First trip to Phillipines, coming w teens--early June too rainy? PG plus another location?

[splash8]

I've been reading so many great posts! Trying to decide if the long haul from the east coast of the US is worth the expense and LOOOOOONG flights with teens vs easy access Caribbean diving. If so, looking at El Galleon/Asia divers. Looks like a lot of effort for family of 4 to then go to either Cebu or Bohol...would love to see Whale Sharks and tarsiers; other option would be to stay and dive there too but looks like PG has better diving? Max time about 2 weeks late May/early June; would it be best just to chill in one spot or worthwhile to adventure to see more? Have done Bonaire & Curacao with the teens; looking thru posts looks like most of the Caribbean suffering from bleaching right now so not super excited about the more expensive boat diving options on other islands. Would like to skill build up to NC diving. Thanks so much!

 

[Pearlman]

June is the onset of monsoon in SE Asia. While I did spend the 1st week of June at P.G once, you have to be lucky with the weather. Another thing is that PG is not a place that will inspire teens in the right way, with all the girlie bars around.

 

[Centrals]

June is the onset of monsoon in SE Asia. While I did spend the 1st week of June at P.G once, you have to be lucky with the weather. Another thing is that PG is not a place that will inspire teens in the right way, with all the girlie bars around.

The bars are more or less restricted in certain area in Sabang only and can easily avoided. I do not think "teens" will be interested and there is no mention on the gender of the teens in OP's family.
There is NO such thing as girlie bar in either Big or Small La Laguna Beach.

 

[Centrals]

I've been reading so many great posts! Trying to decide if the long haul from the east coast of the US is worth the expense and LOOOOOONG flights with teens vs easy access Caribbean diving. If so, looking at El Galleon/Asia divers. Looks like a lot of effort for family of 4 to then go to either Cebu or Bohol...would love to see Whale Sharks and tarsiers; other option would be to stay and dive there too but looks like PG has better diving? Max time about 2 weeks late May/early June; would it be best just to chill in one spot or worthwhile to adventure to see more? Have done Bonaire & Curacao with the teens; looking thru posts looks like most of the Caribbean suffering from bleaching right now so not super excited about the more expensive boat diving options on other islands. Would like to skill build up to NC diving. Thanks so much!

Anilao + PG.
Cannot guarantee weather but rain is not an issue in May/June. However, there is a slim chance of typhoon.

Kho Tao in Thailand but the diving is not that good as compare with both mentioned places in Philippines. Few days in Bangkok first to enjoy the sight and sound.

The East coast of Peninsula Malaysia eg. Tioman Island, Tenggoll, Redang and Perhentians(two separated island). Tioman Island is very near to Singapore.

 

[diveUAE]

I've not been to PG (yet), but did take our teenagers to Koh Tao in Thailand and they loved it- June should be the right season for diving and food is awesome in Thailand.
Diving is not the best I've done, but clear water, lots of fish and colorful corals was great for them + it was easy diving, with not much current.

Our teens also liked Bohol (especially diving Balicasag) and seeing the Tarsiers + the firefly trip we did was lovely - but there's a small risk of bad weather.

Another place to consider is Red Sea - should be shorter flight? Great diving with amazing corals. Consider Marsa Alam, if you want to stay land based - you can dive Elphinstone from there, but it's know for currents, so depend on teens age/skills, if you want to take them there. The shore and short trip boat diving was good though.

We did Perhentians in July 2024. It's beautiful, but do check first, that the corals have recovered - when we were there ALL corals were white (both soft and hard corals) it was devastating.

 

[cetacean]

@splash8

In short: it's worth the trip. The Caribbean is home to ~65 species of hard corals, the Coral Triangle has over 600 species of hard corals. Along with 2x+ the number of species of fish, the opportunity to dive with sharks (including whalesharks in a few places), mantas, large schools of fish, and fewer divers (the bio-diversity on land also significantly surpasses that which you find in the Caribbean region as well - if that's of interest).

Both our teenage kids learned to dive whey they were 12 & 13. We've been traveling to Indonesia, Philippines, the Solomons, Palau, Thailand, Fiji, French Polynesia, the Maldives, etc. for the last ~10 years with them. The flights don't get any shorter (we live in California), but we've gotten a lot smarter on how to manage the flights (things like a night in Singapore or Hong Kong as a stop over with really good food, etc. helps with the jetlag; etc., if the flights work out, stopping in Tokyo or Seoul just to walk around the airport for a few hours can really help, etc.).

We haven't been back to the Carribean since our kids' very first dive experiences. It is a long way to travel to Pacific and Asia, but the diving is significantly better (less crowded, much more bio-diversity, healthier coral, etc.). It's also culturally much more educational.