Galapagos vs the Philipines - 3 month stay

[Ashantiashanti]

Dear all,

i hope someone will be able to help me choose my next dive destination, where I also will be living. I have the opportunity to stay anywhere while self studying, and have narrowed it down to either the Philippines or the Galapagos. I will be there 2-3 months from. March.

On galapagos I would be staying on the main island Santa Cruz which is unique with the iguanas and sea lions. However, the amazing diving which the islands are known for is only via live aboard, which I cannot afford. There are no daily dive sites with schools of hammerheads, only able to spot a few if lucky? The town itself is not much as it mostly caters the tourists. Are these correct assumptions?

If if I choose the Philipines I would stay in Cebu. Big modern city, will not get.
Bored. Easy access to guaranteed whale sharks, thresher sharks and schools of hammerheads if in season (can someone verify this?)

if if it was not for the sea lions and iguanas, I would choose Cebu. I am interested in the big fish.

looking forward to reading your replies.
cheerS

 

[RJP]

Dear all,

i hope someone will be able to help me choose my next dive destination, where I also will be living. I have the opportunity to stay anywhere while self studying, and have narrowed it down to either the Philippines or the Galapagos. I will be there 2-3 months from. March.

On galapagos I would be staying on the main island Santa Cruz which is unique with the iguanas and sea lions. However, the amazing diving which the islands are known for is only via live aboard, which I cannot afford. There are no daily dive sites with schools of hammerheads, only able to spot a few if lucky? The town itself is not much as it mostly caters the tourists. Are these correct assumptions?

If if I choose the Philipines I would stay in Cebu. Big modern city, will not get.
Bored. Easy access to guaranteed whale sharks, thresher sharks and schools of hammerheads if in season (can someone verify this?)

if if it was not for the sea lions and iguanas, I would choose Cebu. I am interested in the big fish.

looking forward to reading your replies.
cheerS

Looking at sea lions and iguanas gets old... fast. I loved the Galapagos islands, but I can't see spending more than 10-14 days there.

In the Philippines there'd be all kinds of day trips you could do - well beyond diving.

 

[DocVikingo]

For openers, Galapagos & PI diving are entirely different. The former tends to be rocky with limited tropicals & even more limited macrolife, but does have superb big animal action. PI has many places to dive, superlative coral reef action with scads of tropicals & amazing macrolife, but limited big creatures except for whale sharks at a few locations (e.g., Donsol). It's also much, much prettier topside than the Galapagos and some rocking towns if you're in the mood.

Anyway, what RJP said in spades. Santa Cruz has very limited topside activities and you can them in 3-4 days, max. I tired on marine inguanas in about 15 min & sea lions in about 20. You'd go nuts after 3 mos. As for diving, the Galapagos simply is not worth it if you cannot do a liveaboard. There indeed are big fish, but from land you're not going to access much of them.

Enjoy the Philippines. It's among my top favorites.

Cheers,

DocVikingo

 

[jake11]

I agree with all of the above. The Galapagos were super cool, but for 3 months my choice would be Cebu!! Have a great stay!

 

[inkedadventurer]

Hey there, spent a month in the Philippines in May 2014 and am my myself also heading to Galapagos in December.

In my opinion, if you are going to be staying for 3 months, you should go to the Philippines. This is based off of cost alone... as Galapagos is super touristy expensive. If you were staying in Quito, it might be more economical, but Puerto ayora is not cheap. As for diving in the Galapagos, Gordons Rocks is supposed to have a lot of hammerheads and you dive Gordons from P.A.

Back to Philippines diving. I love diving there. You can find it all... thresher sharks, white tips, whale sharks, nice reefs, etc... and like I said, its economical to live there for an extended period. Also there is soooo much other things to do in the Philippines. I wish I could stay there for an extended period as well
Here's my philippines blog posts:
Philippines

And after I am in Ecuador, I'll be posting blog updates as well, so feel free to check back with my blog.

 

[DocVikingo]

Back to Philippines diving. I love diving there. You can find it all... thresher sharks, white tips, whale sharks, nice reefs, etc.

Hey inkedadventurer,

Are you doing Malapascua Island by any chance?

Cheers,

DocVikingo

 

[Ashantiashanti]

Cheers to all of you for your input, it seems that the other divers at the Philippines forum agreed with you too. Philippines it will be then And I still think that Cebu would be a good base?

 

[inkedadventurer]

No unfortunately, I havent dove there, I ran out of days on my 30 day visa this last trip.

Next up for me is Galapagos in Dec, and maybe try dry suit diving in Ushuaia

Plan is to be back in Asia though come February for a month of solid diving, but next up for Asia is Raja, Komodo, Lembah and Papua...in no particular order, so it depends on where I end up. I also have yet to dive Thailand...so I need to hit some of these big ones (and Maldives, and Egypt) before I feel like I should circle back to the PHI... and hit Chuuk!

Ugh, so many places to dive... possibilities are endless