So, I'm back from Sabang, and I am glad I went.
The diving wasn't exceptionally great in my opinion, but it was far from bad. Had some really good muck dives and a very special midnight night dive. But it was the other divers I've had the honor meeting there and diving with, and the talks during shared lunches and dinners that made me enjoy this dive trip very, very much.
So far I haven't written any review of places I went to, but as I too like to read other people's opinions when deciding where to go, I will write a few lines about the experiences I had.
I did some diving with Asia Divers and South Sea Divers. I stayed in Jeremy's Lodge, as there was no room available at El Galleon (Asia Divers) for the whole duration of my stay, but it was organized through Asia Divers and I checked in and out at El Galleon. I booked the trip through a travel agent who recommended Asia Divers/El Galleon.
I have mixed feelings when it comes to Asia Divers.
If you are interested in bottom time, I guess they are the place to go to, as they offer up to four dives a day plus a night dive, if you wish. They also let you dive 60 minutes if you have the air for it. I have also seen people getting 15L tanks. Some of their guides were really good guides I thought, though there was quite some shuffling going on and except for the very first day, guides changed during the day. I can understand though that if they do have the capacities that they split the dives among the guides they have instead of having one guide do four dives a day and another just sit around and do nothing.
In total I had 8 different guides in 28 dives done over a period of 8 days at AD.
I had my own gear, so I can't say anything about rental gear. It didn't feel to me that there was anything unsafe going on, though I did not like it too much when one of the divemasters in training there grabbed my gear with one hand at the valve and the other around one of the hoses to lift it up onto a boat.
I found the organization questionable at times and the service rather impersonal. I never really felt "at home" with them. In the beginning I thought it was because there were a lot of guests between Christmas and New Years, but it didn't really change that much later on. Even less at the attached hotel/restaurant. It seemed the staff there lacked enthusiasm and wasn't really interested in having guests, and talking to some other divers there, they had the same feeling.
The dives with AD were mostly good, but on some dives I wasn't that happy with a few things that happened during the dive.
I also did some dives with South Sea Divers, and I for one thought it was nice to be greeted in the morning by everyone, and even more, by name. Did not happen at AD. Even though they might not have the capacities that AD have, I did like the more personal, family-like atmosphere, and they seemed to be more flexible. They set up the new years midnight dive for us (a proper, nice drift one on top of that) even though it wasn't something on their "dive menu", but still charged only the regular night dive fee.
I can see some pros and cons with either, but in the future I'd probably give up a bit of bottom time for that more family-like feeling. But that is a personal choice. It's not that I would actively advice against AD, it's more that I would rather point people towards SSD if they would ask me, from the experiences I made. But again, if bottom time is high on your list of priorities, AD can provide more.
If I were to go back I would try a different place to stay though, as I think it was way overpriced for SE Asia regarding the level of comfort and cleanliness. There must be better choices. I even paid less in Okinawa/Japan for my hotel rooms, so I was a bit surprised. It's not that I expected luxury, but for the price I paid I did expect a little bit more.
But as I said, I am glad I went.
The diving wasn't exceptionally great in my opinion, but it was far from bad. Had some really good muck dives and a very special midnight night dive. But it was the other divers I've had the honor meeting there and diving with, and the talks during shared lunches and dinners that made me enjoy this dive trip very, very much.
So far I haven't written any review of places I went to, but as I too like to read other people's opinions when deciding where to go, I will write a few lines about the experiences I had.
I did some diving with Asia Divers and South Sea Divers. I stayed in Jeremy's Lodge, as there was no room available at El Galleon (Asia Divers) for the whole duration of my stay, but it was organized through Asia Divers and I checked in and out at El Galleon. I booked the trip through a travel agent who recommended Asia Divers/El Galleon.
I have mixed feelings when it comes to Asia Divers.
If you are interested in bottom time, I guess they are the place to go to, as they offer up to four dives a day plus a night dive, if you wish. They also let you dive 60 minutes if you have the air for it. I have also seen people getting 15L tanks. Some of their guides were really good guides I thought, though there was quite some shuffling going on and except for the very first day, guides changed during the day. I can understand though that if they do have the capacities that they split the dives among the guides they have instead of having one guide do four dives a day and another just sit around and do nothing.
In total I had 8 different guides in 28 dives done over a period of 8 days at AD.
I had my own gear, so I can't say anything about rental gear. It didn't feel to me that there was anything unsafe going on, though I did not like it too much when one of the divemasters in training there grabbed my gear with one hand at the valve and the other around one of the hoses to lift it up onto a boat.
I found the organization questionable at times and the service rather impersonal. I never really felt "at home" with them. In the beginning I thought it was because there were a lot of guests between Christmas and New Years, but it didn't really change that much later on. Even less at the attached hotel/restaurant. It seemed the staff there lacked enthusiasm and wasn't really interested in having guests, and talking to some other divers there, they had the same feeling.
The dives with AD were mostly good, but on some dives I wasn't that happy with a few things that happened during the dive.
I also did some dives with South Sea Divers, and I for one thought it was nice to be greeted in the morning by everyone, and even more, by name. Did not happen at AD. Even though they might not have the capacities that AD have, I did like the more personal, family-like atmosphere, and they seemed to be more flexible. They set up the new years midnight dive for us (a proper, nice drift one on top of that) even though it wasn't something on their "dive menu", but still charged only the regular night dive fee.
I can see some pros and cons with either, but in the future I'd probably give up a bit of bottom time for that more family-like feeling. But that is a personal choice. It's not that I would actively advice against AD, it's more that I would rather point people towards SSD if they would ask me, from the experiences I made. But again, if bottom time is high on your list of priorities, AD can provide more.
If I were to go back I would try a different place to stay though, as I think it was way overpriced for SE Asia regarding the level of comfort and cleanliness. There must be better choices. I even paid less in Okinawa/Japan for my hotel rooms, so I was a bit surprised. It's not that I expected luxury, but for the price I paid I did expect a little bit more.
But as I said, I am glad I went.
