Diving Around Cebu/Bohol

[raintiger]

Finally made up my mind between Boracay and Cebu. Will fly to Cebu about mid August but will have only 7 or 8 days including my AOW course. Any suggestions where I should take the course and dive? I am pondering among Malapascua or Moalboal of Cebu, Panglao of Bohol and Apo. Apparently I cannot do all these in such a short time and perhaps you can help me to decide. What about the beach of these places? Any resort and dive centers to recommend for my course and accomodation? Thanks.

 

[Corregidor]

Hello raintiger,

Moalboal, Panagsama Beach - Smaller beach but nice, housereef with near-vertical drop real close, most exciting dive is Pescador Island which is a round plug of an island with vertical walls. It's mostly a drift dive. I liked the Sumisid Lodge, just roll out of bed and you're on the beach. Sequest Dive Center is ten steps away. The cab ride from Cebu City 2 1/2 to 3 hours and a real eye opener

Apo Island - I stayed in Dauin (Dumaguete) to dive it, at El Dorado. Beach is not white sand and has a bit of a surf. Not sure of the dive operation because Sea-Explorers moved to a new resort down the road: sea-explorers.com Apo is beautiful. There is a place on the island to stay; maybe someone has some experience with it.

Bohol, Alona Beach - Big beautiful beach, lots of dive outfits and places to stay. Tagbilaran is a fast ferry, 1 1/2 hours I think, from Cebu and then it's a 25 min ride to Alona. Sea-Explorers is there too, I like them, and I liked Seaquest also. Others have said good things about Genesis. Boats will go Doljo, Balicasag and Cabilao. Apo Island is more of an overnight trip from there.

Never been to Malapascua.

Cheers,

 

[happybuddha]

Finally made up my mind between Boracay and Cebu. Will fly to Cebu about mid August but will have only 7 or 8 days including my AOW course. Any suggestions where I should take the course and dive? I am pondering among Malapascua or Moalboal of Cebu, Panglao of Bohol and Apo. Apparently I cannot do all these in such a short time and perhaps you can help me to decide. What about the beach of these places? Any resort and dive centers to recommend for my course and accomodation? Thanks.

I would either do Malapascua/Panglao or Malapascua/Apo; I'm not a big fan of Moalboal, though some on this board will disagree. Especially if you are looking for beach Moalboal is not for you as the beach was basically blown a way in a typhoon several years ago.

I was recently in Malapascua and thought it was nice, really nice beach and good diving. I dived with Malapascua Exotic Resort, which sits around the corner from most of the other dive shops and resorts. The 2 instructors at the resort are Terry and Tracy Dukes (husband/wife team) and Tracy is a PADI course director. Terry's email is terry_dukes@hotmail.com, give him a shout; they give very personalized service.

Panglao has nice beaches and good diving. Balicasag Island near by has really nice walls and the beach at Alona beach is sparkling sand, although there tends to be a lot of sea weed in the shallows, at least there was the two times I've been there. I dived with Genesis Divers and thought they did a good job.

I have not been to Apo, but everyone raves about it.

Hope this helps, enjoy your trip.

Cheers,
Drew

 

[jbb]

I recommend Thresher Shark Divers. See the link attached. Treavor and Andrea run the place and will give you individual attention. They are close to half a dozen place to eat and sleep from budget to plush standards to fit whatever budget. I dive with them everytime I go. I keep going back as much because of the people just as much as the variety of diving available.


http://www.malapascua-diving.com/index

Jason

 

[Spoon]

i want to check cebu out but want some site that is driveable from lahug vicinity.

 

[raintiger]

Thank you all. I am wondering if I should try island hopping so that I can dive while transfering to my next destination to save time. Any suggestions about dive safari and what's the price idea? Thank you.

 

[Narcd_dvr]

i want to check cebu out but want some site that is driveable from lahug vicinity.

What kinda sites do you have in mind? Diving? Mactan is about 30 mins away, and Moalboal is 2.5 hrs.

 

[chip104]

What kinda sites do you have in mind? Diving? Mactan is about 30 mins away, and Moalboal is 2.5 hrs.

Hi subzero,

For diving, how is mactan? I'm going there end of this month, staying at shangri-la. Should I visit the dive centre on the resort or do you know of any other dive centre I could patronize in mactan? Thanks for any feedback.

Chip

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Hi subzero,

For diving, how is mactan? I'm going there end of this month, staying at shangri-la. Should I visit the dive centre on the resort or do you know of any other dive centre I could patronize in mactan? Thanks for any feedback.
Chip

Chip,
Diving around Mactan is pretty good, a lot of wall dives. Go to Hilutungan and Nalusuan, both are marine sanctuary. If you have some time, I would suggest going to Moalboal. Its about 3 hours from Mactan by car. There you can do unlimited diving for $50/day and diving is much better than Mactan.
As for the dive shop in Shangri-la, dont go there, they're way overpriced. The average prices in Mactan is around $25/dive, that includes boat, guide and equipment. Here's a link to some of the dive shops in Cebu, http://www.wayblima.com/cebu-activities-diving.html. The cheapest one is Liquid Asset for $20 for 2 dives with a minimum of 2 people. I'll be diving with them when I get there. In my case, I'll be dicing my equipment and all I need is a boat and guide, thus I can be cheap However, if you dont, the cheapest dive shop may not be the best. Having said that, I'm not saying Liquid Asset has old equipment, havent seen what they've got. So, if you dont own your equipment, I would suggest Scubaworld in Hadsan. I've used them in the past and their equipments are comprable with US dive shops, very well maintained. Hope this helps.

Enjoy your stay in Mactan.

Enrique

 

[chip104]

Thanks sub! Great info. I'm looking forward to diving their for the first time. I'll definitely check out the MPAs. BCD, tank and regulator is what I'll need to rent.

Moalboal is definitely on my list. My bro is coming to visit from Toronto in november, so maybe I can get him to take the OW course over there!

Chip

Chip,
Diving around Mactan is pretty good, a lot of wall dives. Go to Hilutungan and Nalusuan, both are marine sanctuary. If you have some time, I would suggest going to Moalboal. Its about 3 hours from Mactan by car. There you can do unlimited diving for $50/day and diving is much better than Mactan.
As for the dive shop in Shangri-la, dont go there, they're way overpriced. The average prices in Mactan is around $25/dive, that includes boat, guide and equipment. Here's a link to some of the dive shops in Cebu, http://www.wayblima.com/cebu-activities-diving.html. The cheapest one is Liquid Asset for $20 for 2 dives with a minimum of 2 people. I'll be diving with them when I get there. In my case, I'll be dicing my equipment and all I need is a boat and guide, thus I can be cheap However, if you dont, the cheapest dive shop may not be the best. Having said that, I'm not saying Liquid Asset has old equipment, havent seen what they've got. So, if you dont own your equipment, I would suggest Scubaworld in Hadsan. I've used them in the past and their equipments are comprable with US dive shops, very well maintained. Hope this helps.

Enjoy your stay in Mactan.

Enrique