Dumaguete or Alona Beach?

[rcolman]

So far, I have:

Anilao
PG
MoalBoal
Malapascua

Where do I end my Philippines diving adventure?

Would you recommend my last stop at Alona Beach (Canilao and Balicasag) or Dumaguette/Dauin (Apo Island)?

Then, it is home to the cold, cold waters of southern california.

TNX for your help, guys and girls.

Rick Colman

 

[clgsamson]

So far, I have:

Anilao
PG
MoalBoal
Malapascua

Where do I end my Philippines diving adventure?

Would you recommend my last stop at Alona Beach (Canilao and Balicasag) or Dumaguette/Dauin (Apo Island)?

Then, it is home to the cold, cold waters of southern california.

TNX for your help, guys and girls.

Rick Colman

tough choice, Rick. I'd say Cabilao and Balicasag and end it with with a country side tour of Bohol. You won't get bored while waiting for your "time to fly" countdown

 

[chinadan]

Second that...Alona beach with great house reef, Balicasag similar/same as Apo Island and Cabilao.

Dumaguette is isolated and boring, the "house reef" at Atlantis is dark sand with rubbber tires. While biodiversity is quite good, diving is more expensive due to marine park fees, camera fees, and so forth...

I saw my first Whale Shark at the Alona house reef in July last year...

 

[joebubbles]

I dove at 5 of the 6 sites listed and I would say Apo and balicasag are the best. I would pass on Malapascua, unless you are into dynamite fishing. You may wish to consider a Visayan safari banca which will cover off most of the places you wish to dive.

 

[rcolman]

I am going to considerable hassle and expense to dive Malapascua .. the resort is expensive and the dives are relatively expensive. IF I don't see (photograph) a couple of thresher sharks, then it is not a great idea for me.

Would you recommend passing on Malapascua and doing Balicasag and Apo Island instead?

Very interested in your detailed comments.

TNX.

rick.

 

[clgsamson]

Rick, just pm Mike veitch, Pakman and jbb about Malapascua. They've had considerable diving time in Malapascua.

 

[Traminer]

Just got back from a miserable Christmas weekend in Malapascua. It was raining all the time while we were there, apparently part of some monsoon passing through the Visayas. So maybe the gloomy weather, intermittent cold water supply and overpriced bad food on the island had clouded our judgement somewhat.

We were not impressed. The dive ops we were with had admitted that they haven't had a single sighting of the sharks/mantas in Monad Shoals for the past week. We didn't see any on our 2 dawn dives either tho some lucky b**tard on the same boat caught a fleeting glimpse of a pair of threshers. 5 seconds to take the photo/video-of a lifetime under murky pre-dawn conditions. A long blink and you'll miss the reason why you tolerated that bumpy 3.5 hours car/van ride with 1 hour wet boat transfer.

From my impression, the oft-cited pelagics sitings are far less common than what we have been led to believe. I imagine that the dive ops must be feeling somewhat pressured to keep us coming back. The Boracay-powder beach was filled with dead sea grass and the other dive sites were nothing to write home to Mom about. Dynamite fishing in the vicinity is also a growing concern.

Our time in Alona Beach/Balicasag turned out to be the highlight of our trip. Easy diving with a large variety of amazing dive sites. Lazy drift dives, reef dives and world class walls all over Balicasag. All on a short boat ride away. Some of the dive ops organise overnight dive safaris to Apo Island and elsewhere over the weekends depending on the conditions and the demand. On land, Alona Beach is a laid back beach town life with great food/drinks at great prices. We welcomed the New Year pinoy style watching the fireworks at the balcony of our hotel room finishing a bottle of Krug. That is what diving in the Philippines is supposed to be.

 

[pyrodiver]

I just got back from Apo/Dauin. As mentioned, that place rocks!!! Sorry I haven't gone diving in Bohol so I can't compare. But my 1 year of diving in Anilao was over took by 4 days of diving in Dauin. The big advantage of Anilao is the most vareity of Nudi branch. In Dauin, I've seen Ghost pipe fish, frog fish in almost every dive, mantis, porcelain crabs, lots of macro stuff...etc. In Apo, 7 turtles in 1 dive. We gave up swimming after them because 1 would pop out along the way... I will post photos in my flicker site and on my trip report soon... first, gotta clear my table... there's a big pile of document