Itinerary Check - Malapascua 3 days, Moalboal 3 days

[Antshill]

The evolution post doesn’t mention how many of their boats were damaged. I guess it’ll be wait and see for you topo

 

[Antshill]

Looks like they posted 12 hours ago... looking to get 1-2 boats operational in 48 hours. Sounds like they should be okay by the time you get there Topo76. Unknown how damaged the reefs will be.

 

[FT]

Yup, Evolution is ready again. Man, can Filipinos work! Great video on FB of one of their boats being towed back out to sea by dozens of helpers.
This morning’s post says that rooms, power and water are fine and they have multiple boats ready to go diving,

 

[world_traveler]

I'm in Moalboal currently. Boats were locked down yesterday (Christmas) due to typhoon, but we did 3 shore dives including the sardines. Boats are a go today (26) so we will be heading to Pescador Island.

Ursula should not have caused any damage here. Some light winds and rain is all we experienced. I can't speak to the different operators, but we are at Kasai Dive.

I should be at Evolution in a week...so should see first hand how things are there.

How is Kasai? the resort, the diving center? do they have a house reef good for snorkeling?

 

[eagerbeaver]

Yup, Evolution is ready again. Man, can Filipinos work! Great video on FB of one of their boats being towed back out to sea by dozens of helpers.
This morning’s post says that rooms, power and water are fine and they have multiple boats ready to go diving,

This is correct - we are pretty much operating as usual. We are using our genset, so have 2 hrs a day without power to rest the genset, but power is already restored to some parts of the island, so we hope to have main power back soon.

The last 2 days have had good Thresher Shark sightings and no reports of major coral damage so far. Many boats were lost including 1 of ours, so everyone is doing what they can to get people across to the island and out diving. It may not be as seamless as normal but it's pretty close

The reality is that you will barely notice a difference if you haven't been here before.

 

[Centrals]

Hope everything is back to normal in Malapascua and anywhere else in the country soon.

Cheers.

 

[Antshill]

Fantastic to hear! What a speedy recovery! You guys must have really hustled.

 

[eagerbeaver]

Main power supply is now back at Evolution, and the majority of other places I believe.

 

[explore_DMC]

Glad to hear it, Evolution! Looking forward to staying and diving there.


To some previous questions:

Dives have been good in Moalboal. Some dives we see several frogfish and others we seem to find a dozen different types of shrimp. We finally did a quick evening dive today to check out the Mandarin fish as well.

I think the online reviews of Kasai are largely accurate. The diving and divemasters are good. The shop has rebreathers, doubles, stages etc. if you're into that, or rec setups including bp/wing or jacket style. Our boat has largely been 4-6 divers split with 2 DMs. I've seen most other boats cruising with around 12 divers...this could be a fluke, but unsure. For better or worse, Kasai's dive schedule seems to start later than any other shop which makes for a later day, but then I have yet to see other divers in the water except for the sardines dive. The house pier extends almost all the wall to the depth drop off. Snorkeling is easily accessible regardless of tide level thanks to the pier. I'd be happy to dive to the house reef any day. The food is okay but not great. The resort is quiet and/or isolated depending on your perspective. It's about a 20min walk or 5min tricycle (170 php) to the bulk of the other dive shops, bars etc. The rooms are fairly good and huge. The showers are also huge but with a horrible shower head.