Just returned from Catanduanes and did 4 dives with Dave of Catan Divers.
The diving: the 4 dives I did were reef diving, none or very mild current if at all. Some schooling fish, occasional spade fish, emperor angelfish, moorish idols... I noticed coral spawning during the day dives (we did not do night dives).
One particular dive site is so extensive and pristine, reminding me of Melissa's Garden at Raja Ampat. Tucked in among the reef is a huge anemone housing hundreds of clownfish. Dave christened this dive site "Nemo City" appropriately. Ask Dave to take you there, if you ever dive in Catanduanes.
The dive op: Dave is a conservative diver and well organized. He's got an air compressor; No nitrox. The dive boat can carry 2 divers without problem, but will be too crowded with more divers. Dave said he uses two dive boats if there are 4 or more divers. Donning BCD is in water. One puts on the weight belt, slide into the water and Dave and his crew assisted me putting on the BCD/tank.
Water temp: I was there end of October. Water was nice and warm.
Where to stay: We stayed at Twin Rocks Resort. Dave has an office there but is not open all the time. One needs to contact Dave for a meeting time. He'll pick you up at 0600 at the resort, drive to Brgy. Yocti, where you meet the dive boat. We did 2 dives in the morning. No afternoon dives due to winds. I don't know the dive schedule the rest of the year. There is diving at Twin Rocks Resort but Dave said : this time of the year, the visibility is not good.
Dave continues to explore new dive sites. So far, he's identified 20 of them.
PM me if there are questions about diving at Catanduanes. Dave's contact info is
info@catandivers.com