Going in March 2025, struggling to pick a resort?

[profmason]

Casalay Boutique Village is over on the West side across from Medio island. It has NO beach that I remember (Saw it from the dive boat) and it looks like you would be trapped in the resort. Standard recommendations for P. G. are the places N. of Sabang on Big La Laguna beach, Scandi Divers and La Laguna Beach Club, both are next door to each other on a nice beach and a 10 minute walk from the town of Sabang. Both of these support tech divers and have a wide range of experienced native DMs along with air conditioning etc etc.

 

[brachfeldc]

Hello, me and my partner are planning a 2/3 week trip in March 2025 to celebrate his bday. We would prefer to stay in 1, max 2 different diving resorts and focus entirely on diving and relaxing. We are thinking about flying into Cebu but it's so difficult to choose where to go when you have never been there before. We are both AOW and have been to the likes of Raja Ampat and Red Sea - we know the Philippines will be different from both and from my research it looks like each island has very specific types of dives sites and different things to see which makes it even harder to pick one.

So far we've been considering:

DAUIN - Mike's beach resort (we have never done muck diving before and we think it could be fun, plus there are Apo island and Siquijor nearby)
MALAPASCUA - Ocean Vida (for the threshers and white beaches?)
BOHOL - Amun Ini Resort in Anda (bit pricey but the beach looks so nice??!)
PUERTO GALERA - not sure about this one, everyone says the diving is good but I'm scared it's overcrowded and not so nice above the water?

Since we are planning to stay at least 2 weeks, is that too long to be in one resort only? Also thinking about combining any two of the above and sacrifice one day to travel in between.

We love nature, peace, a nicer beach opposed to a so-so one and a mix of dive sites.

Would love to hear about your personal experiences both above and under the water! Thanks a ton

My only experience diving in Philippines was a week last April at El Galleon in Puerto Galea. The resort is lovely and very inexpensive given the quality of service, and the diving was fantastic in really every way. The area is perhaps a little seedy, but my son and I enjoyed walking the narrow little streets and finding the many small, good and very cheap restaurants for dinner. Most of the tourists in town are asian, Korean predominantly. We generally found it charming.

 

[Volleyball]

On

One way tranfer by public is a mere US$30.00. Done it many times.
Private for one person is about US$300.00.

If you search around, you can find far cheaper; 66% or $400 RT cheaper in this screenshot which was from last month...What I do is search the TripAdvisor forums for private drivers and the city/route. In my experience, they quote per ride and not extra for extra people. We paid 4500 pesos (about USD $77) one way to make the 5-hour drive from Moalboal to Maya, just the GF and I by finding a driver on TripAdvisor

 

[Volleyball]

Thank you I like this! Sounds like Anda is quieter than Alona? I like the fact that Bohol has lots of possible land trips to do as well. One thing we always miss out on our diving trips is a bit of that food / cultural / wildlife exploration. Wouldn't mind a couple of non-diving day trips. I do like beautiful white sand beaches and lush vegetation. Any recs for scuba diving resorts in Alona beach area? As for Malapascua, how exactly do we get there from Cebu airport?

The GF and I just got back from Alona Beach last week and 6ish weeks ago, Dauin/Apo/Oslob/Moalboal/Malapascua/Gato/Kalanggaman. If you have any specific questions let me know. I put my IG footage at the bottom

First, do you like wrecks? I haven't seen Coron mentioned yet, I think you'd like above-the-surface for the nature. Below the surface, you have the Japanese WW2 wrecks and the Baracuda Lake underwater (remove your fins) obstacle course; very unique diving and you can fly in

You have so many options but I think you could fly in Dumegete, stay, and dive in Dauin/Apo, on a departing day, you can still dive all day and make the 7pm 50-minute ferry from Dumegete to Siquijor. Stay and dive for a few nights then on the day of departure, do the morning 2 tank dive and take the 230pm 2-hour ferry to Bohol. Stay and dive for a few nights then take the ferry from Bohol to Cebu and get a private driver to take you to Maya (mainland ferry) and take the ferry to Malapascua; the Bohol to Cebu ferry and drive to Maya should take 4.5-5.5 hours. That would burn only one travel day going from Bohol to Maya giving you 13 days of diving so 3 locations for 4 nights and one location for 3 nights. However, if you want to get more complicated (lol), there's a daily 6am 90-minute ferry from Bohol to Oslob. Could take that, dive a single tank with the whale sharks, continue onto Moalboal for a single tank dive with the sardines, continue onto Maya, and still make the last Maya to Malapascua ferry by 6pm. Or stay the night in Maya and take the first ferry over to Malapascua which is early enough to make the morning dives in Malapascua

The links appear broken but work:
Bohol:
Dauin/Apo/Oslob/Moalboal/Malapascua/Gato/Kalanggaman:
Coron, Barracuda Lake:
Coron, WW2 wrecks:

 

[happy-diver]

I just drove 1500 kilometres did three dives and was struggling to pick up my gear

 

[Centrals]

If you search around, you can find far cheaper; 66% or $400 RT cheaper in this screenshot which was from last month...What I do is search the TripAdvisor forums for private drivers and the city/route. In my experience, they quote per ride and not extra for extra people. We paid 4500 pesos (about USD $77) one way to make the 5-hour drive from Moalboal to Maya, just the GF and I by finding a driver on TripAdvisor

View attachment 873688

I am talking the round trip private transfer from Manila to PG with no one to share the cost.

 

[Volleyball]

I am talking the round trip private transfer from Manila to PG with no one to share the cost.

So am I

 

[Centrals]

So am I

Really?
Your link on #23 only indicated Manila to Batangas not all the way to PG.
Private speed boat from Batangas is minimum P10,000.00 one way(up to 10 passengers, max is 12 persons but the total cost is P12,000.00).

 

[bmag78]

Really?
Your link on #23 only indicated Manila to Batangas not all the way to PG.
Private speed boat from Batangas is minimum P10,000.00 one way(up to 10 passengers, max is 12 persons but the total cost is P12,000.00).

There's a new service. Last week's photo

Easiest best way for those unfamiliar with Philippines would be the daily Sikat from City State Tower bus/boat combo for 1500pesos one way. 2900 RT
Cheapest was Ceres from Makati or pitx for 280 pesos plus 600 p for the boat to balatero.

 

[bmag78]

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