Oil spill in the Philippines

[Centrals]

US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China

Washington now has more access to Philippines military bases facing the South China Sea and Taiwan.

www.bbc.com

Too important to be ignored by Uncle Sam.
The wreck is reported to be at a depth of 400m, hopefully, typhoon wouldn't cause any more damage to it. But current, surge, wind etc generated by the typhoon will disperse the oil everywhere and makes the removal far more troublesome.
Hope for the best.

 

[kdp2023]

Hi there, planning a Diving trip for this May, does anyone know if Cebu, Bohol are ok? hoping to see some whale sharks.

 

[Centrals]

Hi there, planning a Diving trip for this May, does anyone know if Cebu, Bohol are ok? hoping to see some whale sharks.

Highly unlikely that this "oil" will affect Visayas. Quite a distance away but......there is no certainty in life.
Whaleshark in Oslob? Not everyone cup of tea.

 

[Johncn]

April 15 article on Puerto Galera status.

Minister happy to dive oil-free Puerto Galera

Frasco dived from the Lalaguna Villas resort dive-boat. She said afterwards that although at least 66 tourist sites and more than 1,400 tourist-sector workers

divernet.com

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Hi there, planning a Diving trip for this May, does anyone know if Cebu, Bohol are ok? hoping to see some whale sharks.

The whalesharks are there always in Oslob. But that is snorkeling only of course. No scuba allowed near them. Also you have to get there quite early in the morning so if you are staying in northern Cebu not Oslob you will have to get up arouund 330 or 4 am to arrive in time for the whalesharks. Its over quite early in the day.

Other than that a ferry over to Dumaguete on Negros will provide some great scuba. Also you can take a ferry across from Cebu to Bohol to scuba and see the Tarsiers etc. They have ferries now in Naga town as well as north Cebu to get to Bohol.

btw if you hit up Moalboal try to stay at the Dolphin Resort. its awesome and much better than the regular spots to stay there.

I took a puddle jumper flight from Cebu to Coron and did the japanese wrecks, some of the most fun ive had diving in my life. and first time wreck diving.

Next time im there im going to hit up Malapascua and cross my fingers to see thresher sharks. and do Gato island scuba while there.

btw off off mactan where the five star hotels are in lapu lapu you can take day trips over to a couple of marine reserves called Nalusuan and I forget the other. And a Cavern dive which was kind of cool but short dive. I also saw a couple of 12 inch long nudibranchs which many people do not believe me but they were NOT sea cucumbers. they were nudis. Godzilla size nudis you might say. I saw those in lapu lapu not far off the shore

 

[Centrals]

Unless there has been changed of regulation recently, scuba diving with the whaleshark was allowed.

Scuba Diving with Whale Sharks - Oslob Whale Sharks

Scuba diving with whale sharks on the coast of Oslob might be your best diving experience. Book now to take good pictures and memories of these gentle giants.

www.oslobwhalesharks.com

Just one example.

The marine sanctuary off Mactan are nice but operator do not go there unless there is demand because of the distance.

 

[xrcjdx]

The latest - don't let the headline fool you:

No changes in fishing, tourism activities in Puerto Galera amid conflicting water safety reports – mayor

The mayor of Puerto Galera says the local government will maintain the status quo on fishing and tourism activities in the town amid conflicting reports on water safety.

www.cnnphilippines.com

 

[Izel]

Hi everyone! Just want to ask if you have latest news on the oil spill. Are there April reports / evidence from the ground that it has reached Mabini and Bauan. News has quieted down after the coastguard have declared crisis averted about 3 weeks ago. The basis of such declaration was not fully explained.

 

[living4experiences]

If I had a trip booked for this region, I would cancel the trip and not rebook for several years.

 

[Johncn]

There were conflicting reports last week about Puerto Galera. I did not see anything about Anilao / Mabini.

It appears as though the oil has reached some parts of Puerto Galera, and there is a "ban on swimming". This comes just a couple of days after the Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco went scuba diving for the cameras, and announced that things were normal there...so, obviously a rapidly changing situation.

DOH Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Maria Rosario Vergeire urged the public to avoid “occupational and recreational activities” in the 26 other areas in Puerto Galera’s waters with high levels of oil. The word “diving” was not mentioned.

The nine areas which met the quality standards on oil and grease contaminants were:

• Small Lalaguna Shoreline
• Big Lalaguna Shoreline
• Balete
• Central Sabang Shoreline
• Coco Beach
• Batangas Channel
• Paniquian
• Balatero
• West San Isidro Bay

Among the areas in Puerto Galera’s waters which failed are:

• Villaflor shoreline
• Dulangan shoreline
• Tabinay Marine Protected Area
• Balete Shoreline
• Dungon Beach
• Sabang Point
• East of Sabang
• Pier
• Control Point
• West Sabang shoreline
• Small Lalaguna
• Big Lalaguna
• Big Lalaguna shoreline
• East of Coco Beach
• Batangas Channel
• Sabang Central
• Asinan Cove
• Muelle Pier
• Boquete
• Balatero
• Central San Isidro
• Aninuan
• San Isidro Bay offshore
• Sabang offshore

But, just three days ago reports said it’s OK again…with a Scandi Divers manager interview in this article:

Puerto Galera’s dive-sites given all-clear

The main scuba-diving areas of Philippines tourist hotspot Puerto Galera remain uncontaminated by oil from last month's Princess Empress tanker spill.

divernet.com

“Puerto Galera is a large area but dive operations are focused around the three bays Big La Laguna, Small La Laguna and Sabang,” explained Dave Churchman, general manager of the Scandi Divers resort and dive-centre in Big La Laguna.

“These dive areas have all tested clean, as have those to the east and west of these three bays, which include both muck and wall-diving sites. This makes up the entire dive-site collection for this area, including Alma Jane and Canyons all the way to Kilima Steps.”

“Furthermore, we’ve had numerous trips to the local highlight Verde Island, where the water quality is equally clean. Batangas and Anilao are also testing clean, which means that the macro diving across the water from us is also still perfectly safe to dive.” These areas lie north of Puerto Galera on the other side of the Verde Island Passage.”

So, sounds like diving is happening in PG. no mention of Anilao, but Verde is also getting divers from the Scandi manager’s quote.

Also in oil spill news, reports a few days ago indicate that 11 of the 22 compartments on the ship are "bagged" and not leaking now, thanks to ROVs, but the siphon equipment is not yet in the country. Three tanks continue to seep oil, and the rest have already been emptied. That means 8 compartments leaked out.

Princess Empress still leaking oil: DENR, DOH warn vs swimming in parts of Puerto Galera

The public advisory comes days after Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco went diving in Lalaguna Point, one of the areas tested for oil contamination

www.rappler.com

Hope this helps.