Considering a March trip to Philippines

[jagfish]

Hi guys
This March, I'd like to bring the family to either Okinawa, Thailand or the Philippines. I have experience with the first two, but have no idea about PI.

What places would you guys recommend that have some or all of the following:

Bungalows on or near water
Shore diving available.
Nice snorkeling for kids
Price to lower end of scale.
Location that does not require a vehicle rental.

Suggest away...

Jim

 

[Narcd_dvr]

What places would you guys recommend that have some or all of the following:

Bungalows on or near water
Shore diving available.
Nice snorkeling for kids
Price to lower end of scale.
Location that does not require a vehicle rental.

Suggest away...

Jim

There are a lot of places in the Philippines that meets those criteria. I'm biased of Cebu so here goes I would recommendation Moalboal, its a 2.5 hour drive from the city of Cebu. You can take public transportation or take a cab. Once you're there, you pretty much dont need a car. I like Moalboal because, of its shore diving where a few yards from shore is the reef, unlimited day dive for $50 dollars (2 boat and 2 shore dive) and a lot of cheap accommodation. However, Moalboal is not the best diving experience Philippines has to offer. IMO, its pretty good, but not the best. Another suggestion would be Malapascua island, which north of Cebu City, cheap accommodations, spectacular diving abounds, and snorkeling for kids. However, no topside activities to speak of.

Other places worth considering Bohol, Puerto Galera, Anilao. Of course, I havent dove in any of these places. I'm sure some of the PPDers will give you their recommendations as well.

I hope you'll visit the Philippines. Its a great place and the people are very friendly. Happy Holidays.

Enrique

 

[shugar]

hmmmm... when you mean vehicle rental do you mean for moving around after you get to the resort/dive area?

well... PG is good diving and everything you need is walk-able... anilao IMO i think offers cheaper accomods while giving you great options for shore entries and snorkeling (some resorts even offer unlimited shore dives for something like $20-30US (YMMV))

hope you bring the family over, would be great to meet you!!!

Jag

 

[jagfish]

Hi Subzero and Shugar
Thanks for the recommendations.Sub - if you have any links to offer up, let me know.

Shuga- is that tm in your sis (Balai) one of the places you'd suggest?Any other links?

I suppose babysitting is easy enough to find... ?

 

[clgsamson]

we stayed at Philippine Island Divers Lodge over at Panglao Island, Bohol. Here's a link www.phildivers.com and my trip http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=117578

If you're not diving you can take the tour to see the rest of the province; old churches, loboc river cruise, Tarsier (smallest primate) and Chocolate Hills.

 

[solanabezo]

Mabini (Anilao) is approximately 3 hours from Manila (capital of the Philippines) and has 35 dive resorts you can choose from from Special interest resorts to double A classification. There are 35 dive sites mostly good for Macro Photography. There are resorts which are child friendly and with good snorkeling. Pirce ranges from US$100 up to US$200.00 per night per head inclusive of accomodations, meals, and diving.
You can get in touch with Tourirsm Officer of Mabini Mishcelle Magmanlac at shell_tourism@yahoo.com
dainty_marg@yahoo.com
or call the Mabini Tourism Office at 00-43-4100607

 

[shugar]

Hi Subzero and Shugar
Thanks for the recommendations.Sub - if you have any links to offer up, let me know.

Shuga- is that tm in your sis (Balai) one of the places you'd suggest?Any other links?

I suppose babysitting is easy enough to find... ?

yup! very good service, great food, great diving/ snorkeling

"US standard" babysitting i'm not sure where to find but i do know of a place where they hire out domestic help on a daily basis and they do have nanny services there

Jag

 

[jagfish]

Thanks more...
I'll probably be looking at more like $50-70 a night if possible.

Diving /snorkeling almost every day, but will take a day off here and there for other activities.

Key points are good snorkeling and diving right from the beach (for wife and kids) and access to child care.

I can be happy with about anything if I can dive in warm water with my wife and snorkel with the kids.

Maybe some of you PI divers will come to visit for a dive or two.

Shugar- do you have experience with the Anilao dive resort in your signature? They look OK on paper.

Jim

 

[chip104]

heya jag,

Anilao hits all the recos you wanted. But just to warn you, the beaches aren't as nice compared to bohol, cebu, or PG (excluding sabang). For divers/snorkellers it is awesome, but if your kids want to play on the beach, then maybe not as enjoyable. But you can always hop in a bangka for 15 mins to go to Eagle Point beach or sombrero beach (minimal fee entrance).

btw, I have heard nothing but good things on the service in Balai. Eagle point is another resort as well you might wanna check out for non-divers.

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Hi Subzero and Shugar
Thanks for the recommendations.Sub - if you have any links to offer up, let me know.

Shuga- is that tm in your sis (Balai) one of the places you'd suggest?Any other links?

I suppose babysitting is easy enough to find... ?

Jagfish,
Here's a link that shows accommodations in Moalboal by price range, http://www.moalboal.org.uk/accommodation/ You'll find it very useful. Here's a link to all the dive shops in the area as well, http://www.moalboal.org.uk/diveshop/. Of course you cant go wrong if you go with the PADI 5 Star shops. I've used both Saavedra and Neptune before and are pretty good. I would also suggest that you go see Kawasan Falls as one of your topside activities, http://www.cebucentral.com/cebuinfocus/Kawasan_Falls.html

Here are some links on Malapascua:
http://www.malapascua.net/
http://www.malapascua.de/
Recommended diveshop is Thresher Shark Diver, http://www.malapascua-diving.com/index.html As for accommodation, I highly recommend Cocobana Resort.

On the subject of babysitting, the resorts should be able to recommend someone. However, if for some reason, you cant find one, let me know. I can recommend a lady who took care of my 4year old when we were there.

Just PM me, if you need more info on Cebu.