Diving sites - need some recommendations

[eagerbeaver]

Personally I think the fast craft to Ormoc from Cebu and then a car ride is more enjoyable than a long ferry to Southern Leyte. All the options to get to S. Leyte take time though.

 

[Johncn]

Personally I think the fast craft to Ormoc from Cebu and then a car ride is more enjoyable than a long ferry to Southern Leyte. All the options to get to S. Leyte take time though.

For Sogod Bay in Southern Leyte, we fly Cebu Pacific (CebGo) from Manila to Tacloban. They have three or more short haul flights a day. We arrange for Peter’s contracted transfer van to pick us up. The driver meets us just outside the small terminal with a sign that says “Peter’s Dive Resort”.

The drive to the resort in Padre Burgos is in a van with AC, and takes about 3.5 hours from Tacloban. The driver will stop if you need to pick up things from a market or store. The charge for us this year is 4500 pesos (about $78 USD) each way for the entire van.

Between Cebu and Peter’s, recent correspondence with their office suggests that ferry schedules are still somewhat irregular, but that the recommended options are:

Supercat ferry (Ormoc) - Travel to / from resort is about 3 hours

Oceanjet ferry (Ormoc) -Travel to / from resort is about 3 hours

The resort can organize a car is transfer for 4,500 pesos to / from the resort for either Ormoc ferry.

Roblee ferry (Hilongos) - This a 1.5 hour drive from the resort and a car can be arranged for 2,500 pesos.

Peter’s Dive Resort is a small resort, but has fantastic diving and first rate / friendly service, and the only non-abusive, sustainable whale shark snorkeling experience we have found in the Philippines. A marine biologist is always brought on board to monitor interactions with the whale sharks. It is respectfully done.

Note that there is no planned diving allowed with the whale sharks in Sogod Bay…snorkeling only is permitted…but chance encounters do happen on dives periodically. We are going to Peter’s again in February, 2023. March should be very good diving there, and the timing should be good for whale shark encounters.

Having been to Olsob once, I would not recommend that experience. We did not dive, but (sadly) participated in the chaotic activity organized for crowds of tourists from shore. This involves feeding krill from small “bangka”, and then jumping in with the frantic, flailing masses in life vests when the whale sharks get close for few moments. Maybe others know of a suitable diving option there, but I do not.

Hope this helps.