neopluredon
Contributor
hi!
i'm still here in bohol to gas off for tomorrow's flight so i might as well write a review of my dives here than bum around the place. this is my very first dive report and i am totally clueless what to write so i hope whatever's in here would help panglao first-timers in their trip.
as what i've been posting here since i started sb (as if everyone gives a flying finger about it), bohol is my mom's province so i'm not jubilant about doing all the chocolate hills and the tarsier tour since we've been doing it since i was a kid. what i'm excited about this trip is i am actually wandering off alone here for the first time (yes yes! no parents!), which is another addition to my solo flight series next to my romblon trip last april
the downside though is i am currently under hard medical maintenance due to an asthma attack last weekend caused by the fluctuating weather conditions during the past few weeks (..also partly my fault for not taking my maintenance meds for the longest time hehehe) so i restructured my itinerary 2 days before my flight by searching for other contacts and putting less dives in my plan than i normally would just to keep myself safe.
when i arrived at tagbilaran, i was swarmed by a group of tour guides and drivers. thinking i was korean (thanks to my chinky eyes **sarcastic undertones**), i was given prices, which would make an average pinoy shoot up from where he/she is standing. "ma'am how are you? i'm offering a cab ride to panglao for only 1500php" so i replied with conviction, "bai, kasabot ako bisaya!" and rushed my way to the tourist desk to get myself a metered cab and got edwin of varescon. moral lesson to foreigners: safest rates would always come from the tourist desk... don't just pay what's being offered. based on the meter, the fare to panglao is just 200php++ but since it's quite rare for them to get passengers back to tagbilaran, 420php is quite a reasonable price. he also does tours at 1800php in all 8 tourist destinations.
alona beach was named after the actress "alona alegre", as the locals there would refer to the place as the 'beach where she usually went to bathe'. as time passed by, "alona" became part of the natural language; thus, the name. if you are used to the puerto galera type of ambiance, alona's somehow similar with all the saturday night life and stuff but pg does not have that peace and solitude you're looking for. i dove with genesis divers and got myself a small non-airconditioned room at peter's house for 450php per night (per the doctor's prescription not to stay too long in areas with recycled air). room rate price is lowered at 250php per night when you do at least 6 dives during your entire stay. they also offer rooms at hayahay resort starting at 2000php++ per night but there are a lot of resorts offering ac rooms at 1500php per night if you are looking for economical yet decent ones. surprisingly, the common bathrooms at peter's house are way too clean for a common bathroom.
i was also told that they spotted an 8m whale shark, which made me more enthusiastic about the dives. but since i saw none, i won't believe there's one as of now since this trip was just a quick retreat to release myself from the hussle and buzzle of the office life, i'm still planning to come back before the year ends
note: ta = time of arrival; td = time of departure
DAY 1: 052510FRI:
0535: TD TAGBILARAN
- flew with PAL. MNL-TAG is @ 2088php
0700: TA TAGBILARAN; TD PANGLAO
- rode with VARESCON CAB (EDWIN 09172728876). one way to PANGLAO is @ 420php
0800: TA PANGLAO
0930: DIVE 1: BLACK FOREST
- this was my first boat dive for the day and i'm glad i joined because i was planning to do my boat dives the next day. after a few minutes, we saw ourselves caught in a whirlwind of jacks! this is something you'll never appreciate in manila since most fishes there are blown up into smithereens by dynamites. we also spotted a school of cuda's as well but we did not have enough air time to chase them.
1200: DIVE 2: DIVER'S HAVEN
- bunch of soft corrals... but not your typical anilao view. imho, this site's better the current was also manageable. we spotted 4 turtles.
DAY 2: 052610FRI:
0930: DIVE 3: KALIPAYAN
- for macro enthusiasts. we saw a hairy frogfish but since i'm not good at macro photography, it just looks like mold.
hairy frog fish
1330: DIVE 4: SAND EELS
- sand eels and nudibranches can be found here. a place you'd hardly appreciate if you have a mask that fogs constantly. i'll have to practice macro photography really bad...
SUMMARY OF EXPENSES @ PANGLAO (PHP)
840 = roundtrip taxi fare (tagbilaran to panglao vice versa)
450 = rate per night non ac room at peter's house
2146 = 2 boat dives package w/ tank, weights, and services of a dm with genesis divers
1015 = 1 shore dive w/tank, weights, and services of a dm with genesis divers
300-500php = food rate
1800 = bohol tour (8 destinations) with varescon
580 = canon ixus camera rental per dive (genesis divers)
CREDITS/CONTACTS
- Gilligan (for the map of panglao); rab1412000 (for the contacts and other info re panglao)
i'm still here in bohol to gas off for tomorrow's flight so i might as well write a review of my dives here than bum around the place. this is my very first dive report and i am totally clueless what to write so i hope whatever's in here would help panglao first-timers in their trip.
as what i've been posting here since i started sb (as if everyone gives a flying finger about it), bohol is my mom's province so i'm not jubilant about doing all the chocolate hills and the tarsier tour since we've been doing it since i was a kid. what i'm excited about this trip is i am actually wandering off alone here for the first time (yes yes! no parents!), which is another addition to my solo flight series next to my romblon trip last april
the downside though is i am currently under hard medical maintenance due to an asthma attack last weekend caused by the fluctuating weather conditions during the past few weeks (..also partly my fault for not taking my maintenance meds for the longest time hehehe) so i restructured my itinerary 2 days before my flight by searching for other contacts and putting less dives in my plan than i normally would just to keep myself safe.when i arrived at tagbilaran, i was swarmed by a group of tour guides and drivers. thinking i was korean (thanks to my chinky eyes **sarcastic undertones**), i was given prices, which would make an average pinoy shoot up from where he/she is standing. "ma'am how are you? i'm offering a cab ride to panglao for only 1500php" so i replied with conviction, "bai, kasabot ako bisaya!" and rushed my way to the tourist desk to get myself a metered cab and got edwin of varescon. moral lesson to foreigners: safest rates would always come from the tourist desk... don't just pay what's being offered. based on the meter, the fare to panglao is just 200php++ but since it's quite rare for them to get passengers back to tagbilaran, 420php is quite a reasonable price. he also does tours at 1800php in all 8 tourist destinations.
alona beach was named after the actress "alona alegre", as the locals there would refer to the place as the 'beach where she usually went to bathe'. as time passed by, "alona" became part of the natural language; thus, the name. if you are used to the puerto galera type of ambiance, alona's somehow similar with all the saturday night life and stuff but pg does not have that peace and solitude you're looking for. i dove with genesis divers and got myself a small non-airconditioned room at peter's house for 450php per night (per the doctor's prescription not to stay too long in areas with recycled air). room rate price is lowered at 250php per night when you do at least 6 dives during your entire stay. they also offer rooms at hayahay resort starting at 2000php++ per night but there are a lot of resorts offering ac rooms at 1500php per night if you are looking for economical yet decent ones. surprisingly, the common bathrooms at peter's house are way too clean for a common bathroom.
i was also told that they spotted an 8m whale shark, which made me more enthusiastic about the dives. but since i saw none, i won't believe there's one as of now
since this trip was just a quick retreat to release myself from the hussle and buzzle of the office life, i'm still planning to come back before the year ends note: ta = time of arrival; td = time of departure
DAY 1: 052510FRI:
0535: TD TAGBILARAN
- flew with PAL. MNL-TAG is @ 2088php
0700: TA TAGBILARAN; TD PANGLAO
- rode with VARESCON CAB (EDWIN 09172728876). one way to PANGLAO is @ 420php
0800: TA PANGLAO
0930: DIVE 1: BLACK FOREST
- this was my first boat dive for the day and i'm glad i joined because i was planning to do my boat dives the next day. after a few minutes, we saw ourselves caught in a whirlwind of jacks! this is something you'll never appreciate in manila since most fishes there are blown up into smithereens by dynamites. we also spotted a school of cuda's as well but we did not have enough air time to chase them.
1200: DIVE 2: DIVER'S HAVEN
- bunch of soft corrals... but not your typical anilao view. imho, this site's better
the current was also manageable. we spotted 4 turtles.
DAY 2: 052610FRI:
0930: DIVE 3: KALIPAYAN
- for macro enthusiasts. we saw a hairy frogfish but since i'm not good at macro photography, it just looks like mold.
hairy frog fish
1330: DIVE 4: SAND EELS
- sand eels and nudibranches can be found here. a place you'd hardly appreciate if you have a mask that fogs constantly. i'll have to practice macro photography really bad...
SUMMARY OF EXPENSES @ PANGLAO (PHP)
840 = roundtrip taxi fare (tagbilaran to panglao vice versa)
450 = rate per night non ac room at peter's house
2146 = 2 boat dives package w/ tank, weights, and services of a dm with genesis divers
1015 = 1 shore dive w/tank, weights, and services of a dm with genesis divers
300-500php = food rate
1800 = bohol tour (8 destinations) with varescon
580 = canon ixus camera rental per dive (genesis divers)
CREDITS/CONTACTS
- Gilligan (for the map of panglao); rab1412000 (for the contacts and other info re panglao)
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