Bohol Diving/Accommodations

[rpm.1881]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Alona Beach, Bohol sometime March/April 2010. Would greatly appreciate your inputs/comments regarding our plans:

Accomodation
Flower Garden Resort (Flower Garden Resort Panglao/Bohol-Philippines)
- Its a little of the beach. We're staying here for 3 nights. Have any of you stayed here?

Dive Center
Philippine Island Divers (Philippine Islands Divers - Bohol Divers. Alona Beach, Panglao Bohol and Malapascua, Cebu. Philippines)
- I heard that their dive center is under renovation. Do any of you guys know when this will be completed?
- Chose this because they received a lot of recommendations from this board.

Dive Sites
We're planning to do 10 dives. What do you think of the following and what other sites would you suggest?
1. Rico's Wall
2. Rudy's Rock
3. Black Forest
4. Arco Point
5. Pungtud Wall
6. Kalipayan Point
7. Kalipayan Point Night Dive
8. Doljo Point
9. Napaling
10. Pamilacan (heard that this is where the dolphines can be spotted)

Non-Diving Related
Do you guys think that we can go visit the chocolate hills, tarsiers and do the loboc river cruise and make it to the airport by 130pm?

Thanks,

Ron

 

[glenver]

hey rpm.. i don't have a whole lot of diving experience in bohol (ok, i have none) but if you are around the city, do check out the old churches, if that's your thing. i enjoyed the old structures while i was there =)

enjoy the trip!

 

[neugierig]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Alona Beach, Bohol sometime March/April 2010. Would greatly appreciate your inputs/comments regarding our plans:

Accomodation
Flower Garden Resort (Flower Garden Resort Panglao/Bohol-Philippines)
- Its a little of the beach. We're staying here for 3 nights. Have any of you stayed here?

Dive Center
Philippine Island Divers (Philippine Islands Divers - Bohol Divers. Alona Beach, Panglao Bohol and Malapascua, Cebu. Philippines)
- I heard that their dive center is under renovation. Do any of you guys know when this will be completed?
- Chose this because they received a lot of recommendations from this board.

Dive Sites
We're planning to do 10 dives. What do you think of the following and what other sites would you suggest?
1. Rico's Wall
2. Rudy's Rock
3. Black Forest
4. Arco Point
5. Pungtud Wall
6. Kalipayan Point
7. Kalipayan Point Night Dive
8. Doljo Point
9. Napaling
10. Pamilacan (heard that this is where the dolphines can be spotted)

Non-Diving Related
Do you guys think that we can go visit the chocolate hills, tarsiers and do the loboc river cruise and make it to the airport by 130pm?

Thanks,

Ron

you might be able to do all 3 if you leave early and rush. the loboc cruise is normally lunch, so maybe your agent can book your trip early so you have time to go to the airport.

good luck

 

[blue steal]

That would be hard to do. Choc. hills is very nice and lots of uphill walking. Tarsiers maybe 20-30 minutes. Loboc river is 2-3 hours, nice trip.........skip the food pretty bland on the boats. If I was to skip one, I would miss the Loboc river cruise. I enjoyed the churches on route to choc. hills. We were not back till 4-5 pm when we did all three.
Stayed at Alona Tropical/had nice dive shop. Balicasag was fantastic! A must do.
If time permits, do temple in cebu.

 

[Gilligan]

I live in Bohol part time.

1. Don't chance doing the three sites and try making it to the airport by 1:30pm. The lines for Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific can be hectic at the Tagbilaran Airport.

2. Skip Philippine Islands Divers. The shop is not just being renovated. It has been taken over by the owner of the property, Bohol Divers Resort. It will re-open under a new name and it's fate is unknown at this point. Don't chance it. I switched from P.I.D. to Seaquest Dive Center a few months ago. Seaquest is a first class dive operation. It is well managed, has several boats and an almost daily option of dive sites. I highly recommend them.

3. Flower Garden Resort is a small out-of-the-way resort in an out-of-the-way location. I can't speak to its quality. Take a look at my Alona Beach map. It's #4 on the map.

PM me if you need further info.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I dove there last year actually This January but it seems so long ago and it's closer to my next dive trip, so don't miss out going to Balicasag. Sometimes weather keeps the boats from going there but it's pretty nice. I used Sun Divers and found them to be a well run shop.

 

[greatwolf]

2. Skip Philippine Islands Divers. The shop is not just being renovated. It has been taken over by the owner of the property, Bohol Divers Resort. It will re-open under a new name and it's fate is unknown at this point. Don't chance it. I switched from P.I.D. to Seaquest Dive Center a few months ago. Seaquest is a first class dive operation. It is well managed, has several boats and an almost daily option of dive sites. I highly recommend them.


PM me if you need further info.

Jacques Trotin doesn't run the shop anymore?

 

[rpm.1881]

you might be able to do all 3 if you leave early and rush. the loboc cruise is normally lunch, so maybe your agent can book your trip early so you have time to go to the airport.

good luck

That would be hard to do. Choc. hills is very nice and lots of uphill walking. Tarsiers maybe 20-30 minutes. Loboc river is 2-3 hours, nice trip.........skip the food pretty bland on the boats. If I was to skip one, I would miss the Loboc river cruise. I enjoyed the churches on route to choc. hills. We were not back till 4-5 pm when we did all three.
Stayed at Alona Tropical/had nice dive shop. Balicasag was fantastic! A must do.
If time permits, do temple in cebu.

I live in Bohol part time.

1. Don't chance doing the three sites and try making it to the airport by 1:30pm. The lines for Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific can be hectic at the Tagbilaran Airport.

Ok. I guess we'll be doing the land trip on our first day there. We'll arrive in Tagbilaran at around 730am and will go around first before checking in. Thanks.

2. Skip Philippine Islands Divers. The shop is not just being renovated. It has been taken over by the owner of the property, Bohol Divers Resort. It will re-open under a new name and it's fate is unknown at this point. Don't chance it. I switched from P.I.D. to Seaquest Dive Center a few months ago. Seaquest is a first class dive operation. It is well managed, has several boats and an almost daily option of dive sites. I highly recommend them.

3. Flower Garden Resort is a small out-of-the-way resort in an out-of-the-way location. I can't speak to its quality. Take a look at my Alona Beach map. It's #4 on the map.

PM me if you need further info.

I emailed Philippine Island Divers and they told me that they have already transferred to Eskaya Resort. Would you recommend sea quest over them? Thanks.

A few more questions:

What's the best site to do a night dive around Panglao?

I read somewhere that Rudy's Rock and Rico's Wall are beside each other. Could we do both in one dive and still enjoy them? Or would it be better if we dived each separately?

Thanks again.

 

[Gilligan]

Ok. I guess we'll be doing the land trip on our first day there. We'll arrive in Tagbilaran at around 730am and will go around first before checking in. Thanks.

I emailed Philippine Island Divers and they told me that they have already transferred to Eskaya Resort. Would you recommend sea quest over them? Thanks.

A few more questions:

What's the best site to do a night dive around Panglao?

I read somewhere that Rudy's Rock and Rico's Wall are beside each other. Could we do both in one dive and still enjoy them? Or would it be better if we dived each separately?

Thanks again.

NO NO NO to PID at Eskaya. It is the most expensive resort in Panglao. The prices for dives are equally outrageous. PID had a shop there even before the closing of the main shop under Bohol Divers Resort. PID will tell you they have transferred there because they don't want to lose customers while looking for a new location. They have no other shop at this time. The loss of the shop is a conflict between family members. That's all I'll say on that subject.

By the time you take your trip PID may have a new location. That remains to be seen.

Any night dive other than a trip to Balicasag Island will most likely be done at the house reef in front of whatever shop you dive with.

Rico's Wall and Rudy's Rock are side-by-side. However you have no control over the dive plan. The DM's will base it on current (if any) and other conditions for that day.

 

[Gilligan]

Jacques Trotin doesn't run the shop anymore?

He still owns PID but has no shop at this time other than his second location at Eskaya Resort. He is location shopping. The original shop under Bohol Divers Resort was taken over by the property owner and is being renovated and will reopen under another name.