Diving during the rainy season

[gravity]

my husband and i are planning our first trip to the philippines in late june, july, and august. we want to dive most days, but we are concerned about the weather. are there places that are less affected by the rainy season? will dive shops be open everywhere? what percentage of days will the weather be too bad to dive? in the event of the typhoon, what happens to the tourists? this is probably a stupid question, but does a major typhoon affect the entire country or can it be avoided by moving to another region? lastly, any suggested itineraries for a 3 month trip?

 

[Diver Dennis]

I'm a Canadian living here in the Philippines and you are going to have a great time. You will be getting a lot more posts here but diving in the rainy season is fine. It does not rain all day, it just rains hard for about 30 - 60 minutes at a time usually. I've done a lot of diving during the rainy season with no problems.

Typhoons are not a major problem, I've only missed one day of diving due to one and we had a terrific Typhoon Party. There will also be a lot of us around to dive with, especially if you are here for 3 months. Let us know when you will be here!

 

[h2odragon1]

3 Months? that may not be enough time.
Anilao; Puerto Glaera; Subic; Dumagete; Cabilao; Mactan; Moalboal; Malapascua; Pangloa; Tubataha; Puerto Princessa; and on and on.
Are you planing on getting a Divemaster cert. or higher? Then I would suggest Puerto Galera or Alona beech. Find a place you could rent for a month or two, (you can find places for as little as $210/month) at both places.
You're in for a great time.

 

[chip104]

typhoons can be avoided by moving to a different part of the country. The Visayas region has great diving and is not hit with typhoons as often as Luzon.

Dive shops will still be open everywhere during the rainy season. I dunno about percentage of days the weather will be too bad to dive, but I would reckon you will be diving most of the time.

You can go to many places in 3 months. Have fun!

 

[rhadamantus]

the nice thing about PI is.... it has great diving all year round. don't miss the Visayas triangle of diving paradise: Cebu, Bohol, Negros.

have fun!

 

[eagerbeaver]

Can someone remind me when the non-rainy season is please?

Hi Gravity as mentioned you are unlikely to miss any diving due to rain or typhoons. The rain certainly wont stop it and most operations will be more than happy to take you out whenever you show up to give them business.

"in the unlikely event that...." a typhoon did come near an area you were staying you probably wont have enough warning to make it to another destination...if you leave earlier enough for that then you will probably find out that the 'typhoon' never caused any trouble in the projected danger zone anyway. More often than not the warnings don't turn into anything more than rain.

If it did happen, as Dennis said, you will probably find yourself having a typhoon party as there is not much else to do, and you can be pretty happy that you will be more than safe from wind and rain locked up in your room. You might want to keep cameras laptops etc off the ground or in dry bags, as some places you stay might leak under the massive amounts of rain that come with a real typhoon.

 

[iris_ice]

Can someone remind me when the non-rainy season is please?

Dry Season: December to June
- Cool and Dry: Dec to Feb
- Hot and Dry: Mar to Jun

Wet Season: July to November

more infor here: Philippines Climate, Temperature, Humidity and the Seasons

 

[eagerbeaver]

Dry Season: December to June

Wet Season: July to November

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my point exactly...it's not current July to November when I last looked but it isn't really dry at the moment either...

 

[boljakool]

diving season ---- January to December!

 

[Kupu]

Generally speaking, the southern areas are less affected by typhoon season.
Dive shops will be open everywhere regardless of the season.
I think the weather has canceled my dives about 3 days out of 2 years of diving which happened due to a typhoon blowing thru Coron a couple years ago, so yeah, we sat in the bar all day and watched the show.

The dive shops will opt to go to sites less affected by rain or storms, not cancel the dives all together. In other words it is not a concern, especially of you have 3 months.

And for 3 months, well...many options. Maybe start in Puerto Galera for a couple weeks, then head to Coron for a week or two. Go down to Cebu and spend the next month checking out Malapascua, Bohol, Dumaguete, Apo Island, Leyte, etc... The Visayas have so many places.

And if you have some time left after that, head down to Davao City and General Santos in Mindanao.

I am always in the PI during the "rainy season" due to my work schedule, I think it's a great time to be there. 3 months will only get you started...