Liberty01:
@swisstrav,
thank you. Cabilao is tempting, and I don´t need a pool!
Some more questions: How did you get there? Are there jeepneys and boats all day?
Where did you eat?
Who should I dive with for safe and relaxed diving?
Is the Filipino-run budget resort safe and clean?
By the way, is there fresh water on the island?
Cheers,Liberty
comm'on, a pool and a smb (san miguel beer) after the last dive is very tempting.
i transfered by day trip from alona to cabilao. banka/diving (sea explorers). pls note, most of the dive shops at alona beach do day trips to cabilao. if you wanna combine both destinations, this is the way to do it.
i would fly to manila, take the early mornig plane to tagbilaran haggle with the taxi drivers for a ride to mocpoc and finally a banca to cabilao. upon arrival in cabilao get a motorbike for the ride across the island. no cars on the island. it sounds much more complicated than it realy is.
or comming from cebu you have two possibillities. either catch a taxi to argao and get a banka direkt to cabilao.
or, taxi to cebu port, wait for the next fast farry to tagbilaran and then same procedere as described above.
in general it is much easier to leave the island by your own, rather than getting to cabilao
i ate at polaris. can't remember, but breakfast approx. 60 to 100 pesos
dinner between 100 and 200 pesos
yes, at that time, that little resort was clean and safe. it must still be safe (just a few inhabitants on the island), about cleanness i don't know.
accommodation is available with:
sea explorers: not recommended due to wrong location. you need to take a banka in order to get to the dive shop. that means you stay at the west side of the island as long as you dive. and just before sunset you move back to the resort which lays in the north. also during main travelling season you have a pretty strong wind blowing across the restaurant.
estrella: small basic resort, bookable in germany. since last year with own dive shop. bobet changed from sea exp to estrella. look at debelius "riff-führer südost-asien" two pages only about bobet. i loved to dive with him!!!
philippino resort: small, charming and basic. but was good enough for me.
the owner gave me a mobil-nbr but apparently it is wrong. no contact. im sure there are ways to get in contact with that resort. all our philippino frinds here might help ;-))
polaris: best resort with all amenities. as i said, also good food. cold smb for the sunset. german ran.
with whom to dive?
i clearly recommend bobet (estrella). but here, you will not be restricted by silly (german/american and also swiss) diving rules. that means, if its ok for you, it can go deep (pigmys) it can go long (exiting) and it can also be deco (on the reef top with lots to see). but this is all up to you. if you are an experienced diver who knows its own skills you are fine. if not, you will tell them and they will guide accordingly.
relaxed diving??? you are completely wrong. there will be so much to see, this is not relaxed by all means!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
more like "the known diving" will be at polaris. deep and long simply didn't match together!
unless sea exp. have redone their shop, i would not recommend them on cabilao.
fresh water on cabilao? no idea. water was ok for taking a shower. for drinking buy water at the restaurants or stay with smb in the evenings ;-)
recommendation: i would check in germany for a package with estrella. they can come fairly cheap. but if you travel on your one to some other destinations, do it at your own.
swisstrav
