Question Diving close to Manila or Cebu?

[JoergGermany]

Hello,
I will be in November four weeks either in Manila Makati or in Cebu (city center) and would love to go diving every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Does anybody know a place that is close enough to Manila Makati or Cebu City Center to commute every weekend? I am a Padi open water diver and did not dive since one year, therefore I enjoy the diving itself and to collect diving experience but I do not search for sepecial diving environment. But I need a diving school since I will have neither equipment nor a dive buddy with me.

 

[Centrals]

Cebu City should be your best option.
Mactan Island has plenty of dive operators but some of them catered mainly for Korean so you need to do some homework first.
AFAIK, all operators will provide equipment at extra cost.
If you do not mind to travel a bit(ferry), long weekend, then Bohol will be much better. BTW, the sites around Mactan Island are NOT bad but the better few are quite far.

 

[tbm13]

I live in Cebu city and do just that.

You have a number of options:

• Mactan: this is about 50 minutes by taxi (or 40 minutes by motorbike taxi "habalhabal"; you can use apps like Maxim or Move it). There are many dive shops and you can do shore dives or boat dives. This is an easy day trip and you can go back in the afternoon.
• Moalboal: you can take the Ceres bus from South Bus terminal (near emall) to Moalboal (about 3-4 hours)
• Bohol: take OceanJet to Bohol. You can dive at Alona beach. They have boat tours to Balicasag Island and Pamilacan Island. I had a good experience with Valm Divers and I've seen good reviews of Philippine Fun Divers here.
• Malapascua: when you're more experienced, you may want to do a weekend trip to Malapascua island in the north of Cebu. You can take a van from the North bus terminal (next to SM City in Mabolo) (ca 3-4 hours) and then a short boat ride (40 minutes). Malapascua is known for thresher sharks. The dive center Evolution is often recommended here. I also had good experience with MTD (Malapascua Thresher Divers).
• Asturias: a new site opened a few months ago. It's about two hours from Cebu city (via Busay, i.e. the "mountain"). I haven't tried this one yet but I hope to go there soon.

Regarding Mactan, there is:

• Maribago. In particular, Club Kon Tiki: a lot of dive shops operate from there because you can do easy shore entries. I've had good experiences with Dive Cebu (Jim Hardwick) and SiDive. Since you haven't done any dives in a year, I suggest you book a refresher with Jim Hardwick (check Facebook). There are also boats from there (e.g. to Olango).
• Marigondon: there are various dive shops (both shore entries and boats). I often dive with Mactan Scuba Dive Centre (MSDC).

Note that typhood Odette (Rai) caused a lot of damage in 2021. Things haven't fulled recovered but the diving is okay.

Since you're from Germany, there's also a great Austrian/German restaurant near the dive sites in Marigondon (Haruhay Dream Resort).

If you end up in Cebu City, feel free to message me. I can introduce you to some dive shops.

 

[blue steal]

Anilao is very popular with the Manila crowd on the weekends.
It’s a 2-3 hour drive and there are several resorts/dive shops in a wide range of prices.
I often see folks drive up Friday afternoon/night and dive Saturday and Sunday and head back either Saturday evening or Sunday after lunch.
Most all dive shops can rent you gear and get you set up on a boat.

 

[bmag78]

Weekends in Puerto Galera are very popular with expats from Manila.
Garden of Eden scuba resort is German owned. Have a look at their site.
Leave in the morning Friday and you're diving that afternoon. Dive Saturday Sunday and drive back Sunday night in 3 to 4 hours.
ANILAO it is certainly popular as well.
PG has some advantages over ANILAO... Especially for somebody traveling by themselves.
ANILAO you're kind of stuck at the place where you're staying ... Your social life is whoever is staying at your resort as your on a steep hill. PG is a wonderful stroll around when you're not diving .... Lots of bars and restaurants.
PG is way more affordable diving too

PG is also more variety and better diving especially for newer divers who might not be into macro diving.
You might like anilao but you will like PG.

 

[divingdayz]

If in Manila, then it's probably easier to fly to Bohol then go to Anilao, PG, or Subic.

If in Cebu, there are many dive centers in Mactan. I personally use E & Z Diving in Marigondon. It's locally owned(Glenn), but they do lot of technical diving, so their standards are very good. You can also get to Moalboal, Bohol, or Dauin for weekends away.