Malapascua or Moalboal in January?

[wanderlass]

Im torn between spending more time in Malapascua rather than Moalboal (sigh) unless someone can convince me that I dont have to spend more than $200 in return trips!

It looks like at least $150 USD return from MP to Cebu and $100 return from MB to Cebu!!!

If you don't require private hire taxi (as this is meant for group of divers traveling together), you don't have to spend more than $20! I was there end of August with 2 other girls. We took the public transport lugging our huge dive bags, camera and laptop bags, and change of clothes for 6 days.

Cebu Airport - North Bus Station (10-15min): Taxi @70
RT North Bus - Maya (4hrs): Non AC Bus @90x2 =180
RT Maya Port - Malapascua (30min): Boat @50x2 = 100
North Bus - Central Bus: Taxi @200
RT Bus to Moalboal: Bus @120x2=240
Total=PHP790 (USD17.5)

*If you don't want to wait for the boat to fill up, you give the boatman 500 ($11) to leave immediately.

My goal is to see the Threshers, if in January the Threshers are in Moalboal I will consider that. If they are not likely then its Malapascua. Moalboal trip another time. I would rather spend more time -ie 7 nights straight diving then having to lose a day due to tansfer from MP to MB. and split it 4 nights and 3 nights.

So anyone care to elaborate what the chances of Threshers in MP in late Jan? Chances of sighting over 6 days diving?

We were in Monad twice and both times we had over 10min thresher (close!) encounters. No mantas though. Actually as it's easy to travel between the 2 sites, you can always decide when you're there. When you've been diving Malapascua for 3-days and you're happy with the photos you've taken, then you can move on. If you got lazy then stay around and dive more of Malapascua

Malapascua dive trip account with photos and videos. We dove with Evolution Diving and we highly recommend them. Hi Matt

 

[jbb]

you certainly woudln't remember Monad for its colors. (understatement )

I beg to differ on Monad. I have seen a lot of fun critters on Monad in my years of diving there. There are some mandarin shrimp and nudibranchs etc. Yes, it is coral rubble with soft corals growing on them but in the last few years I have seem more and more life on the shoal. Keep your eyes open, if all you are looking for is thresher that will be all you will see.

 

[gee13]

Are there wide angle opportunities in and around Malapascua then? What about Gato Island and the surrounding area. Im mainly a big fish wide angle photographer but love to contrast with macro and coral shots. I hear there is also a WW2 wreck around?

I think at this stage Malaspascua looks fine for me in terms of what I do like topside, relative quiet and seclusion. Im not into any humdrum or nightlife. Well when youare diving at the crack of dawn its usually bed by 8pm!

The share option for transfers sounds reasonable if more than 1 person I agree. 2 persons sharing 7500PS for private car and boat is a fair price for comfort IMHO. So who else on here will be transitting from Cebu to Malapascua on the morning of 23/1 around 10am?

 

[jbb]

check my link to my flickr photos. I have tagged them with appropriate places and sites in the Philippines. I guess the disadvantage of Monad is that you should not use strobe or lights in the presence of the sharks as it disturbs them. Also at the early hours of the morning there is not a lot of ambient light available. So have your camera set accordingly. With my point and shoot I often take video as I haven't quite found the best setting for low light and stopping the shark motion.

Gato has been a bit unpredictable for me. If heavy weather has moved through the area all of the nudibranch seem to go into hiding and the visibility is reduced. Other times I have descended and right there on the bottom sit six different slugs waiting for a photographer.

The WWII wrecks are the Tapilon (mostly blown apart and hardly anything left- has been fished too much?) and the pioneer wreck which is at tech or limits of rec depths. There is also the Dona Marilyn (a ferry which sank in 85-86 during a typhoon) - if you like wrecks fine but there isn't much life I'm interested in there for me.

You must dive Lighthouse at dusk for mandarin fish mating and I also recommend Bantigi as a night dive. Chocolate Island has been pretty good to me when I can get there.

A couple of other places you should consider in the future in the Philippines are Apo Island, Negros and Panglao Island, Bohol. Apo is very quite if you stay on the island but really nice corals and fish life. Panglao is more active on top but good corals, eels and fishes. One of the advantages of Panglao is how easy and quick it is to get to from Manila or Cebu.

 

[eagerbeaver]

I beg to differ on Monad. I have seen a lot of fun critters on Monad in my years of diving there. There are some mandarin shrimp and nudibranchs etc. Yes, it is coral rubble with soft corals growing on them but in the last few years I have seem more and more life on the shoal. Keep your eyes open, if all you are looking for is thresher that will be all you will see.

100% have to agree with Jason here. Monad shoal is an absolutely fantastic dive site in many ways. When you only do the "shark dive" you are very limited to the area of reef you see and your focus. There are some lovely sections of healthy coral on the plateau and the wall has multiple areas where you can do fantastic dives in any depth from 25m to 100m...its truely and all-round divesite which is home to a lot of amazing life.

Are there wide angle opportunities in and around Malapascua then? What about Gato Island and the surrounding area. Im mainly a big fish wide angle photographer but love to contrast with macro and coral shots. I hear there is also a WW2 wreck around?

The share option for transfers sounds reasonable if more than 1 person I agree. 2 persons sharing 7500PS for private car and boat is a fair price for comfort IMHO. So who else on here will be transitting from Cebu to Malapascua on the morning of 23/1 around 10am?

Dona Marilyn is probably the only other true wide angle site. Gato could be but then you'd miss out on all the macro stuff! Generally all the site close to the island are macro hotspots. Tapilon is a cool dive if you're into wrecks but not much marinelife...and as Jason says the Pioneer is really a tech dive only.[on a side note it's not actually the Pioneer, its is most likely the Mogami Maru and we have definitive proof that it is a Japanese wreck from the war]

I can always let you know if we have anyone else transitting on the same date as you...right now we don't.

Good luck with your choices

ps Hi Lilliane

 

[gee13]

What about Kalanggaman? Whats the diving there like. Have seen photos of the island amazing!

 

[slowhands]

I want to warn you about the weather in January at Malapascua and possibly Moalboal. This year it was very stormy in January. I was in Moalboal for a few days. We could not even go out to Pescador Island (where the threshers sometimes hang out gobbling sardines). We had some nice dives close to shore, no problem. But it was windy, choppy, rainy every day.

It was much worse at Malapascua just then. How do I know? I was diving with a Swiss guy who had paid for a week at Malapascua that he could not refund, and he left because they did not dive at all due to bad storms.

This is an uncertain weather time, you might luck out and be fine, but you might not. I would suggest having a fallback plan, to go to a more sheltered area such as Alona or Dauin, just in case.

As far as transportation costs, you guys are getting raped. Try the Ceres bus. For almost nothing it will get you around reliably. I take a metered taxi from Mactan Airport to the South Terminal, the Ceres liner to Moalboal, then the trike to Panagsama Beach where the resorts are. Prices? Airport taxi P150, Under P100 for the bus, and P70 for the trike.

About airport taxis, they overcharge compared to local metered taxis. I don't use the fixed fare or yellow metered airport taxi, they charge P350. I go across the street, up the stairs to the departure level back across the street, and flag a taxi that has just dropped a departing traveler. They are metered, and it typically costs under P150 to the South Terminal.

And they are always open to a direct drive to Panagsama too, if you prefer. Just remember to haggle, you're in the Philippines. A private taxi will quote P2500 for a direct ride from airport to Panagsama, but you can haggle them down to about P1800.

 

[eagerbeaver]

I want to warn you about the weather in January at Malapascua and possibly Moalboal. This year it was very stormy in January. I was in Moalboal for a few days. We could not even go out to Pescador Island (where the threshers sometimes hang out gobbling sardines). We had some nice dives close to shore, no problem. But it was windy, choppy, rainy every day.

It was much worse at Malapascua just then. How do I know? I was diving with a Swiss guy who had paid for a week at Malapascua that he could not refund, and he left because they did not dive at all due to bad storms.

This is an uncertain weather time, you might luck out and be fine, but you might not. I would suggest having a fallback plan, to go to a more sheltered area such as Alona or Dauin, just in case.

As far as transportation costs, you guys are getting raped. Try the Ceres bus. For almost nothing it will get you around reliably. I take a metered taxi from Mactan Airport to the South Terminal, the Ceres liner to Moalboal, then the trike to Panagsama Beach where the resorts are. Prices? Airport taxi P150, Under P100 for the bus, and P70 for the trike.

About airport taxis, they overcharge compared to local metered taxis. I don't use the fixed fare or yellow metered airport taxi, they charge P350. I go across the street, up the stairs to the departure level back across the street, and flag a taxi that has just dropped a departing traveler. They are metered, and it typically costs under P150 to the South Terminal.

And they are always open to a direct drive to Panagsama too, if you prefer. Just remember to haggle, you're in the Philippines. A private taxi will quote P2500 for a direct ride from airport to Panagsama, but you can haggle them down to about P1800.

We can talk about weather til we're blue in the face - BabyD and I recently got slated for saying that July/August are not so bad and rainy....and this July and August I think I saw maybe 5 days of rain, and definitely no cancelled diving.

Same goes for January...I'm pretty certain we didn't have any cancelled days of diving this year...weather wasn't fantastic all the time, but that's life, and if there was a storm here, good odds it was crappy in Alona and Dauin the day before or 2... So I'm pretty curious about anyone who missed a week of diving.

As for transfer costs -
rape 1 |rāp|
noun
the crime, committed of forcing another person... without their consent and against their will, esp. by the threat or use of violence against them

Doesn't really apply to a situation where you volunteer to pay for a high quality service knowing the costs, and are offered less expensive alternatives if this doesnt suit you.

 

[eagerbeaver]

What about Kalanggaman? Whats the diving there like. Have seen photos of the island amazing!

The island is amazing...diving is also pretty excellent, but its a hell of a long way to go. People who visit there tend to be repeat customers who want to explore a bit of different sites, or ones who are here for 10 days+ and want the same.

Its 2 hrs+ each way so its a long day and needs good weather and enough people to be interested in paying the extra boat fees...

 

[clgsamson]

Bring adobo, Matt....