First time Philippines Need some advice

[Immeriswas]

Hi Luko, thanks for your info, based on your great experience with both destinations. We will probably start in Anilao arriving at Manila and then work the way down south to Moalboal and Malapascua. Haven`t been to Alor (which was actually first on the agenda for october, but my wife read about the 24 degrees water temperature , so thats for this destination !) or Komodo , so maybe, depending on the scedule, Balicasag in the end. Planning now for 4 weeks there should also some time for landprogram as well. Could you recommend some dive operator at this places as well ? By the way : great picture in your galleries !! Looking forward to see all this macro life in real.

 

[offfi]

Balicasag is awesome! Can't wait stay there again...

 

[tanshihua]

Sharing my recent trip to Malapascua:
Did my dives with Evolution Dive Resort, they are very professional. My friends were freshly OW-graduates, and though it wasn't their responsibility, a Dive Instructor took them for the 1st day's dive and went through all the basics again with them. I think her name's Mette or something. Definitely will join them again. They do offer lodgings and I think it seemed quite reasonable - I didn't stay with them, so I won't know.

As mentioned by some other in the forum, they are really strict about the usage of pointers and gloves, though they were very nice about it to me, they were very firm on safety issues etc which I see it positively. There were some china Chinese divers, and though I hate to say this, they generally are relatively inexperienced and therefore more likely to damage the reefs through the use of pointers etc.

Temperature-wise, we went end Jan 2017, it was quite cold in the waters. Do wear a full wetsuit if you need it. The DMs all wore full-length wetsuits, some even wore dive hoods.

Dive trips, I would highly recommend Gato Island, saw white-tip sharks and many interesting critters like frogfish, sea horses, nudibranches and sea kraits. I would also recommend the thresher shark dives, do book in advance as they are quite popular.

Foodwise, I was quite pleasantly surprised, though I had Low standards.

I'll would also recommend Bohol - Balicasag was good! I'll be heading to Moalboal end of the year

 

[Luko]

We will probably start in Anilao arriving at Manila and then work the way down south to Moalboal and Malapascua. Haven`t been to Alor (which was actually first on the agenda for october, but my wife read about the 24 degrees water temperature , so thats for this destination !) or Komodo , so maybe, depending on the scedule, Balicasag in the end. Planning now for 4 weeks there should also some time for landprogram as well. Could you recommend some dive operator at this places as well ?

Thanks for your comments, Peter.
Anilao : the diving scheme is a bit special your dive cost is only known once you know how many divers will share your boat and guides. teher are only a few resorts like Buceo Anilao that arrange with a fix price per dive. Personally I ask Dennis Corpuz to arrange everything for me he is the best dive guide around, a great photographer and a friend. Have a look at his website anilaocritter.com, he can book your transfers from Manila, the accomodation, arrange the diving/boats and of course guide you I recommend you stay at Acacia resort.
Otherwise if yo don't go through Dennis, Buceo is a good option too.

Moalboal : I like Savedra dive centre, they are german and work like german operations are expected to. The sardine school is located right off their dive centre, so you can dive or snorkel it whenever.you want.
As for staying if you dive with Savedra you need to stay on Panagsama, Cabanas resort has nice bungalows very close. Otherwise out of Panagsama you can lodge and dive with Turtle bay resort.

Malapasca : it's been a long time I haven't dived Malapascua because of the reasons I mentioned (nothing of interest than the Thresher sharks and it's a very early dive). See what others said in a thread about one of the dive centre recommended and how they felt regimented by a sort of "dive police", this is not my view about diving hence I suggest you also have a look at sea Explorers dive centre which might also be a good option for organizing your dives in Balicasag/Panglao (it's the dive centre I would recommend for Balicasag, german as well good organization, boats and diveguides).

Balicasag/Panglao : as mentioned SeaExplorers. Some of my friends usually like diving with Seaquest and staying at Oasis resort..