marcus8
Contributor
Greetings to all!
Been lurking for some weeks now and finally feel able to ask a couple of intelligent and specific questions. We must go in October as we'll be in Manila for a wedding. Those arrangements keep us in Manila for only a few days then off to Boracay for family celebration for a few more. We'll probably dive Boracay for a day just to get wet but our itinerary leaves us with 5 days before the wedding stuff, and 9 days after for dive trips. So I'm looking at two separate trips that I'd like to get advice on.
Firstly, about us, we are experienced divers, one DM and my lady is an experienced AOW, both in our mid forties in decent shape. I'm an avid UW photographer and would like mostly to experience/photograph:
I've seen plenty of mantas in Kona and don't wish to support the way the PI is handling their whale shark issues. We see them enough off the northern coast of the Yucatan anyways when we dive Cozumel in the summer. So large pelagics are not a major priority at all. That said, we are very fond of sharks if we can see them.
OK, let me get to question 1. We start our trip in Manila and I'm thinking I'd like to spend about 4/5 days exploring Anilao and/or Puerto Galera before the wedding. We're not big into night life, though I do appreciate a bar with a view, music and unique foods. I'm not looking to "rent a wife " as I've seen a few comments on regarding Puerto Galera. I'm mostly interested in the diving. So should we stick with Anilao, Puerto Galera, or try for a few days at each? The travel between the two looks fairly accessible. Is there enough variety of diving to stick with Anilao for all 4 days? Will we get totally bored? Is Puerto Galera completely different under water? Guess that's more than one question but I think you get the drift.
Question 2: We'll have about 8 or 9 days after the wedding stuff to explore Cebu. I don't wish to bounce around a whole lot. I can see perhaps visiting two or three distinct regions during that time frame. It looks pretty open ended. But I am thinking about either a northeastern itinerary (Malapascua and Mactan area) or a more southern itinerary (some combo of Dumaguete, Dauin, Siquijor with a day trip to Apo Island -presumably from Dauin?). Which itinerary would you choose, the Northeastern or the Southern? Any concerns about weather in October/November affect this choice? Is one location prettier topside than the others? I guess I'm leaning towards the southern one at the moment, but my choice seems to change daily Any other option that you think makes more sense for us given what we are looking for? If we did the southern one, should we do both Dumaguete and Dauin? I'm thinking perhaps just Dauin and Siquijor for 3 or 4 days each, adding in a day for travel between the two. Any and all thoughts appreciated on this one for sure.
One more question while I'm at it. Is Palawan diving worth the expense of getting out there? Does it compare favorably to Cebu/Bohol areas? Not too into wrecks but as far as the coral and sea life mostly?
Guess that's enough for now. We're both incredibly excited for October to get here quickly. We look forward to this kind of research almost as much.
Thanks
Mark
Been lurking for some weeks now and finally feel able to ask a couple of intelligent and specific questions. We must go in October as we'll be in Manila for a wedding. Those arrangements keep us in Manila for only a few days then off to Boracay for family celebration for a few more. We'll probably dive Boracay for a day just to get wet but our itinerary leaves us with 5 days before the wedding stuff, and 9 days after for dive trips. So I'm looking at two separate trips that I'd like to get advice on.
Firstly, about us, we are experienced divers, one DM and my lady is an experienced AOW, both in our mid forties in decent shape. I'm an avid UW photographer and would like mostly to experience/photograph:
- healthy reefs with soft corals, first and foremost
- mandarin fish
- ribbon eels
- unique nudibranchs to the PI
- hairy squat lobsters
- sea snakes
- any other unique species to the area
- color
- sharks if possible but not a deal breaker
I've seen plenty of mantas in Kona and don't wish to support the way the PI is handling their whale shark issues. We see them enough off the northern coast of the Yucatan anyways when we dive Cozumel in the summer. So large pelagics are not a major priority at all. That said, we are very fond of sharks if we can see them.
OK, let me get to question 1. We start our trip in Manila and I'm thinking I'd like to spend about 4/5 days exploring Anilao and/or Puerto Galera before the wedding. We're not big into night life, though I do appreciate a bar with a view, music and unique foods. I'm not looking to "rent a wife " as I've seen a few comments on regarding Puerto Galera. I'm mostly interested in the diving. So should we stick with Anilao, Puerto Galera, or try for a few days at each? The travel between the two looks fairly accessible. Is there enough variety of diving to stick with Anilao for all 4 days? Will we get totally bored? Is Puerto Galera completely different under water? Guess that's more than one question but I think you get the drift.
Question 2: We'll have about 8 or 9 days after the wedding stuff to explore Cebu. I don't wish to bounce around a whole lot. I can see perhaps visiting two or three distinct regions during that time frame. It looks pretty open ended. But I am thinking about either a northeastern itinerary (Malapascua and Mactan area) or a more southern itinerary (some combo of Dumaguete, Dauin, Siquijor with a day trip to Apo Island -presumably from Dauin?). Which itinerary would you choose, the Northeastern or the Southern? Any concerns about weather in October/November affect this choice? Is one location prettier topside than the others? I guess I'm leaning towards the southern one at the moment, but my choice seems to change daily Any other option that you think makes more sense for us given what we are looking for? If we did the southern one, should we do both Dumaguete and Dauin? I'm thinking perhaps just Dauin and Siquijor for 3 or 4 days each, adding in a day for travel between the two. Any and all thoughts appreciated on this one for sure.
One more question while I'm at it. Is Palawan diving worth the expense of getting out there? Does it compare favorably to Cebu/Bohol areas? Not too into wrecks but as far as the coral and sea life mostly?
Guess that's enough for now. We're both incredibly excited for October to get here quickly. We look forward to this kind of research almost as much.
Thanks
Mark