Best island (s) for land based diving
- Thread starter Rkkyle
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bipolarbear
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Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro will give you a 'liveaboard but on land' experience. 4 dives a day plus a night dive if you wish, dive sites between 2 and 10 minute boat ride from the shop.
Some shops will offer an 'all you can dive' package which should come out to around US$70-US$90/day including nitrox.
It's reef diving, sometimes with quite a bit of drift, but relatively safe for our AOW level. I recommend Asia Divers in Sabang.
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I walk with my gear for shore diving from my house almost everyday. I live in Moalboal. For most of the accessible coastline within a few kilometers it is less than 100 meters from the beach to the wall. The corals here are healthier than they've been in a long time and still getting better. Panglao is still better but either way you'd be riding a boat to the best diving sites. Siquijor and Camiguin are also decent for shore diving.
I would suggest Alona Beach. It's actually really nice just going right out in front of the strip of diveshops and having your surface interval at a restaurant there. Lots of options for accommodation in walking distance.
I would suggest Alona Beach. It's actually really nice just going right out in front of the strip of diveshops and having your surface interval at a restaurant there. Lots of options for accommodation in walking distance.
Avoid Easter 2024.
Puerto Galera.
Boat only goes out for one dive and then return to base. Most operator does not has fixed schedule. This is the only place that I know does not use the excuse of "not enough diver" in SE Asia.
School of jack and regular sighting of thresher sharks are the latest addition.
I saw TWO thresher this morning.
Anilao
This place is well known for macro if that is your preference. Dive, eat and sleep from the same place.
Anilao + PG would make a very enjoyable trip.
No domestic flight to catch and both places is separated by a channel and transfer is dead easy even by using public transport.
Puerto Galera.
Boat only goes out for one dive and then return to base. Most operator does not has fixed schedule. This is the only place that I know does not use the excuse of "not enough diver" in SE Asia.
School of jack and regular sighting of thresher sharks are the latest addition.
I saw TWO thresher this morning.
Anilao
This place is well known for macro if that is your preference. Dive, eat and sleep from the same place.
Anilao + PG would make a very enjoyable trip.
No domestic flight to catch and both places is separated by a channel and transfer is dead easy even by using public transport.
Malapascua for the famous thresher shark.
Southern Leyte(Sogod Bay). Great diving and with sighting of whaleshark (snokelling only) during the season. Hopefully the area has recovered significantly from typhoon damage.
Malapascua + Southern Leyte would make another fun trip but linking these two places is far from easy and straight forward.
Dumaguete + Sipalay is another interesting option.
Only Malapascua can be described an an island of its own, the rest is just a corner of a much much bigger island.
Southern Leyte(Sogod Bay). Great diving and with sighting of whaleshark (snokelling only) during the season. Hopefully the area has recovered significantly from typhoon damage.
Malapascua + Southern Leyte would make another fun trip but linking these two places is far from easy and straight forward.
Dumaguete + Sipalay is another interesting option.
Only Malapascua can be described an an island of its own, the rest is just a corner of a much much bigger island.
I love Moalboal, and I'm glad to hear the reef is recovering. I was there in the summer for the first time since Covid and I was shocked at the changes, but after a few days you can see where all the new growth is happening. Had a good discussion with Koz and Paul from Savedra about it.
OP I'd follow on this recommendation and say Camiguin is good for shore diving if you don't want a boat. Beautiful island, I went on quite a few shore dives earlier this year (wrong winds for boats), and a jaunt out to Mantigue Island to see all the turtles is always special.
In a year I'd even be able to recommend accommodation near the airport, but we haven't started building it yet
Apparently both Moalboal and Southern Leyte were hammered by Odette around 16th Dec 2021. And there have been many reports on the devastating damages sustained in both areas.
I have not been to both places for well over 10yrs. So I am returning to Sogod Bay in Feb and just bought another ticket to Cebu so I can visit Moalboal as well. I want to see it with my own eyes to find out the damages and the recovery.
How could I resist US$150.00 round trip ticket which also includes 20kg checked bag.
I have not been to both places for well over 10yrs. So I am returning to Sogod Bay in Feb and just bought another ticket to Cebu so I can visit Moalboal as well. I want to see it with my own eyes to find out the damages and the recovery.
How could I resist US$150.00 round trip ticket which also includes 20kg checked bag.
Moalboal did get hit very hard. It'll shock you for sure, especially at the sites right by shore.
But if you look close, you'll see the growth. When you get deep it gets better. Pescador is still amazing (just not so much on the flat area on top). And the sardines came back.
My first dive back there this summer I was devastated. But after a few days I saw so many promising signs that I still left with a smile.
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I was living in Cordova and watched my roof fly away when the eye of Odette went over. It continued over the hills and also hit Moalboal dead on. The damage to Cordova was much worse than Moalboal. It was so much of a difference that I decided to come and live in Moalboal because I figure Odette was a worst case scenario. The storm was massive, almost as powerful as Yolanda and a direct hit.
Most of the buildings in the area kept their rooves. I'm still using trees that were downed by the storm as firewood. The reefs look better now than they did a decade ago.
The worst part of the ordeal for my family was the aftermath. I do a pretty good job staying prepped for anything but I wasn't ready for being stuck behind blocked roads for 9 days. I did manage to pedal a bicycle to Cebu City to buy antibiotics but I had a fever and had to convince a guard to let me enter the pharmacy because they were still on covid lockdown. People were selling little 300ml bottles of water around Cordova for a hundred pesos each but I had plenty of drinking water, even enough to share with neighbors.
Once we did manage to evacuate, we went to Bantayan where there was no sign of any damage at all. In fact even just in Catmon I didn't see anymore signs of the typhoon having done any damage. There's a lot of construction going on in Moalboal and Panagsama Road is full of tourists now.
One thing that really stuck out to me was on the drive from Cebu City to Moalboal. Going over the hills on the road between Carcar and Barili you normally find yourself under the shade of massive and very old trees most of the way but after the storm most of the trees up there were laying uprooted by the typhoon.
The difference between the damage in Cordova and that of Moalboal was really stark. I even found myself being careful not to offend people in Moalboal who were traumatized because they did not know how much worse it was across the island where 90% of houses were severely damaged. I mean, to many of them I was a new guy fresh in from a resort in Bantayan so I just kept it to myself and offered sympathy.
But I just had my house built here in Moalboal. I have been coming here for years. It's not really that bad.
Most of the buildings in the area kept their rooves. I'm still using trees that were downed by the storm as firewood. The reefs look better now than they did a decade ago.
The worst part of the ordeal for my family was the aftermath. I do a pretty good job staying prepped for anything but I wasn't ready for being stuck behind blocked roads for 9 days. I did manage to pedal a bicycle to Cebu City to buy antibiotics but I had a fever and had to convince a guard to let me enter the pharmacy because they were still on covid lockdown. People were selling little 300ml bottles of water around Cordova for a hundred pesos each but I had plenty of drinking water, even enough to share with neighbors.
Once we did manage to evacuate, we went to Bantayan where there was no sign of any damage at all. In fact even just in Catmon I didn't see anymore signs of the typhoon having done any damage. There's a lot of construction going on in Moalboal and Panagsama Road is full of tourists now.
One thing that really stuck out to me was on the drive from Cebu City to Moalboal. Going over the hills on the road between Carcar and Barili you normally find yourself under the shade of massive and very old trees most of the way but after the storm most of the trees up there were laying uprooted by the typhoon.
The difference between the damage in Cordova and that of Moalboal was really stark. I even found myself being careful not to offend people in Moalboal who were traumatized because they did not know how much worse it was across the island where 90% of houses were severely damaged. I mean, to many of them I was a new guy fresh in from a resort in Bantayan so I just kept it to myself and offered sympathy.
But I just had my house built here in Moalboal. I have been coming here for years. It's not really that bad.
Malapascua was literally flattened by Yolanda 10 yrs ago. However, I went back few months later and the island was recovering pretty fast. Of course there were damages everywhere but life move on.
Pinoys are very resilience to natural disaster, part of life perhaps.
I am going to dive Pulau Weh and see how Banda Ache recovered from the tsunami.
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