Dive Balicasag, Bohol in Feb

[furrykat]

Hi everyone,
I'm planning a dive trip to Philippines in early Feb and have identified Balicasag/ Bohol as our top choice. But logistically and where to stay/ who to dive with... I'm hoping to get pointers from experienced divers who have dived in Philippines.

Understand that to dive Balicasag I can stay on the other islands and have daily trips or stay on Balicasag itself, however there seems to be only 1 dive resort - Balicasag Island Dive Resort. Anyone stayed there before pls share some feedback on the resort, the dive facilities and dive guides. =)

Any 'must-do' dive site? Basically any pleasant experience to share would be great... cz I'm into the beauty of the ocean, be it macros, pelagics etc.

As for travelling... I'm planning to fly to Cebu and take a fast craft to Balicasag (read that it takes about 1.5h)... is this a sound method?

Thanks!!! =)

 

[jigo]

best to stay in a resort along alona beach in panglao and take the daily trip to balicasag. there is only the resort in balicasag and it could get boring. more dining options in alona. fresh water may also be problem in balicasag island.

 

[slowhands]

At Alona Beach, there must be 20 dive shops. I dove with 3-4 but lately I'm using Scuba World, cuz I like the guides. They seem to be British, mostly, which makes for good communications. You can dive 2-3 times per day no problem. I have heard Sea Explorers is good too, but have not dove with them since they moved. SEaquest is OK too.

For a hotel, If you want to be on the beach you pay a huge premium. Typical rooms are P3000+. I stay back a bit at Alonaland, good room for P1800 with kitchen. I rent a motorbike for runs to the beach, shopping at the local market and general touring the island. When you stay weeks at a time, the savings in room and ability to cook your own meals saves a lot. On the beach, the best deal is Lost Horizon Hotel - excellent but reasonable prices (P2400+).

There are plenty of dive sites there. Balicasag is nice, but one of many great ones. Better to stay near Alona and branch out from there.

 

[Centrals]

The fast craft go to Tabilaran(Capital) in Bohol not to Balicasag.
Unless you really want to stay on a very small island, there is no reason why not. Alona Beach and its surrounding offer more choices on accommodation, dive centres, dive sites and food wise.
Where ever you have to decide to stay, make sure you dive Cabilao as well. It is a long journey but you stand a better chance of joining a boat going there from all those dive centres on Alona Beach rather than solely rely on the ONLY resort on Balicasag.

I stayed at Aquatica on several occasions and the spacious non AC twin room on the first floor was good value. A well ventilated fan room is all I need even at the peak of the summer. Bring repellent if worried.

 

[Gilligan]

I have a map of the Alona Beach area on MY WEBSITE. There is a printable version there you can download.

There is no advantage to staying on Balicasag Island. Staying in Alona Beach has many more advantages. The boat trip from Alona to Balicasag is about 20 to 30 minutes and is done frequently by most of the dive operators.

There are three fast craft companies going from Cebu to Tagbilaran City, Bohol. The ride is about 2 to 2.5 hours depending on ocean conditions.

 

[furrykat]

Many many thanks everyone!! I'd be taking your advice and staying on Alona instead and will check out the recommendations on accomm and dive centres.

Is the Cebu jetty just near the airport... or is it a cab/ trike ride away? Advisable to pre-purchase tickets or they can be easily gotten at the jetty? The flight we are looking at is likely to land at 5am so was thinking we shd be taking the 6am OceanJet or 830am Supercat if possible. =)

 

[Centrals]

Is the Cebu jetty just near the airport... or is it a cab/ trike ride away? Advisable to pre-purchase tickets or they can be easily gotten at the jetty? The flight we are looking at is likely to land at 5am so was thinking we shd be taking the 6am OceanJet or 830am Supercat if possible. =)

Take the taxi outside the departure hall.
If your flight arrive is scheduled to arrive at 5am, there is no chance for you to catch the 6am boat.
Please aware that pier 1 and pier 4 is within walking distance but you can take the emission free tricycle(human power) to cover the short journey.
You will need peso to pay for all of these. Change the money at the airport.

 

[slowhands]

Many many thanks everyone!! I'd be taking your advice and staying on Alona instead and will check out the recommendations on accomm and dive centres.

Is the Cebu jetty just near the airport... or is it a cab/ trike ride away? Advisable to pre-purchase tickets or they can be easily gotten at the jetty? The flight we are looking at is likely to land at 5am so was thinking we shd be taking the 6am OceanJet or 830am Supercat if possible. =)

You can take a taxi from Cebu Mactan Airport to the wharf. Remember to change money to Pesos inside the airport, it saves a stop and rate is OK. There are plenty of taxis outside the arrival lounge (or if you are cheap like me go upstairs to the departure area and catch a taxi that just dropped off passengers, and use the meter - saves a few pesos). I generally use Ocean Jet to Tagbilaran (round trip P800). Just get tickets at the ferry (you can buy ahead, but only needed in peak travel times).

From Tagbilaran, take a taxi or van to Alona (about P400, negotiable). On a budget, take the jeepney -hot and slow, but much cheaper.

Ocean Fast Ferries Corporation (Oceanjet) - fast crafts, cebu, tagbilaran, dumaguete, dapitan, siquijor

Ocean Jet Schedule as of jan 2011: Cebu to Tagbilaran

ETD ETA ACCOMMODATION TOURIST CLASS BUSINESS CLASS

06:00 AM 07:40 AM TOURIST / BUSINESS 800 1,000


9:30 AM 11:20 AM TOURIST / BUSINESS 800 1,000


01:50 PM 03:30 PM TOURIST / BUSINESS 800 1,000


03:35 PM 05:30 PM TOURIST / BUSINESS 800 1,000


06:00 PM 07:40 PM TOURIST / BUSINESS 800 1,000


About Cabilao Island

Someone mentioned Cabilao. Yes it's great diving. If you are staying in Alona, you have to go back to Tagbilaran and over to the Sandingan banka wharf, which goes to Cabilao. I take a taxi. Some dive shops make arrangements for the transfer. Alona Sea Explorers has a sister resort on Cabilao and will arrange a direct transfer by banka sometimes, check with them.

There are 3 dive resorts on Cabilao, Cabilao Beach Club (Sea Explorers), L Estrella, and Polaris. I have stayed mostly at CBC and loved it. I have also stayed at L Estrella, which is less expensive and has the famous divemaster Bobet. Water and electricity are very limited on Cabilao, be aware of that. They do a lot of solar power and turn off the main lights at night.

 

[furrykat]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have planned to fly to Manila then to TAG airport instead... as we are not too familiar with philippines roads etc. and looking at the timing, just to be safe, we'd fly to TAG and arrange for resort pick up instead.

We are pretty confirmed to be diving with Seaquest as they have really demonstrated professionalism and were very helpful with our queries so far! Their package is reasonably-priced and I like that their boats are big and able to carry many tanks... reducing the need to come back mid-day to change tanks etc.

As for accommodation. I was hoping to get some views from people who have been there. Feb is a super peak period and we have been getting a lot of no vacancy responses.

We have tentative booking with Bohol Divers Resort but currently also considering Panglao Regents Park Resort. Both are saying they are within 10min from Seaquest. Reviews online are pretty mixed... has anyone seen/ stayed with these resorts?? Can share experience?

Thanks!

 

[Roey77]

I'm a very new diver (only 22 dives) and got my open water in May 2010. My hubby and I went to the Phillipines in November and spent 10 nights in Boracay and 5 nights in Balicasag Island Dive Resort.

I am a very nervous diver and not really that comfortable with it. I dove 5 times in Boracay and although nice, wasn't that spectacular. We went to Balicasag and from the first dive, I was hooked. Turtles galore, healthy reef, so many fish.

There are two DM's at BDR. Raoul and Aldo. We dove with Raoul twice a day usually at 0930 and 1300. My fave dive spot was Black Forest.

I would highly recommend staying at Balicasag Island. I actually regretted staying in Boracay for so long as I could easily have stayed 10 nights or so in Balicasag.

We would see all the dive boats that had travelled 30-40 minutes from Alona Beach and were glad that we could get out of bed and be in the water in 10 minutes.

It was 2700 peso per night for accommodation with breakfast included. There are no hot showers but we were in the water so much that a quick 2 minute shower didn't kill me and I LOVE hot showers.

Some nights we were the only people staying at the Resort but we didn't mind. We had the beer to ourselves (we taught them to put san migs in the freezer as soon as they saw us come back from our last dive) and the serenity was fantastic.

The food was pretty expensive by Phillipine standards but there are Sari stores just outside the hotel grounds to buy your big bottles of water and snack foods.