Beginner Diving in Philippines?

[Centrals]

Cebu Pacific has daily "red eye" flight(5J 752, 01:00/04:30) from Saigon to Manila. So getting to PG is never an issue. Depend on the mode of transfer(public/private) U2 will be under water around mid day.
Cebu Pacific also has connection(5J 745, 01:00/05:15) between Haino and Manila every We/Fr/Su.
If you want to see school of sardines and whaleshark then Moalboal is the place. Frequent connection between Manila and Cebu and Moalboal is only 2hrs away by road. But you do have to travel to Oslob to see the daily feeding of the whalesharks in the morning. But the dive operator/resort in Moalboal should be able to organize it.
If you want to see wreck then Subic Bay is only 3-4hrs away from Manila by road. USS New York is the main attraction. The vis is never great in Subic but current is the last thing that you have to worry!! Plenty of top side attractions but the beach is NOT one of them.
The school of sardine + whaleshark should be able to provide U2 with fond memory.
Have a nice trip.

 

[diverjen]

Hey Centrals! Thanks for always helping out with info! How deep are the wrecks in Subic and how bad is the viz?

 

[WOODMAN]

I'm a Puerto Galera/ Sebang fan, but I like diving.
I suggest Alona beach on Bohol, as this will give you all you want. Boracay is ok for above water but the diving not that good.
you could stay at big Laguna beach in Sebang though, a 10 minute walk to town if you have to and there is a few resturaunts there and an ok beach, also check coco beach resort.

A few restaurants? I lost count! And a lot of international cuisine is available. You want German or Italian or Japanese? It's there, along with a plethora of other Asian and a host of Philippine. (I didn't see any middle eastern/Arabic food, but I may be wrong about that..) You will be spoiled for choice, believe me. As for Coco Beach, I've never been there but I have seen it plenty of times as we motor by it, and it is waaay out on the west end and pretty isolated, sort of like an Anilao resort, except somewhat flatter and a lot less stairs (except the more I look at it on the internet, the more stairs I see...). I don't know how the access to Sabang would be, as it's pretty far out. But, to each his own. It does have some nice beach, if that's really important to you. And I just found out there is no air conditioning in the rooms, for what that is worth.

 

[Centrals]

How deep are the wrecks in Subic and how bad is the viz?

There are several of them inside the Bay ranging from 15m to 54m and there are few more outside the Bay as well. For more detail description of the wrecks please look it up on line.
How bad is the viz?
The worst that I had experienced was about 3m on USS New York which is always suffer from the run off from Olangapo River. LST usually has much better vis at 32m. St. Quintin which is just outside the Bay always has good vis.
Jan to May is probably the best time to dive the wrecks because that is suppose to be dry season.

 

[skingsland]

Cebu Pacific has daily "red eye" flight(5J 752, 01:00/04:30) from Saigon to Manila. So getting to PG is never an issue. Depend on the mode of transfer(public/private) U2 will be under water around mid day.
Cebu Pacific also has connection(5J 745, 01:00/05:15) between Haino and Manila every We/Fr/Su.
If you want to see school of sardines and whaleshark then Moalboal is the place. Frequent connection between Manila and Cebu and Moalboal is only 2hrs away by road. But you do have to travel to Oslob to see the daily feeding of the whalesharks in the morning. But the dive operator/resort in Moalboal should be able to organize it.
If you want to see wreck then Subic Bay is only 3-4hrs away from Manila by road. USS New York is the main attraction. The vis is never great in Subic but current is the last thing that you have to worry!! Plenty of top side attractions but the beach is NOT one of them.
The school of sardine + whaleshark should be able to provide U2 with fond memory.
Have a nice trip.

Thanks Centrals! I noticed the 2 Cebu Pacific flights you mentioned, leaving from Saigon or Hanoi to Manila at 1am. I wasn't seriously considering them because:

1. my wife doesn't sleep well on planes (so the sleep lost during a red eye flight has to come from somewhere, and it's probably our diving time),
2. Philippines Airlines has a 9:30am flight from Saigon and gets better reviews online than Cebu Pacific, and
3. I was hoping that the Philippines Airlines flight which arrives at 1:15pm would allow enough connection time for us to catch the 3:10 PAL Express flight to Caticlan (with a short boat trip to Boracay), or the 3pm Cebu Pacific flight to Dumaguete (with a ~30 min car ride down to Dauin).

However, if a ~2 hour transfer time at Manila airport is cutting it too close (and from what Woodman said about international-to-domestic transfers, it might be), then the only way we'll be able to make the whole trip in 1 day is if we take the Cebu Pacific redeye flight. In that case, we'd get to Manila early enough to travel just about anywhere the same day: PG via bus & ferry (3.5 hrs), or a flight to Caticlan, Dumaguete, Tagbilaran City, Cebu, El Nido, etc. That means all of the places I'm considering will take about the same time to get there, except for more remote destinations like Malapascua and Moalboal.

So now I'm thinking that Panglao Island (based on what kevinl4270 said about the dive fleet having recovered) and Puerto Galera / Sabang (especially if we stay further west in Big or Small La Laguna beach, perhaps at Blue Ribbon) have the best mix of great diving, ease of travel, good beach, and good restaurant options. Boracay sounds good in theory, but if the diving isn't as good as the other options I'm considering, and it's really touristy (compared to PG or Panglao), then I think I'll pass.

Lastly, just to throw yet another option out there: I had lunch with a coworker on Friday who raved about how awesome El Nido was. That's the only place he dove in the Philippines (so he doesn't have a basis for comparison like you folks do), but he said the diving was excellent, the beaches were great, the resorts were pretty cheap, and - though a bit remote - it was a quiet great place to get away from it all. I've heard Palawan called "the final frontier" of diving in the Phils, but had so far discounted it because I wasn't interested in wreck diving at Coron. In terms of staying at a quiet resort with not much going on besides diving it sounds like Apo Island, Anilao, or Malapascua. How do you folks think El Nido matches what I'm looking for?

 

[Bröla]

Moalboal on Cebu are a great choice to dive in, millions of sardines on the house reef and a bunch of great wall dives to dive at.

 

[FT]

Only did a couple of dives in El Nido because... it was meh.

Big La Laguna is a nicer beach than Small La Laguna. I am a raving fan of the dive op Asia Divers in Small La Laguna, but believe there are good options in BLL, or you could take a short walk. +1 for getting your dive op to transfer you there from the airport. A bit pricey, but you absolutely will get there the same day. THAT transfer might be 3.5 hours, depending on traffic. Bus+ferry will, I guarantee it, take longer, what with getting through Manila to the bus station and timetable issues.

Bohol/Panglao checks all your boxes: more beach, not perhaps as many restaurants as Sabang but certainly tasty options. A half hour boat trip to Balicasag Island will provide you with unforgettably beautiful corals. However, I'm not seeing any flight options that will get you to Tagbilaran on the same day as a flight arriving from Hanoi at 1 pm. (14:40 departure on PAL = not enough transfer time).

We learned to dive in the Philippines (OW on Apo Island, AOW in Puerto Galera) so obviously I think it's just fine for beginners.

 

[skingsland]

Bohol/Panglao checks all your boxes: more beach, not perhaps as many restaurants as Sabang but certainly tasty options. A half hour boat trip to Balicasag Island will provide you with unforgettably beautiful corals. However, I'm not seeing any flight options that will get you to Tagbilaran on the same day as a flight arriving from Hanoi at 1 pm. (14:40 departure on PAL = not enough transfer time).

Thanks FT! The Philippine Air flight from Saigon I'm considering lands at 1:15pm in Manila, so you're probably right - no way clear customs, transfer, and make the 2:40 flight to Tagbilaran (and that's the last flight of the day). Same with the 3pm to Dumaguete and the 3:10pm to Caticlan. So my options are to take the Cebu Pacific 1am redeye from Saigon (or Hanoi), make all my travel in 1 day, and save on a night's lodging; or spend the rest of the day and night in Manila, continuing the next morning to my destination. (I've not been to Manila, so I don't know if that's to be considered a positive or a negative.) Point being, I can get to both PG and Panglao in a day, and they seem to have everything I'm looking for.

Any other opinions from folks who have dived both PG and Panglao? I'm not sure how to weigh the dives around Panglao (esp. Balicasag Island which sounds awesome) against all the PG dive sites (I counted 36 on one dive operator's website). Or maybe they're equally great for diving, and I should let other factors like the cost of lodging and diving make the decision for me.

 

[Centrals]

1. If you take the PAL flight then you still have plenty of time to make it to PG assuming you are taking private transfer. PAL has its own terminal(T2) for both International and Domestic flights so the transfer between them is straight forward.
2. If you take the the 5J then you can make it anywhere in the country on the same day. But you will be kicking your heels on the return leg because of NO Fly penalty after diving.
3. The diving in El Nido is very very ordinary. But the top side scenery is beautiful.
4. If you have a afternoon to spare in Manila then The Intramuro is highly recommended. But the Corregidor Island is a must if you are interested in WWII. However you will need a whole day to do it.
5. Panglao vs PG: PG is slightly ahead based on ease of getting to the dive site as well as varieties. And there is nothing like Verde Island as well. But Balicasag and Cabilao are pretty good.
6. Stay at Campbell in PG which is at the extreme end of Big La Laguna and dive either with La Laguna Beach Club or Scandi Divers. The beach is small but clean enough to lie down.
7. Most sites in PG are within 15mins by boat so you go out for one dive and then return to the resort/dive shop. You can have a massage, soft drink, snack, sun bathing, warm shower etc etc between dives on LAND. And if the resort has a pool then..... This is a holiday afterall!!
8. Don't count out Moalboal for beginner divers.