Just back from Anilao in the Philippines

[drrich2]

Centrals:

As they say in the U.S., 'Location, location, location!' And the original poster gives China as the location. But from that post (bold emphasis mine):

People say they can't afford a trip to the Philippines.. but I've looked at ticket prices and if planned well, you could leave almost any point in the US and still find tickets to Manila RT for $1000-$1200...

I imagine diving the Philippines would be wonderful, and if I were in that part of the world already, or had a few weeks trip with stops along the way that passed through there, I'd want to dive it. It's been chosen as the location for the 2016 Scuba Board Invasion, which I believe almost immediately sold out of available slots upon opening. I suspect that'll feature a strong U.S. presence, and that says a lot about the Philippines for scuba. But it's a 2 week trip. And travel time will take still more vacation time.

My point is, from a U.S. perspective, I don't think cost is the main barrier to diving the Philippines (in fact, the price given is less than some Caribbean trip total costs). Cost matters, but those awful travel times do, too.

Richard.

 

[PhatD1ver]

at the prices you mentioned its actually more for 2 weeks then the price of the Invasion, not to mentionthe booze is covered and the 2 trips to Apo and Verde

one key point to remember for those of us in Canada and US is that at such a distance, 1 week is not worth the effort to go, 10 days is minimum that makes sense, 2 weeks is even better

good review though

I got my quote back from them today... for two nights, three days, and 8 dives (including 8 meals), the price is $325, add $90 a day... just saying, this isn't the BOTTOM of the dive resort tier either, so for those that can't make the invasion, there are nice places in the Philippines still within most peoples budgets if they plan ahead.

---------- Post added July 4th, 2014 at 03:25 PM ----------

I agree with some others that distance is a big factor. I've had Bonaire trips where the flight from Atlanta to Bonaire was roughly 4 hours. By the time we touched down, I was quite ready to come up out of that seat! Especially since the earlier flight from Nashville to Atlanta might run, oh, somewhere close to 2 hours?

Just for fun I hit Orbitz to look at airfare roundtrip for Nashville (BNA) to Manila, 9-6-14 to 9-13-14, and got prices in the $1,200 to $2,200 range ($1,400 seems ball park), but more importantly, sorting by shortest flight, the trip there would, counting layovers, take at least 21 hours & 31 minutes, only about 2 hours of which is in layovers.

Now, maybe somebody else can do better than that, but that many hours on a plane could figuratively drive me insane.

Perhaps I somehow mis-entered or misinterpreted the results. I imagine that people on the west coast face much better flight times & costs to get out there & back.

I hear great things about the Philippines and would love to dive there. But fly there & back? Auuuggghhh!!!

Richard.

first, Nashville isn't where you should take off from... Chicago or Atlanta both cut your flight time and transfers, granted you have four to six hours driving.

Reality is you can't get to Asia without the lost time in transit, keep in mind that a lot of your 'travel time' is the time change too...

I make this trip a couple times a year coming home and going back to China... it is 18 hours from Shanghai to Salt Lake, I leave at 8:20pm and land at 5pm same day... going home (to China), I depart at 6am and land +1 day at 6pm, and yup, that's 22 hours of my life...

Someday, I'll fly east and go to places like the Bahamas or Cozumel, just to say I did... but right now, places like Anilao & Puerto Galera that I can access for $500 for a long holiday weekend, you can't beat that with a stick... I get people don't want to make the long hop and coming this far, if you have two to three weeks, yeah, I'd take all that time and then some...

I wish I could have stayed three weeks, but I'll take it in bites if I have to..

 

[divetraveller]

Well, to everybody his likes. And rooms I guess dont have the same quality either , if the price is not the same.
So up to each what he wants and for him to decide.
Just my 2 cents in
Regards
Divetraveller

 

[DukeAMO]

That's why you see a lot of Aussie and Asian divers in the Philippines and Thailand, West Coast US divers in California and Hawaii, and East Coast US divers in the Caribbean and Mexico.

I would only go that far to dive if I could stay for more than a week, so it's a major undertaking. The Philippines is on our list to do someday, though.

 

[mathauck0814]

+1 to Anilao. We stayed at Anilao Beach Club for two weeks in November and had a similar experience. They chartered us our own boat and happily supported our deep divers and rebreathers (the one DM that came with us had gills, I swear - what that kid could do on an AL80 with a little pony at those depths...). Food was incredible, rooms were anything but spartan (A/C, ceiling fans, fridge in the room, table for the cameras, reliable hot water, nice balcony overlooking the beach, etc), daily massages on the beach chairs, terrific bar at the resort and nightlife in town when you didn't want to dive and like the OP said - quite inexpensive and easily accessible.

You could do the PI on an 8-9 day itinerary if you had to (remember that you lose a day getting there).

Day 1 - Fly
Day 2 - Lost
Day 3 - Arrive/Dinner/Snorkel/Night Dive
Day 4-8 = 5 diving days @ as many dives as you want to whatever depths you want - we did 9 diving days which was about perfect to see everything we wanted to see in the area.
Day 9 - Fly home (on the west coast we arrived home at 9am, so presumably could have even gone to work but in almost every circumstance you can get home with enough time to recover).

It's not so far away as drrich2 makes it out to be.

---------- Post added July 6th, 2014 at 09:52 AM ----------

Someday, I'll fly east and go to places like the Bahamas or Cozumel, just to say I did... but right now, places like Anilao & Puerto Galera that I can access for $500 for a long holiday weekend, you can't beat that with a stick...

Agreed - there's no good reason to dive the caribbean, bahamas, cozumel etc except for convenience. The south Pacific is where it's at from a biodiversity perspective.

 

[Centrals]

My point is, from a U.S. perspective, I don't think cost is the main barrier to diving the Philippines (in fact, the price given is less than some Caribbean trip total costs). Cost matters, but those awful travel times do, too. Richard.

Hi Richard,
You can always break up the journey in LA or San Fran. I believe there are direct flight from both places to Manila.

 

[drrich2]

Whatever the barriers, I get the subjective impression from threads on this forum over the years that the Philippines have been increasing in popularity, at least amongst people who post on ScubaBoard. I would imagine the 2016 ScubaBoard Invasion may add to that. Granted, a fairly small group of people, but some are highly visible, post and influence on the forum, so there's a potential domino effect.

I can speak only for me when I say I'd need at least 10 days of diving there (aside from travel time) to make it worth it, a good travel agent to get me a 'turn key trip' (by which I mean travel, transfers, diving, all that pre-arranged and mostly paid for in advance so the vacation ran on auto-pilot), and a good dive buddy going with me (I'm SDI Solo certified, but that far afield in a strange place for the 1st time, I like a capable buddy on-hand in case complications arise).

Maybe someday. It would be a novelty to see a lion fish while diving without thinking 'It must die!'

Richard.

 

[PhatD1ver]

Whatever the barriers, I get the subjective impression from threads on this forum over the years that the Philippines have been increasing in popularity, at least amongst people who post on ScubaBoard. I would imagine the 2016 ScubaBoard Invasion may add to that. Granted, a fairly small group of people, but some are highly visible, post and influence on the forum, so there's a potential domino effect.

Oh, I think it's because the cost is low, but really, the diving is awesome... I like Thailand, I'll go back, but I can't get there for the cost of my next trip... my trip in Sept is going to cost me only $300 for long weekend and three dive days... can't beat that..

I can speak only for me when I say I'd need at least 10 days of diving there (aside from travel time) to make it worth it, a good travel agent to get me a 'turn key trip' (by which I mean travel, transfers, diving, all that pre-arranged and mostly paid for in advance so the vacation ran on auto-pilot), and a good dive buddy going with me (I'm SDI Solo certified, but that far afield in a strange place for the 1st time, I like a capable buddy on-hand in case complications arise).

Maybe someday. It would be a novelty to see a lion fish while diving without thinking 'It must die!'

Richard.

or a whole family of them living on a helicopter wreck at 100ft....

 

[frostc]

You should have seen that big school of jackfish around cathedral when season is right and I'd recommend night dive at anilao pier, it's shallow but you can find many interesting critters over there. Last march we found a bobbit worm and several things I could not name, so that was the highlight for that dive site.

---------- Post added August 10th, 2014 at 07:43 PM ----------

By the way, at which dive site was the helicopter wreck?

 

[drbill]

Living on the West Coast, travel to Asia and the Pacific is not as difficult as it is for those living elsewhere in the States. However, the biodiversity difference between places like the Philippines and the Caribbean is well worth the travel time as long as you have a decent amou8nt of time there to dive. Since my dive trips are largely work-related (filming critters for my stock footage collection and DVD/BD creation) I usually go for 2-4 weeks at a time. Those with just a week or two of vacation understandably have to factor that in.