Moalboal Trip Report (continuation from Malapascua Trip Report)

[bill22]

Thanks for the trip report, Bill.
It reminds me of the trip I have done in the Visayas last year. And I can't wait for your Pescador trip report. The dives I've done there were among my favorites in the Visayas!

Thanks Malene. Moalboal is at the top of my favorite places to dive right now.... of course I have two more trips to the Philippines planned for next year so that may change The problem with the Philippines as we all know... is that there are just to many great places to dive

 

[bill22]

Thanks for the report, Bill!

I’m one lucky Yank to be able to identify with all the places you mention given that I live here. It makes me happy to see that more people are starting to view the Philippines has a place with a great deal to offer to any diver with a sense for adventure above and below the water.

And you are spot on that the Filipino people are amongst the most hospitable in SE Asia (if not the most).

I’m on my last 6 months here and am feeling the pinch to get in more dives before I have to go. I’ll be hitting Tubataha Anilao next weekend (holiday, Yes!) and then later in April I’ll be off to Tubataha. I enjoyed your report given that you seem to have the same positive experiences I have had. I’m curious to see what your thoughts are about Pescador Island compared to Malapascua.

Cheers!

Thanks! I guess I don't need to say how jealous I am of you're getting to actually live in the Philippines ahh well.... four more years and I can live where I want )

 

[bill22]

Uh Bill.....when does the book come out buddy? Whoa, what a report. You must have been an intel analyst in a previous life. You are making me wonder if we should have bought land further south.

The "book" is a work in progress.... I expect it to be finished in about 6years. I'll need a couple of years after I retire to just travel around the Philippines and dive before I can finish

I think one more installment oughta do it for this report

 

[Babydamulag]

Well, living here is one of those life-changing events. Just don't go and tell anymore KANO's. LOL Keep up the good work!

 

[andshand]

Hi Bill, i think you have just done a great deal for the diving industry in Moalboal! Great shots and great report's as usual! As you know i have been looking for a destination in the Philippines and even searching Moalboal threads you dont really see glowing reports like yours, infact there are not many good reports.

I think everyone on this forum respects and values your reports not only below the surface but above as well. I have yet to decide if its going to be Malapascua or Moalboal but whichever it is i know i will have great dives at either and i have the details on how to get there.

Thanks, Andy.

 

[Babydamulag]

Decisions, decisions! Man, it is tough living in paradise.

 

[bill22]

My apologies to everyone... I got a little sidetracked. I went on another dive trip to Guam last month and am getting ready to go back to the Philippines next month. I just kept letting other things get in the way.... so time to try and finish this up....

I'm going to put all these together in this part, because with the exception of the House Reef, I dove these places only once.

Remember I was only in Moalboal from Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning. A night dive on the first day and then three dive days. I was only able to cram in 14 dives :-( I really would have like to have stayed for at least another four or five days. I think if you're doing 4-5 dives a day, then in about 7-10 days you should be able to pretty thorougly cover Moalboal.

On Monday the 5th after finishing up our dive at Pescador Island we then headed over to Kasai Wall. After tying up to the mooring buoy. We took a break. It probably didn't take more than 30 minutes to get there and we wanted to have at least an hour surface interval. My morning dive had ended at 10:37.... at 11:39 I was starting my next dive
Kasai is a drift dive. There can be a little current running at times. We just went with it. Water temp as usual was 85F... Visibility was 70-80 feet. My maximum depth on this dive was 77 feet with an average depth of 39 feet. Total dive time was 55 minutes.

Saw a nice lionfish almost immediately... that was the one I dropped down to 77 feet to grab a shot of. Then a grouper (least I think it's a grouper, I can't find it in my books). Nice variety of angelfish, damselfish. A Pink Anemonefish and the usual assortment of butterflyfish and anthias. A turtle swimming in the distance. A nice dive. Fifty-five minutes flew by and the dive was over before I knew it.

The boat picked us up and we headed back for lunch. After lunch we went to Talisay Point. Again almost immediately into the dive I spied a nice-size lionfish. I saw an interesting looking Toby, which was not in my fish identification books... sometimes I wonder if I were actually looking at a new species that hadn't been officially identified. Probably not Then I got another shot of another Spotfin Lionfish which was almost as common as the "Common Lionfish" ;-) Then a Puffer which again was not in my fish identification books. Saw two turtles... one swam off as soon as he saw us the other just kept calmly munching away on sponges

A night dive that night and then the west side of Pescador Island the next morning on the 6th. After Pescador we went to Tubla Point. Stonefish... a nice nudibranch, two species of anemonefish within three feet of each other, sea turtle swimming by, a group of barracuda in a line swimming by and of course... lionfish ;-) Visibility was down a little, but still over 50 feet. My maximum depth was 71 feet, average of 41 feet. Dive time was 53 minutes.

After a break for lunch we headed to Sampaguita. The cool thing here were the schools of razorfish, lots of baitfish, two turtles and several batfish were the highlights of this dive. This was again a drift dive, we coasted along with a slight current and were picked up by the boat at the end of the dive. This was the pattern of pretty much all the diving here except the beach dives we made at night. My maximum depth on this dive was 60 feet with an average of 37 feet... Bottom time was 45 minutes.

After a short surface interval we made another dive on the House Reef. It was starting to get into the late afternoon now and there were huge schools of baitfish (sardines). In some cases they would literally block out the surface there were so many! There were also schools of trevally. We spotted several Banded Pipefish and also a Sea Moth.

Another night dive rounded out the day.

On the 7th which was my last dive day for this trip we were in the water shortly after 8AM making a dive off the beach on the House Reef. Again we were seeing huge schools of sardines and trevally. Also big tunas making runs in and out of the sardines! Awesome! Also spotted some nice nudibranchs

After that we were on the boat out to Pescador Island. I had expressed the desire to photograph frogfish and we found three within a short period of time.

After Pescador we headed over to Dolphin House. Visibility was over 40-50 feet. Lots of lionfish. A nudibranch, and a very tiny juvenile scorpionfish that was maybe only 2-3 inches long. Very cool!

We had a break for lunch and then we headed over to White House Reef so called because... you guessed it! There is a White House there on the shore This was probably my best dive for turtles. We saw three different turtles and I got some really nice shots

I skipped the night dive and decided to just relax the last night I was in Moalboal. The next morning I settled up with the dive shop for my dives, packed my things and my driver showed up to take me back to Cebu. I checked into my hotel, took a shower, watched a movie. Then walked down to a nearby internet cafe and checked my email. Then went and had some dinner and came back to my room and took a nap until I got up to be at the airport at 4:30 AM.

I had a layover in Manila. I went out for breakfast and then visited the Mall of Asia before heading back to the airport to catch my afternoon flight to Tokyo and home to Japan. I began planning my next trip almost immediately.

Next month I'll be in Southern Leyte diving Sogod Bay. I'm also planning on Cabilao, Duamaguete, Apo Island and possibly Moalboal again. I'm starting to develop a really strong love for the Philippines. I'm really looking forward to my next trip. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that I will go and live there when I retire from the Navy in four years

 

[shugar]

nice report bill! are you hooking up with the PPD in sogod? they're gonna be there towards the end of feb...

Jag

 

[bill22]

nice report bill! are you hooking up with the PPD in sogod? they're gonna be there towards the end of feb...

Jag

thanks... I'm just sorry that it took me so long to get around to finishing it.... I kept thinking about it but something else always seemed to have my attention at that particular moment.

I will overlap with PPD. I'm planning on being there a little before them now. I'll arrive in Cebu on the 16th and will be in Southern Leyte on the 17th. I've exchanged some email with Chip and I'll still be there when they arrive. The resort they are staying at is full. I'm going to be at Peter's Dive Resort which is nearby, so I'm sure we will at least get together for a drink. Not sure how Peter would feel about me staying with him and diving with someone else, but hopefully it won't be a problem if I go by and get in a couple of dives at least with the gang while they are there.

 

[pakman]

Bill, I had a re-read of your awesome trip report... What caught my eyes, was the mention of the guy you met at the Cebu bar who was looking to start a liveaboard business. I hope this is true liveaboard as IMHO I think this could do well given all the great sites around Cebu along with the convenience of flying directly into Cebu Int'l Airport...