Liveaboard or land based?

[outofofficebrb]

I was planning to dive Malapascua and Moalboal, possibly Oslob, from land, but then Philippine Siren had a flash sale of a 10-day liveaboard around Cebu for $2520 and I jumped on. I figured that the convenience of having a boat take me all around Visayas rather than arranging a bunch of land/sea transfers is worth the slight price premium. Wouldn't do it at their normal price of $4200 though. I'll report on it after I come back

Traveling in the VIsayas especially, but Philippines in general, is pretty cumbersome and slow, so there is value in that. It sounds like a great itinerary and I'm glad you were able to hop onto it! I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say about it!

 

[borisphotosafari]

Siren is a great boat. I did Tubbataha to Cebu 2 week trip with them. In my opinion, Tbbataha is the best diving in Philippines and I've been there twice. The rest is best done from land. It is really cheap to fly domestic. Dumagette is great, Apo island is not to be missed. Can fly there from Manila or Cebu. Malapascua is great for thresher sharks and day dives are pretty good too. Car transfer and private ferry are worth it if traveling with lots of gear. Anilao, close to Manila, great macro. South Leyte, is good, early ferry from Cebu and car transfer, can dive by afternoon. Most giant frog fishes on one dive, 7. Good overall diving. Night dive under the Burgos pier not to be missed.

 

[Scandi Divers]

Bit more expensive to do the liveaboard trips but you save a lot of time relaxing on a boat instead of being stuck for hours in a van or bus. You can check out the Discovery fleet as a good mid-range company.

 

[ReefHound]

I think it's a lot more expensive to do the liveaboard to save a bit of time in a van or bus.

 

[drrich2]

Policies may vary by operator I’m guessing, but in general, how many dives/day do land vs, live-aboard ops tend to offer? Paying more may be palatable if you get more diving.

 

[Barmaglot]

I think it's a lot more expensive to do the liveaboard to save a bit of time in a van or bus.

It's not that big a difference - I did some ballpark pricing and 10 days of shore diving, between dives, lodging, food and transportation would run me close to $2k - the Siren trip is $2520 with almost everything included, and the itinerary includes Balicasag, Apo Island, Dauin, Oslob, Moalboal, Pescador and Malapascua/Monad Shoal. This is my first trip to the Philippines, and were I to try diving all those places from land, I'd literally spend half my vacation on the road, checking in and out of hotels and packing and unpacking, while on a liveaboard, I can treat it like a sample platter of all the diving that Visayas have to offer, then decide which sites I want to come back for on my next trip.

Also, don't discount the luxury of hopping into a hot shower right after getting out of your gear

 

[ReefHound]

It's not that big a difference - I did some ballpark pricing and 10 days of shore diving, between dives, lodging, food and transportation would run me close to $2k - the Siren trip is $2520 with almost everything included, and the itinerary includes Balicasag, Apo Island, Dauin, Oslob, Moalboal, Pescador and Malapascua/Monad Shoal. This is my first trip to the Philippines, and were I to try diving all those places from land, I'd literally spend half my vacation on the road, checking in and out of hotels and packing and unpacking, while on a liveaboard, I can treat it like a sample platter of all the diving that Visayas have to offer, then decide which sites I want to come back for on my next trip.

Also, don't discount the luxury of hopping into a hot shower right after getting out of your gear

We did 10 nights last year for under $1400, including lodging, transfers, breakfast, lunch, 4x dives per day, and nitrox. However, that was an extremely good deal for a group and wouldn't expect it to be reproducible. $1600-1800 should be quite doable though but I'll give you $2k for some upgrades.

Your $2500 Siren trip is also not reproducible as it was a "flash sale" and you just happened to be in the right place at the right time in the right circumstances to jump on it. Let's also see if $2520 ends up as the bottom line as liveaboards almost always tack on surcharges and fees.

This thread is not just about your singular experience. For most people, planning a trip 6 months or more out, the choice is between a ~$2k land based and a ~$4k liveaboard. And that is a big difference in my book.

Btw, you could also get a sampling of the Visalays area through a dive safari like the ones run by Easy Divers, that run about $1000 for six days. String two together and you're still less than your flash sale. Your stuff lives on the boat, you follow about the same itinerary as your Siren, you dive 3-4x per day, biggest difference is you get off the boat at the location you're at and have dinner and stay at a land resort. All meals included and they pay the hotel. No transfers except start and end of trip, which also applies to liveaboards. Dive Safari Philippines - Savedra Dive Center

If you're goal is to get to know an area better to decide on a longer return visit, the safari is much better as you actually get to experience the locations on land.

A hot shower after the dive (despite not being recommended by DAN) is really nice but I'm not paying $2k for it.

 

[outofofficebrb]

@ReefHound @Barmaglot Perhaps a good "balance" here are the safaris. They are between price of land based and true liveaboards. Sleep in resorts/hotels/guesthouses, etc., eat and dive off the boat during the day. I did land based, liveaboard, and safari in the Philippines when I went. In fact, the safari we went on was pretty on par with land based, if you break it down to cost per day.

 

[Centrals]

I can see the advantage on dive safari especially for first time visitor or those without any inclination or time to organize a complicated itinerary.
To link up Balicasag, Apo Island, Dauin, Oslob, Moalboal and Malapascua would be quite daunting even for experienced traveller let alone anyone not familiar with the country.

Hope the trip go well.

 

[Barmaglot]

We did 10 nights last year for under $1400, including lodging, transfers, breakfast, lunch, 4x dives per day, and nitrox. However, that was an extremely good deal for a group and wouldn't expect it to be reproducible. $1600-1800 should be quite doable though but I'll give you $2k for some upgrades.

Your $2500 Siren trip is also not reproducible as it was a "flash sale" and you just happened to be in the right place at the right time in the right circumstances to jump on it. Let's also see if $2520 ends up as the bottom line as liveaboards almost always tack on surcharges and fees.

This thread is not just about your singular experience. For most people, planning a trip 6 months or more out, the choice is between a ~$2k land based and a ~$4k liveaboard. And that is a big difference in my book.

This is the deal that I took - it wasn't a last-minute sale on a specific trip, but rather a 40% general discount for a bunch of destinations across 2H19 - easily suitable for planning a trip even 6+ months out. Also, as I understand it, Siren is a fairly expensive luxury boat, with other less expensive alternatives available (for example, I can see Infiniti advertising $1439 for 7 days/6 nights in Visayas and Bohol through the end of the year right now). Again, at the full $4200 price, I would not have taken it either - but at $2k land-based vs $2.5k liveaboard, it was a much closer decision, and looking at liveaboards marketplace forum archives, it seems like WWDAS holds 40-50% discount sales quite regularly, so it can be incorporated into planning.

Btw, you could also get a sampling of the Visalays area through a dive safari like the ones run by Easy Divers, that run about $1000 for six days. String two together and you're still less than your flash sale. Your stuff lives on the boat, you follow about the same itinerary as your Siren, you dive 3-4x per day, biggest difference is you get off the boat at the location you're at and have dinner and stay at a land resort. All meals included and they pay the hotel. No transfers except start and end of trip, which also applies to liveaboards. Dive Safari Philippines - Savedra Dive Center

If you're goal is to get to know an area better to decide on a longer return visit, the safari is much better as you actually get to experience the locations on land.

That's a very interesting option; I was not aware of it. Wouldn't have worked for my dates - their season starts on the day that I'm scheduled to fly back home, as the autumn holidays end in my country - but very interesting nonetheless; it shouldn't be too difficult to fly from Manila to Negros, transfer to Sipalay, take a safari to Moalboal, then transfer to Malapascua from there. Thank you for the reference, I'll keep it in mind for future trips. Incidentally, the term 'dive safari' in Hebrew and Russian refers to a liveaboard; the kind where you sleep on the boat - there is no separate distinct term for this kind of a trip, which seems to be a rather unique offering.