First visit to Philippines

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graypippa

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Hello
We are planning our 3 week trip - our first stop will be three days in Dauin followed by an overnight stay in Alona beach (to visit friends) then on to Janga to catch the ferry to Camiguin we plan to stay for 5 nights. On our return to Bohol we will stay two nights in Anda before travelling back to Dauin for a longer 5 night stay hopefully to visit Apo Island we finish our trip with a 3 night stay in Siqijor. Are there any other stops that we should try and fit in to our trip? We fly in and out of Dumaguete.
Any advice much appreciated
 
Bear in mind that each time you move around it consumes a whole day. You have some backtracking, not sure why you wouldn't do all your Bohol time at once or all your Dauin time at once. As things stand I would advise against trying to fit in another destination.
 
that is my thought - seems like a lot of stops already. Moving around is high overhead, unless it's all about the journey - is this trip more about diving or sightseeing? If it's more about diving, in an effort to see more you could wind up seeing less.

What's the draw of Anda that merits going there but only staying 2 nights?

Besides Apo, Siquijor can also be dove from Dauin, at least with some ops. So unless you specifically want to explore Siquijor (which does seem like an interesting place) you could consider diving there as a day trip from Dauin. (IIRC I preferred the diving at Apo over Siquijor, though I don't recall enough to say why.)
 
Thank you for all your comments. I had assumed the relatively short journeys between the islands was not a major problem maybe that is a wrong assumption.
The reason we planned to visit Anda was our ferry from Camiguin arrives in Janga and Anda looked relatively close and seemed like a beautiful area. We have to travel across Bohol to return to Dumaggette.
Again Siquijor has been recommended to us as a good place to visit.
We are all divers but also thought it would be good to see a few islands too. Maybe I am being over ambishious with our trip
Many thanks again
 
Getting around the Philippines takes more time than you might think, it's a big place and things don't necessarily move quickly. Most of the driving and ferry legs you're looking at are each several hours by themselves, and as said you should plan on each of your transfers killing the better part of a day. Eat, pack, get to your ferry terminal (maybe that requires both a local drive to get to the bus, then a longer range bus, either of which you might need to wait for.) Wait for the ferry, since of course you'll have left yourself some extra time to not miss it. Take the ferry, reverse all the ground transportation on the other end. Eat, unpack, probably fall asleep. (I don't know how light you're traveling, and if you are taking your own dive gear or renting. If you're traveling with gear that will make it more of a slog, and the constant drying and packing of gear increases the overhead of all these transfers. Since you're not flying maybe it doesn't have to be all that dry, but you probably don't want to haul around sopping wet stewing gear either.)

Dauin to Alona Beach will probably kill most of a day. Alona Beach to Camiguin could also kill most of a day. With one night there you might find you don't actually have much time to visit with your friends, let alone see anything.

Unless your flight leaves Dumaguette late enough, you may need to plan on an overnight there the night before, rather than relying on getting from Siquijor Island on the airport day of. If you stick with 2 stays in Dauin, it would make sense to do Siquijor then end in Dauin, for purposes of getting to the airport. Maybe even start your trip by going directly from Dumaguette to Alona Beach, and move all your Dauin time until the end of your trip, so you'll have a long relaxing stay at the end, and skip a couple of the short transfers at least.

I would need a vacation after this trip...
 
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If you have three weeks pick three destinations only and visit them in turn. Three nights will mean at most two days and possibly only open day of diving. Why are you taking an overnight ferry ? There are day time fast boats that only take a few hours. i liked Anda a lot , but for a first visit , I would be inclined to leave it out. Personally i would go to Bohol first , get some easy diving in and get over jet lag. Then go so Siquijor or Camiguin and then to Dauin. That way you are near your flight out. Never underestimate the time it takes to pack , get your bill organized, pay your bill, catch transport and or transfer and check in to your next resort. This takes ages in the Philippines.

But it's wonderful and everybody loves it there !
 
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