Getting Around Cebu / Dumaguette / Bohol?

[ozymandias_kok]

My wife and I are looking at spending something on the order of 7-9 days down in this area someplace, as they seem not to be too awful far apart. We'd like to spend a day or more (if justifiable) seeing the various historical stuff in Cebu, and in Bohol the Chocolate Hills (is there anything else worthwhile to see?) and spending several days diving.

Dumaguette and several southern Bohol sites sound rather nice. We'll fly down Manila to Cebu I guess -- what airline should I be looking up for that route? What methods of transportation would we be looking at between Dumaguette and Bohol? Is it quick and easy enough to hit those two different sites or should I be concentrating on one?

 

[pakman]

Ozy, there a lots of a daily flight between Manila and Cebu. Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific fly that route. Another possibility is to fly Cathay and connect thru Hong Kong for a direct flight into Cebu, bypassing Maneela. Also, as you're coming from Dubai, you could transfer in Bangkok or Singapore and get a direct flight into Cebu (I think Cebu Pacific flies now to BKK and SIN).

If you fly into Manila, take a look at the promotion Cebu Pacific is having for Feb-March 07.
http://www.cebupacificair.com/

edit: oops, forgot the second part of you question.

The Ferry to Dumaguete stops in Tagbilaran (Bohol). Roughly 2hr on each leg. It's about a 30-40min car ride from the Tagbilaran port to Alona Beach. Roughly the same from Dumaguete port to the resorts.

Another thing you can do to avoid having to backtrack is fly into Dumaguete airport (flights from Manila), hit Dumaguete/ Apo Island, then fast ferry it up to Bohol, and then ferry up to Cebu (do some site seeing to waste the no fly time) before flying out...

links to fast ferry websites
www.supercat.com.ph

http://www.oceanjet.net

http://www.weesamexpress.com

I would avoid the weesamexpress (smaller boat)

 

[jigo]

for bohol, aside from chocolate hills, you can take a lunch ride along loboc river and get to see the tarsier. hinagdanan cave and lots of old churches to see. i think they also have whale watching (if you're lucky) trips in pamilacan island but i have yet to try that.

 

[ozymandias_kok]

Thanks, that's some pretty good info. I hate the waste of time involved in the redundant connections, but from the looks we can fly from Manila (never been there, we'll stop for a look-see ) to any of the three destinations, so there'll be lots of permutations for me to decide on and evalutate.

Thanks for the small boat tip, wife gets seasick so I try to put as little pressure on her as possible, since she's kind enough to still dive with me.

 

[pakman]

1 more thing, the domestic terminal in Manila is separate from the int'l terminal and will involve a short taxi ride. For convenience, you might consider either flying into Manila on PAL and flying to Cebu on PAL (PAL uses the newere Centennial terminal for both its int'l and domestic flights) or as I mentioned earlier, try to transit overseas so you can fly directly to Cebu.

 

[ozymandias_kok]

We'll be flying in on Emirates (free tix, they bumped us a few months back) so it'll be into Manila and we'll bookend the trip there a day or two each side seeing local stuff, so that won't be an issue.

What the water temps (in water and out) and weather like Cebu/Dumaguete/Bohol at the end of February? I'm assuming they should be somewhat close together?

I'm actually getting stoked about the trip now. Before I was mostly confused, trying to figure out what to see and exactly where it was, not knowing if people were referring to towns, small island names, or bigger island names.

Heh, I got quite the kick out of CPA's 99p flight with 986p taxes tacked on. Still though, at about $20 I can't complain.

 

[Traminer]

Ok.. here's how a fellow tourist have worked it out on the Visayas so far:

Cebu - island/province/big city of the Visayas. Starting base to explore the Visayas. Busy Manila lite.

Mactan Island - Airport closest to Cebu. Mactan Island and its 5 star resorts are the closest diving from Cebu. Very average dive sites.

Malapascua - Small island 45 minutes north at the tip of Cebu. Bum-numbing 3.5 hour car/van ride from Cebu City.

Moalboal - Small beach town 3 hours south-west of Cebu City without a beach since the typhoon in '84. Nice dive sites esp around Pescador Island.

Bohol - Island east of Cebu. 2 hour ferry ride to Tagbilaran. Home of the wide eyed tarsiers and Chocolate Hills. Connected by 2 bridges to Panglao Island

Panglao Island - Small island with lovely spots like Alona Beach.

Alona Beach - sexy sultry laid back beach town. Tons of great dive sites and easy connections to regional dive sites. AYOR the women in Powder Keg.

Balicasag Island - accessible from Alona Beach (45m boat ride). Best wall dives in Bohol.

Cabilao Island - accessible from Alona Beach (2hr boat ride). Interesting reefs. Used to be famous for hammerhead sharks which is now eaten in Taiwanese restaurants.

Apo Island - accessible from Dumagete and from Alona Beach on overnight dive safaris. Great reef dives.

Dumaguete - Friendly university town in the neighouring island of Negros Oriental. Gateway to Apo Island. 5 hour ferry ride from Cebu with stopover in Tagbilaran.

Leyte - Another island northeast of Cebu. South Letye/Sogod - whale sharks!

Boracay - Infamous resort island northwest of Cebu with powder sand but average dives affected by recent typhoon. No airport but accessible via ferry from Caticlan or Kalibo.

 

[pakman]

"AYOR the women in Powder Keg"???

 

[Narcd_dvr]

"AYOR the women in Powder Keg"???

I wanna meet 'em

 

[shugar]

"AYOR the women in Powder Keg"???

"at your own risk"???????

wouldnt' that pretty much cover all "women" in such places as "powder keg", sabang and white beach?

emphasis on "women"

Jag