Info Request for APO REEF (reef system off of Mindoro)

[nks]

Hello,

I recently joined the Scubaboard because I am planning a 12-14 day trip to the Philippines in late October 2009 with my wife. (I posted a similar request for information regarding PI vs. Similans a few days ago so some of this may be repetitive for those that read that thread - I thank you in advance for your patience.)

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To be clear this is an information request for APO REEF (which lies off of Mindoro and which is accessed via North Pandan Island, Coron or liveaboard.), NOT for Apo Island which is near Duma and Siquijor.
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Apologies for the emphatic caution, but I have noticed some confusion regarding the 2 in previous Board forum threads. I also realize this question has been asked a number of times before, but having read the previous threads, I feel the need to post the question again. Perhaps I missed the authorative thread on Apo Reef - if so please kindly post the link and I am happy to get my info from there.


BACKGROUND:
I have about 60 logged dives (Red Sea, Monterey, Greece, Thailand, South Africa). I am traveling with my wife who has about 10 logged dives (Greece and Red Sea). We are recreational divers who do not (yet) own gear outside of personal stuff. This will be our first trip to the Philippines. We will be traveling out of Hong Kong, as this is part of a larger trip. We would probably dive 9-10 days out of 12-14, and mix in other activities.

The plan so far:
-- We plan to dive the Visayas - no definite plan yet, but I'm thinking to be stationed around Bohol then Siquijor so we can dive Apo Island. Right now, I'm planning to skip diving around Cebu (please comment if you think that is a bad idea.)

-- I am thinking about a second region to visit, perhaps Palawan (though I'm not that interested in Coron wreck diving) or Puerto Galera or APO REEF or Sogod.

QUESTIONS:
1. If you have been to Apo Reef, do you recommend going?

2. Is Bohol + Apo Reef a good "mix" of diving?

3. Where should we be based to dive Apo reef? I have read about North Pandan Island, Coron and possibly liveaboards out of PG?

4. Is Apo reef good for pelagic species and will it be very different from Bohol and/or other areas of PI?

5. Logisticaly, should we dive Bohol first then Apo reef or vis-a-versa?

6. Is Apo Reef worth the trouble?

Thank you thank you so much for your help.

Nelson

 

[gravity]

i have not been to Apo Reef. I looked in to going there about a year ago now, and it seemed to me that it was quite difficult to get there. I was looking to go from Pandan Island, but the resort at Pandan could not guarantee a departure date. They kept saying, 'come here and we will send out a boat as soon as we have four people here that want to go.'
I still want to go to Apo Reef, but in my opinion you will spend too much time traveling to get there for a trip length of 12-14 days where you also go to Bohol. If you are looking to maximize your diving/relaxing time, I would either skip Apo Reef or go to Anilao or PG instead of Bohol to keep your mid trip travel easier (even that might not be an easy transition even though PG is on Mindoro).
Let me qualify though--I haven't looked into Bohol to Pandan travel times, maybe there is a convenient way to travel between the two that I am not aware of.

The philippines has lots of places where you can go to two destination without a flight in between. For a trip of 12-14 days, i would recommend finding two destinations without a flight so that you don't have to worry about skipping diving the day before the transition trip.

 

[Kupu]

1. Yes. It was very nice reef/wall diving. Great vis, and very healthy hard corals. Not as much fish life as I might have expected. But still, saw a few reef sharks, bumphead parrotfish, wrasse, and some decent schools of smaller fish.
2. I would certainly saw they are both worth visiting, but maybe not what I would call a "mix" since I might call both Apo reef and Panglao places where wall dives are mostly what you would be doing. A bit more variety around Bohol.
3. If going again, another liveaboard would be my choice.
4. Maybe the pelagics are around now, but didn't see an abundance (4 years ago). If you are really looking for variety, I would consider somewhere like Coron, PG, or Anilao vs one of the 2 places you mention here. Nothing at all against either one, but just more similar than other options IMHO.
5. Not sure if it would make a big difference, maybe just depends on the time you are able to get out to Apo reef, since Bohol is always easy to get to. And BTW, I'm not sure that Oct is the best time for getting out to Apo reef with regards to the weather. Perhaps someone else will be able to correct me if I'm wrong.
6. Yes.

For whats its worth, I think a trip that included Sogod, Bohol, and Apo island might be a good option for you, considering the amount of time you have.
Personally, I would just stick to 2 places since I hate packing my bags and moving just a few days after I have arrived in an area...

 

[chip104]

I agree with gravity and kupu, with just 12-14 days I would skip Apo Reef. Here are answers to the questions I can answer:

2. a better mix would be to go to a place that highlights pelagics and another that highlights benthic.
3. For convenience you'll probably want to head out from Luzon to Apo. But it's cheaper to head out from Coron. For 12-14 days, heading out from Luzon might be best.
5. If you are bent on going, go to Apo Reef first if you will be arriving via Manila. If you are arriving via Cebu, head to Bohol first. I recommend you arrive via Manila.
6. In general, yes. But for the amount of time you have - No (unless you cut out Bohol and choose another destination). You will spend a lot of time traveling between Apo Reef and then Bohol. Kupu had a good suggestion of visiting Sogod Bay and Bohol. For Sogod, late October is a bit too early for the whalesharks, but who knows - you might get lucky. I also agree with just sticking to 2 places - a good rule of thumb for international travelers is to allot 1 week per destination (to include travel time between).

A good mix would be just Bohol - Cabilao and Alona. Cabilao has great macro and Alona (including Balicasag) has some nice pelagics.

Another option - last year a couple of PPDers and I went from Sogod to Cabilao, Bohol then Alona, Bohol (which included Balicasag) in the about 12 days. IIRC, we spent 4 diving days in Sogod, 3 diving days in Cabilao, 2 diving days in Alona. The rest of the time was spent traveling to each destination. Sogod Bay has pristine corals, Cabilao has amazing macro, and Alona/Balicasag has awesome pelagics. If you and your wife are adventurous travelers, you can consider that route. It should be relatively easy without the dive gear.

Hope that helps.


edit: If you want to cut out Bohol instead of Apo Reef (but if it's your first time in the PI, I reco you cut out Apo), choose a diving destination more convenient to where the liveaboard will be leaving and heading. Since you aren't interested in Coron diving, that would be Puerto Galera or Anilao. Both have fantastic macro.

edit edit: another option - Bohol and Dumaguete (Dauin)/Apo Island

 

[UnderwaterAsia]

Is this guide useful to you? It has quite a bit of info on all the places that you're thinking of visiting.

The Philippines : UnderwaterAsia.info

For my money, I would recommend Bohol as a destination with good variety. Plenty of great macro stuff, plus Balicasag for big-stuff dving.

 

[nks]

Thank you for all the great recommendations. I will consider everything you said, do more research, then do whatever my wife says . . . jk . . . sort of.

 

[rab1412000]

the cheapest and easiest way to reach apo island is via coron. its doable on a 2d/1n liveaboard obut i suggest doing a 3d/2n thing. you also get to do club paradise reef and some wrecks on the way back.

pm me if you want some contacts

 

[rob1967]

I have to say I was disappointed with Bohol... "the awesome pelagics" is unfortunately a thing of the past. When I was there last year, it seemed all the big stuff was long gone. Fished out! Cabilao has great small stuff, but I find it tough to get excited about something 1 cm big if I don't have a camera to zoom in on it. Sadly, the schooling hammerheads of Cabilao are long gone. Likely ended up as soup in Hong Kong.

IMHO, Coron and PG are better choices. PG is the scuba-central in the Phils, while Coron has a nice mix of stuff. The night life in PG is a bit sleazy, but probably you will be going to bed early anyways. PG is an easy 4-hr trip from Manila, and no flight is convenient if you want to dive on your last day.

As for Coron, I recommend fly into Busuanga, and spend 3-4 days (or more if you like) at Club paradise on the North side of Busuanga, and if the weather is right, they can take you for a day trip or possible overnight to Apo Reef. Apo Reef has the best reef diving in the Phils (from what I have seen), although Sipadan (Malaysian Borneo) is even better! I thought Apo reef was like a mini-Sipadan: Turtles, bumphead parrotfishes, lots of reef sharks, trevallies, etc. Awesome!

After a few days at Club Paradise, you can cross over to the south side of Busuanga (about 1-2 hrs overland) and do the shipwrecks of Coron Bay. You gotta try a couple of dives on the shipwrecks! They also have some reef diving (Siete Pecados), and Barracuda Lake is very unique and not to be missed.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers and happy diving!

 

[localdivah]

Chip,

My wife and I have a week to burn and are looking at doing Dumaguete/Apo Island and/or Bohol (Panglao/Cabilao). Would you recommend flying into Dumaguete or Tagbiliran? Would you recommend staying at Dauin or Dumaguete? For Bohol/Panglao, where did you all stay?

I know that it's a bit ambitious to try to do two locations involving travel in 7 days. We like the Chocolate Hills and tarsiers of Bohol, so if we had to choose one, that would probably be it. What would we be giving up by skipping Dumaguete?

I suppose we could fly into Dumaguete, ferry to Panglao, and then fly out of Tagbiliran...

I agree with gravity and kupu, with just 12-14 days I would skip Apo Reef. Here are answers to the questions I can answer:

2. a better mix would be to go to a place that highlights pelagics and another that highlights benthic.
3. For convenience you'll probably want to head out from Luzon to Apo. But it's cheaper to head out from Coron. For 12-14 days, heading out from Luzon might be best.
5. If you are bent on going, go to Apo Reef first if you will be arriving via Manila. If you are arriving via Cebu, head to Bohol first. I recommend you arrive via Manila.
6. In general, yes. But for the amount of time you have - No (unless you cut out Bohol and choose another destination). You will spend a lot of time traveling between Apo Reef and then Bohol. Kupu had a good suggestion of visiting Sogod Bay and Bohol. For Sogod, late October is a bit too early for the whalesharks, but who knows - you might get lucky. I also agree with just sticking to 2 places - a good rule of thumb for international travelers is to allot 1 week per destination (to include travel time between).

A good mix would be just Bohol - Cabilao and Alona. Cabilao has great macro and Alona (including Balicasag) has some nice pelagics.

Another option - last year a couple of PPDers and I went from Sogod to Cabilao, Bohol then Alona, Bohol (which included Balicasag) in the about 12 days. IIRC, we spent 4 diving days in Sogod, 3 diving days in Cabilao, 2 diving days in Alona. The rest of the time was spent traveling to each destination. Sogod Bay has pristine corals, Cabilao has amazing macro, and Alona/Balicasag has awesome pelagics. If you and your wife are adventurous travelers, you can consider that route. It should be relatively easy without the dive gear.

Hope that helps.


edit: If you want to cut out Bohol instead of Apo Reef (but if it's your first time in the PI, I reco you cut out Apo), choose a diving destination more convenient to where the liveaboard will be leaving and heading. Since you aren't interested in Coron diving, that would be Puerto Galera or Anilao. Both have fantastic macro.

edit edit: another option - Bohol and Dumaguete (Dauin)/Apo Island

 

[chip104]

Chip,

My wife and I have a week to burn and are looking at doing Dumaguete/Apo Island and/or Bohol (Panglao/Cabilao). Would you recommend flying into Dumaguete or Tagbiliran? Would you recommend staying at Dauin or Dumaguete? For Bohol/Panglao, where did you all stay?

I know that it's a bit ambitious to try to do two locations involving travel in 7 days. We like the Chocolate Hills and tarsiers of Bohol, so if we had to choose one, that would probably be it. What would we be giving up by skipping Dumaguete?

I suppose we could fly into Dumaguete, ferry to Panglao, and then fly out of Tagbiliran...

hmm...I would probably fly into duma, stay at Dauin (plenty of resorts to choose from), then ferry over to bohol and stay at alona for the remainder of the trip (lots of resorts to choose from). On the last day you can off gas by checking out choco hills, the tarsiers, and what not. Not only, you can potentially fly out of cebu to get back to Singapore or Shanghai or Narita (not sure of Beijing...).

Dauin dive sites have some great macro as well as Apo Island. A 7 day power trip will look something along the lines of:

* Arrive Duma, get to resort, dive Dauin area
* 1 day to dive Apo Island
* 1/2 day dive Dauin in morning
* 1/2 day travel between duma and bohol (Ocean Jet). Arrive alona beach, chill for the evening (ie romantic date).
* 1 day to dive Alona area
* 1 day to dive Balicasag. if dive op doesn't pack you lunch, have a family on the island cook you fresh fish.
* 1 day to do a tour of bohol
* Leave for manila or cebu to fly out.

hope that helps.