is.

Google Maps

 

[jklassy]

You guys are really awesome. Thanks! Still waiting to hear on the Tubbataha liveaboard availability, and I'll research all the other options in the meantime. I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions.