Best dives in Philippines in 10 days

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Davez3

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Messages
20
Reaction score
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Location
NY, NY
# of dives
50 - 99
Hi guys,
I am glad I finally made it to this forum. Should have done it years ago!

I got AOP certification and 56 dives in 25 years with rented gear in Caribbean, Costa Rica and Indonesia . Just bought my first full scuba set. Going to Philippines first time by myself. Flying from US East Coast on March 27. , landing Manila on 29, continuing in PPS the same day. I have one night booked in PPS hotel for that night and then diving Tubbataha on the Philippine Siren April 30-5 and have to fly back to US out of Manilla on April 16. What other spots would you recommend to cover?

I thought of a couple of things. Please tell me if they are reasonable and recommend better alternatives.
1) After liveaboard see the Underground River on April 6th. Travel to Coron, do a day or two of wreck diving, take an island tour to gas off, fly to Manila to transition to Puerto Galera. Dive there with a couple of days left to see Manila before I go back.

2) After liveaboard see the Underground River on April 6th. Fly to Cebu, Travel to MoalBoal, do one day of diving there, go to Cebu and do 1 day of sight-seeing and gas off, fly to Manila, travel to Puerto Galera until I have to fly back on April 16 with enough time to gas off.

Again, I don't have anything book besides the night before the liveaboard and the liveaboard yet. What do you think of the itinerates? Can I do better? Thanks for any suggestions!
 
I was there in for the month of Feb. 2019 and dove Malapascua, Coron (wrecks) and Bohol/Balicasag. If all I did was dive the wrecks at Coron it still would have been an epic trip. Planning to go back in Feb 2023 and I'll stay at Coron for two weeks, maybe three.
 
I thought of a couple of things. Please tell me if they are reasonable and recommend better alternatives.
1) After liveaboard see the Underground River on April 6th. Travel to Coron, do a day or two of wreck diving, take an island tour to gas off, fly to Manila to transition to Puerto Galera. Dive there with a couple of days left to see Manila before I go back.

2) After liveaboard see the Underground River on April 6th. Fly to Cebu, Travel to MoalBoal, do one day of diving there, go to Cebu and do 1 day of sight-seeing and gas off, fly to Manila, travel to Puerto Galera until I have to fly back on April 16 with enough time to gas off.

Again, I don't have anything book besides the night before the liveaboard and the liveaboard yet. What do you think of the itinerates? Can I do better? Thanks for any suggestions!
My opinion:
1. Underground River? Why not.
Travel to Coron from Palawan? You need to find out how!
Local travel in the country is slow and expensive if using private.
PG + sight seeing in Manila is better.
A bit of history for you.

2. There is nothing in Cebu to see. All the way to Moalboal for one day of diving! Why bother?

Have a nice trip.
Looking forward to your trip report.
 
Agree with above.

Don't try to do too many places on a dive trip, as I always say you will tend to wind up actually seeing less. Staying anyplace just a day or a couple days is usually best to avoid. You spend too much time drying gear, packing & unpacking, offgassing if a flight is involved, traveling, getting around, figuring things out, and being the newbie in the next place. This is true many places, but applies in triplicate in the Philippines. It's a big place. Travel (or anything really) does not go fast.
 
Going anywhere fast in Cebu isn't going to happen. I burned an entire day going from Cebu to Bohol via slow cabs and slow ferries. My next trip I plan to avoid ferries and limit my destinations to air accessible only. Staying for anything less than three weeks will be hectic if you plan multiple stops.
 
All of the above advice is sage advice. Moving around the Phils was slow and chaotic prior to covid, now it is worse. It takes at least a day to move from one island to another. My advice would be after your live aboard to just head back to Luzon and stick close-in. (ie: Puerto Galera, Anilao, Subic Bay) Heck..we'd be happy to keep you busy diving historic wrecks in Subic for up to a week if you want? Subic Bay is an easy 3 hour drive from Manila.
 
I am a big fan of Puerto Galera and the diving there. I would spend a good number of days there, personally and be sure to get in some dives at Verde Island, which you can do through the dive shop you choose to dive with. I like Asia Divers, which is located and partnered with the hotel El Galleon.
 
West coast of Cebu is wrecked, forget Moalboal for a couple of years.

Fly back to Manila and either go to

A) Subic Bay for some more wrecks
or
B) go down south to Batangas, ferry over to Puerto Galera and spend a week with Asia Divers at El Galleon.

My advice is to go back to Manila for an overnight before your flight as weather can delay crossings back to Batangas and even at the best of times I've had one nerve racking trip directly back to the airport from PG and never again.
 
I have no idea what is the latest public ferry schedule from Batangas to PG/Balatero like. But it pays to arrive at Batangas port as early as possible.
How to get to Batangas Ferry Terminal?
Public bus(P200.00 pre-covid) or private(easily costing US$100.00)?
Plenty of info for the bus from Buendia Bus Terminal(there are several around the area) to Batangas Port
 
Thanks for all that information guys. Between Subic Bay and Puerto Galera how do they compare both in terms of quality and variety of diving and in terms of night life? Puerta Galera was known for its bar scene, but in current Youtube videos it seems devoid of life. Subic Bay beach looked very nice in one of the videos, and I even spotted a Sailfish boat on a beach. I was hoping to do some Hobie Cat sailing in addition to diving, but couldn't see it offered anywhere. But the video was from last year. I've read somewhere that the water in Subic Bay is not as clear as in Puerto Galera, but on the other hand it has the same history as Pattaya in Thailand. Diving comes first, but I wouldn't mind having some fun at night.
 

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