Bohol Diving/Accommodations

[greatwolf]

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.

Thanks. I was kinda expecting this to happen eventually. Sad really.:depressed:

 

[Gilligan]

Thanks. I was kinda expecting this to happen eventually. Sad really.:depressed:

I also saw it coming for several reasons which I won't discuss here :depressed:

 

[rpm.1881]

Thanks Giligan. I guess I'll be checking out Sea Quest.

 

[Zeeman]

I was there in about late Feb '08, and will try and ad what I can to help...

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.

I was there with my girlfriend and a few of the PPD, I can't remember who we dived with, or which place we stayed at, but hopefully one of them will remember and post...
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)

The first 3 we did on our day trip to Balicasag, Ricos wall and Rudys Rock were both cool dives, saw quite bit, schooling jacks, turtles, pigmy seahorses etc.. Did not really enjoy Black Forest so much - though vis was crap and it was kind of like a high current "fly by". It was fun, but more to dow ith the company of divers I was with, rather than the site itself.

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

Not so much, no. It is pretty much a day to do all 3 (even when we rented motorbikes, and rode like demons...). Please try and visit the Tarsier Santuary, where the tarsiers are wild, rather than the various places where they are in cages. The wild tarsiers are much happier.

As for the river cruise, I think there are several companies doing this, and I quite enjoyed the food both times I have done the cruise (different operators each time)

 

[clgsamson]

Zee, lost horizon resort and Phil. Fun Divers (run by holger horn).
Chip did a thread (link?) on that side trip of yours (coming from sogod leyte).

 

[mugenheimer]

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.

I also dove with Sun Divers in January (10 dives), very professional and a friendly group. Balicasag has IMO the best dive sites around Alona Beach. The majority of the nearby sites are basically a long wall that runs parallel to the coast for a few miles so each site is just a different part of the wall. The dives along there are ok but the better dives are as i said in Balicasag and Pamilican.
Got to see my first pygmy seahorse there so was extremely pleased!!

 

[bobshreve]

rpm,
It is half an hour from Alona Beach to Tagbilaran. I wouldn't want to try to do all the Bohol things in one day, but you can't dive the last day, so maybe you should do some of them, then. There is a church on Bohol that was originally built in the late 1500s. The chocolate hills are very neat, but took us 3 hours to get to and return. The tarsiers are gross to great depending on the place you stop to see them. The river cruise is pretty good if you like rivers. The one I was on went up to an Ito village where they did some cultural things. The food on the boat was not very good; it was served buffet style and we had to wait in line for a long time to eat.

I also highly recommend Sea Quest. I dove with them twice and enjoyed it very much. The dive shops that I checked all put their dive schedules for the day on a white board out front. Sea Quest goes to Balicasag in the am for 2 dives and then returns to Alona Beach. IMO Balicasag has the best sites in the area. The 4 I dived at are: Black Forest, Cathedral, Diver's Heaven, and Sanctuary.

Regards,
Bob

 

[rpm.1881]

Thanks for all your replies. Appreciate it a lot. Looks like we'll have to change our plans to accommodate everything there is to see in Bohol.

 

[Nerea]

Diver's Heaven at Balicasag is *mind-blowing*! Don't miss it!!