Moalboal and Malapascua, make reservations with divecenters or just walk in?

[Germie]

My friend and I are looking to visit Cebu. We are sadly limited in time, so 10 nights in total on Cebu is an option.
Because of the flight arrival we cannot go to Panglao or Malapascua on the same day. And we want to see the sardines in Moalboal and the Whalesharks in Oslob.

We have made a schedule:
Day 1: flight from Amsterdam to Cebu
Day 2: Arrival Cebu airport/Mactan, transfer to Moalboal
Day 3: Diving Moalboal
Day 4: Diving Moalboal
Day 5: Diving with whalesharks 2 dives
Day 6: visit waterfalls near Moalboal
Day 7: transfer to Mayaport to go to Malapascua
Day 8: dive in Malapascua wit tresher sharks
Day 9: dive in Malapascua, some islands around?
Day 10: dive in Malapascua visit Gato Island
Day 11: dive in Malapascua
Day 12: transfer to Mactan/Cebu airport
Day 13: back at home.

I can find hotels, I can find divecenters. Some can and some can't arrange transfers.
But the idea is:
Book a flight
Book a hotel and arrange transfers in Moalboal and Cebu
And then, find a divecenter. One hotel in Moalboal looks nice, but the divecenter in the hotel is overpriced. So the idea is to stay there for the rooms and choose another divecenter.
But do you have to make reservations before arrival or is it just walk in after breakfast and 1 hour later you are on the boat for diving? The tresher sharks are early in the morning I believe, so before breakfast, so that is not possible on the first day?

I found some that offer packages, but they are really expensive. And arrange all things yourself saves 200 euro per person easy.

If someone can advice good hotels and divecenters, all is welcome.

Also we have a question, if a divecenter says they can arrange a tranfser for 3000 from Mactan to Moalboal and 6000 to Maya Port, is that then trustable? That we dont'arrive and there is nobody waiting for us.

At the moment I have the best feelings with FLOI divecenter in Moalboal and Devocean in Malapascua. But both don't offer rooms, they only advice for some hotels. They say they can arrange transfers for us. So then it is just book a flight, tell them that you come, and book the hotel you want?

Or is it better to book a flight, book a hotel and let them arrange a transfer (then some hotels are not option as they don't want to offer transfers), and just walk in the next day in a divecenter?

Normally I prefer to have all things sorted out before booking a flight. But then I just booked a flight and used the divecenter from the hotel which arranged everything else. Now we want to stay in 2 places and not use a onboard divecenter.

 

[Centrals]

1. Moalboal is about 3hrs from the airport. So unless the flight arrives at ungodly hr, there is no need to spend a night in Mactan.
2. AFAIK, resorts in Moalboal will arrange transfer from the airport and P3,000.00 is a fair price to pay.
3. Moalboal is the name of the town and most dive centres and resorts are based on Panagsama Beach.
4. Transfers must be pre-paid unless the operator trusted you. No show on the pick up? Make sure you have all the necessary contact numbers, highly unlikely though.
5. In Malapascua I only recommend Evolution. There is a trip report recently on the centre. Look it up.
6. This is a free world therefore not using the "onboard" divecentre is quite common.

 

[carono6333]

I think Centrals has covered it. I’ll add that you need to book your dive centre in advance if it’s Easter or Christmas i.e. when it’s really busy. Particularly if you are diving with Evolution, which you absolutely should because they’re awesome. Note that Evolution (and others) generally give priority to the customers that are also staying with them when they are at capacity. However, if it’s not Easter or Christmas then you should be fine not to book. If in doubt, book the first couple of days diving and then go from there

 

[diveUAE]

If you want to check the prices for transfer and/or arrange the by yourself try contacting “Danny Noi” - do a search on TripAdvisor for contact details.
It’s not always himself doing the driving, but we had a great experience with him in February and did save a bit on transfers.

As said above: plan/book ahead if it’s busy season, otherwise you could visit the shops on your arrival day and pick one (I would not just show up on the day of), the thresher dives are not just before breakfast - when we went in 2019 it was a 4 am or so departure- not sure what time it is now, but since then the threshers moved.

On Malapascua we had a fantastic dive guide (Vic), but the resort we dove with sadly did not make it through wuhan:-(
I’ve heard Vic now works for Mabuhay thresher dive resort, but don’t know anything about the place - seems like it’s not very well rated and reviews says they have no diving, but maybe if you book somewhere else you could stop by and ask?

 

[Germie]

We will take a look at the options. Arrival will be around noon in Moalboal, so the next morning we want to dive of course (only 3 days diving there, so do not want to loose any time).
1 day Pescador Island, 1 day Oslob and Sumilon we want to do and then we have a 3rd day left for maybe Pescador Island again (this looks to have the best divesites).
For Malapascua, also 3 days diving, we absolutely want to do the tunnel at Gato Island and of course the treshers and the mandarin fish.

On Bali we got a private guide without extra costs (they do that there per group that makes a reservation). And unguided diving was also possible (and solodiving). Here it looks like unguided diving is no option? (so just need a tank and a taxi to the divesite).

It seems like this is a little bit harder to organise, but maybe it is because I have never been to the Philippines. In some other countries, I know the ways to arrange things.

From internet, FLOI diving center in Moalboal looks the best (cheapest). But others good ones can also be mentioned here (FLOI can arrange Oslob and Sumilon in 1 day, and says he always go every day to Pescador).

On Malapascua also there seems to be a lot of price differences (basic prices are most times the same, but the reef taxes etc are sometimes included and sometimes not, so this can make a big difference in the pricing at the end).

And some state that ATM's on Malapascua are not trustable. Is that true? Because most divecenters only accept cash they say.

 

[Edward3c]

I flew into Cebu, 4 days after COVID restrictions were lifted, transfer (driver had a card with my name) to Cebu hotel, next day driver to the ferry to Malapascua, hotel (all pre-paid) and diving with Sea Explorers (paid at end). The return journy ran like clockwork as well. Same company ran the whole operation.

 

[carono6333]

I used the atm near to JPH Resort no problem. But common to pay by transfer e.g. wise or revolut. Ask your dive centre before you travel... paying cash means carrying a lot of money!

Evolution you could get private guide. Cant remember price but was told it was affordable. Not sure about others.

 

[YYCLuke]

Wait you're going from Moalboal to Oslob, then back to Moalboal for Kawasan Falls? You're doing so much unnecessary travel. May I recommend doing the falls one day, then the next day transfer to Oslob and a hotel near there? It's like 2hours each way, might as well save the return trip and head to cebu/malapascua direct from Oslob.

And honestly if you think 3k is too much, just take the bus to Moalboal. It takes practically the same time, costs 90% less, and drops you off at the jollibee in Moalboal. Hire a bike or trike from there and you'll save 2k pesos. I think going from the city to Moalboal in the bus is fine heading back a taxi/private hire is almost easier. And yes 3k is a great price for that one way.

 

[Germie]

On Malapascua we had a fantastic dive guide (Vic), but the resort we dove with sadly did not make it through wuhan:-(
I’ve heard Vic now works for Mabuhay thresher dive resort, but don’t know anything about the place - seems like it’s not very well rated and reviews says they have no diving, but maybe if you book somewhere else you could stop by and ask?

Where do you read the bad reviews? The google reviews seem to be ok. I have contacted this divecenter and the only thing is they don't have 15 liter tanks, only 12 lites.
But further it looks ok.

We have now booked Moalboal (FLOIS diving center for diving and transfers including Oslob and Simulon, Neptune diving resort for rooms). And now look for Malapascua.

A lot of divecenters in Malapascua are quite a mess with pricing. They say we offer diving for 1400 per dive, but then fuelsurcharge here, marine park fee there, extra marine park fee on some days, extra fuelsurcharge there, some say 1000 per day extra for fuel. Others per dive. Nightdives extra (why?), with some you have to ask discount if you bring own equipment, etc. Some go only twice a week to Gato Island, others say everyday, but only if there are enough divers, etc.

We want to dive with treshers and the other sharks on Kimud and Monad, dive the tunnel on Gato Island for the reefsharks and do a dive to see mandarin fish. All other dives we don't have a special whish.
Group is now 4 divers, so enough to organise in my eyes. Some offer a private guide/dm for 500, others not. I don't need a guide as I am also a solodive instructor, but I hate it to shorten dives because of others have drained their tanks. So then a private dm can also be a searcher for my photos. But others don't offer that.

 

[Johnboy70_99]

Given the overall price you are paying for the trip (airfare from nl, etc) imo it’s worth the extra 500p a day to hire a local dm who knows the sites, where the critters are, etc. and you are supporting a local dm.