Just over 2 wks in April but unsure where to go?

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Nitro91

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Messages
292
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Location
Sydney, Australia
# of dives
50 - 99
my partner and I have flights to Manila booked for just over 2weeks during mid April.
Our budget only allows one return flight from Manila and back to one of the islands so Island hopping isn’t possible.

I’m tossing up between doing Palawan, starting at Coron and making Our way down to El Nido, and the rest of Palawan before flying back to Manila from Puerto Princesa.

Or flying to Cebu and getting some fast ferries around to the closer islands as they are affordable.

What would be the better overall experience between those two?

We don’t want to dive everyday so a mixture of being in the local culture and also experiencing the country and other activities.

Any help is appreciated thanks!
 
my partner and I have flights to Manila booked for just over 2weeks during mid April.
Our budget only allows one return flight from Manila and back to one of the islands so Island hopping isn’t possible.

I’m tossing up between doing Palawan, starting at Coron and making Our way down to El Nido, and the rest of Palawan before flying back to Manila from Puerto Princesa.

Or flying to Cebu and getting some fast ferries around to the closer islands as they are affordable.

What would be the better overall experience between those two?

We don’t want to dive everyday so a mixture of being in the local culture and also experiencing the country and other activities.

Any help is appreciated thanks!

If you are interested in Palawan, I would do it in the reverse. Fly to PPS, then head up to El Nido. It’s about a 5-6 hour drive between El Nido and PPS. You can hire a driver. Submariner (the shop name) does a dive safari from El Nido to Coron but not the other way around. It’s a 4 day 3 night program. Eat and dive on boat during the day, hotels at night. You can see some of the WWII wrecks. If you did Coron to El Nido you will have to take a long ferry ride. Before getting on in El Nido you can do some beach tours and lay on the beach, etc. You would then fly back from Coron to Manila. If you want, you could then go down to Puerto Galera or Anilao for some diving. No flights needed for that one. Then head back to Manila for your flight home.

The other option is to go down to the Visayas towards Bohol, Cebu, etc. I’m not familiar with logistics for that. (We planned our trip using the first option.)
 
There are many many options:
1. Spend the entire time in Palawan and forget Coron completely.
2. Fly to Dumaguete, exploring Apo Island, Dauin and Siquijor, travel to Sipalay and return to Manila via Bacolod. You can start the trip in reverse order.
3. Fly to Camiguin Island and explore this lovely island of 7 volcanoes. Bring your own bicycles if possible.
4. Fly to Cagayan de Oro, white water rafting and ferry to Camiguin.
5. Stay on Luzon island. Rice Terrace Field and the hill station of Baguio and dive Puerto Galera.
 
Oh - how could I forget. If a liveaboard is in your budget and there is any availability left in April, a trip to Tubbataha would be good. That'll kill 7 days. Then spend the rest of the time in Palawan.
 
Here is a thought, and it would not be that expensive (if you don't want it to be) From Manila, you can just take a Victory Liner bus to Olongapo (Subic Bay) or a van and spend a few days diving the historic wrecks of Subic. You would stay in Barrio Barretto which is is laid back beach town and where the three local dive shops are located.

From there you can take a bus to Dau (Clark Airport - Angeles City) and there are a couple flights a day to Coron from Clark on Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific. You can also take an Air Swift flight, 4 times a week from Clark directly to El Nido. None of these flights are very expensive.

A potential itinerary could be...

DIVE Subic Bay...Flight to Coron...DIVE Coron...ferry to El Nido...DIVE El Nido...van to Puerto Princesa..then flight to Manila OR fly Air Swift back to Manila. If you have a few more days, you could do a quick trip to Anilao or even Puerto Galera. But that would be pushing yourself a bit.

Getting around in the Philippines is easy and does not have to be expensive and there are other things to do in these areas other then dive.

'lemme know if you have any questions or need any help.
 
If you are interested in coming to Puerto Galera, kindly have a look at Scandi Divers, we are based in Big La Laguna which is a beautiful spot. We are very close to around 40 dive sites and have a great mixture of wrecks, muck diving and amazing coral gardens, Verde Island is not to be missed :)
www.scandidivers.com
 
I would flight to Cebu and then go to Malapascua. Diving is amazing there, and the beaches are nice. You can see every mornings the famous Thresher sharks. April has the best visibility! It takes a 4 hours trip by van and boat to reach the island from Cebu Airport. Otherwise I would go to Dauin area. Diving is nice, and you have many waterfalls around. You can also do dolphin and turtles watching.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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