First Time To Dive The Philippines

[dawhale]

I am interested in making my first dive trip to the Philippines. Being a first timer I want to dive, what you consider, to be the best the Philippines has to offer. I would be in country for at least two maybe three weeks. I can make this trip most any month of the year. My preferences are:

1. Nudibranchs
2. Large schools of fish
3. Soft Corals
4. Would like to swim with a whale shark.
5. A comfortable resort with good food & dive operation
6. Best month for the best visibility
7. Do not want to move every three or four days.



I feel my wife and I are reasonably experienced with 600+ dives. We have made four trips to Indonesia and one to Borneo. I have read about Tubbataha Reef. Is this a must do? Thanks, dawhale

 

[clgsamson]

For 1-3 and 5-7 your best option is Anilao, Batangas or Puerto Galera, Mindoro.

For item 4 - Donsol, Sorsogon.

 

[paolov]

best time : MARCH TO MAY

ANYWHERE at the above stated time frame


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[manhattandiver]

For item 1: Anilao or Puerto Galera. Southern Leyte is quite good as well.

For item 2: Tubbataha, Apo Reef, Apo Island or Anilao. Also Cabilao or Balisasag Islands, if you're lucky.

For item 3: Moalboal or Belicasag Island.

For item 4: Donsol or Southern Leyte

For item 5: All of the above offer options, though Tubbataha and Apo Reef can only be done by liveaboard. Sabang beach, in Puerto Galera, can also be bit seedy, so if you go to PG you may want to stay on one of the other beaches instead.

For item 6: Generally late March through June (more sun, calmer seas and less rain / runoff), though certain locations also seem to get plankton blooms during that time. Visibility is generally better in the Visayas (Moalboal, Cabilao, Belicasag, Southern Leyte) than it is around PG / Anilao. The exception is Malapascua, which has pretty mediocre visibility year-round.

For item 7: Tubbataha liveaboards are usually 6 nights (3.5 dive days). Apo Reef liveaboards are usually much shorter. Alona Beach would give you access to Cabilao and Belicasag Islands and has enough dive sites to keep you occupied for a week (though you may want to consider staying on Cabilao for a couple of days due to the distance). Southern Leyte, Puerto Galera, Anilao and Dumaguete / Apo Island each have enough dive sites to keep you occupied for a week as well. Moalboal will only keep you busy for two or three days (Pescador Island, House Reef and Sunken Island are all very good, other sites are mediocre).

As for Tubbataha, I was there in March and thought it was good, but not great. In 16 dives we saw 1 hammerhead, 3 mantas, 2 marble rays, a few black tip reef sharks and a nurse shark. We also some very large tuna as well as white tip reef sharks and turtles on nearly every dive. There were a lot of big animals, but it wasn't the kind of parade you associate with Palau, Yap, etc. The walls are almost all hard coral and not very colorful, while the reef tops are mostly bleached / blasted. Overall, my view is that if you live outside the Philippines and want to see pelagics, there are better places in the world to go. If you don't mind giving up the pelagics for lush reefs, macro life, etc., land-based diving in the Philippines offers the best value in the world.

 

[paolov]

yup, the sad part is, it's only open to divers a short time (due to environmantal conditions) however commercial fishermen are there fishing for the rest of the period divers are not allowed to enter.... hence the continued destruction of the top part and decimation of marine life there due to commercial fishing... they even caught a chinese boat with marine turtles awhile back .....

sad sad sad....


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[dawhale]

Thank you all for your feed back. dawhale