Diving near Hong Kong or Shanghai?

[Sheilamo]

I will be in China for a two week trip in early May 2008, ending in either Hong Kong or Shanghai. I'd like to find a nearby location to dive (flying to get there is okay). Any recommendations? I'm not sure what is easy to access. My husband will be flying from the States to join me, so that is also a consideration as he'll have to travel separately to meet up with me at a location. Thamks for your ideas.

 

[Geoff_H]

Asia is your oyster The Phillipines is close to Hong Kong, it's a 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Manila. Then you could pop down to Sabang and check out a resort like www.atlantishotel.com. It is about a half a days journery from Manila to Puerto Galera.

 

[chocolate]

May is good for diving in Philippines, as it will be just before its storm season. But it will not be your only option, how many days do you have?

 

[pakman]

As someone who dives in Hong Kong waters frequently, I wouldn't waste time diving here, especially when you have so many world class diving spots nearby in neighboring countries. There are a lot of good flight connections from HK to elsewhere in Asia such as the Philippines. How much time would you have for your diving portion? If you can muster up 3-4 days, I would recommend flying out to Manila and go to Puerto Galera or Anilao. Flight is 1 1/2hr, plus a 2 1/2hr drive (+1hr boat ride to Puerto Galera). With more days, you could also head down to Cebu and try some of the great diving around the area like Bohol, Cabilao Island, or Malapascua Island. If you have 5 + days to kill, you could even fly direct to Kota Kinabalu to head to Sipidan/ Layang Layang. There are even direct flights to Bali. Manado/ Lembeh Straits could be doable but you would have to have an overnight stop in Singapore

 

[Sheilamo]

I have flexibility...perhaps up to a week. Given that, I could perhaps head to some of the further locations. Any lodging/dive resort recommendations? I really appreciate your ideas as I'm new to Asia diving...this is tremendously helpful to get me started!