Open Water Cert + Whale Sharks in 10ish Days?

[tealcake]

Hi! My husband and I are planning to travel to the Philippines in April to get our open water certifications and hopefully do some nice, easy, fun dives. I feel really overwhelmed with the planning and I know I need to get on it or things will book up! My husband has never dived before, I've been diving a few times (like those intro dives in Hawaii type things) and was halfway through classroom/pool work many years ago before the dive shop went under. We're both strong swimmers and are very comfortable in the ocean. We snorkel a lot.

We were planning on doing the e-learning at home and doing the pool work and check out dives in the Philippines. Good idea or bad idea? Can anyone recommend a dive shop and/or location for this? I was thinking about Boracay. I don't really want to get certified before we leave - I'm not excited about diving in Monterey (we live in San Francisco), and we aren't really interested in diving in those types of conditions. Maybe someday, but for now we want warm water, good visibility, and tropical fishes. Holiday divers, if you will

What dive spots do you recommend for beginners? Would a live-aboard boat be a good option for us (after certification)? I'm concerned about how much time we'll waste waiting to be able to fly to different locations

I know you can't dive with the whale sharks in Donsol Bay, but we would like to do the snorkeling. It's a must-do for me! Is the Manta Bowl Shoal suitable for beginner divers?

I'd also like to see all the Banaue attractions (rice terraces, Sagada caving, hanging coffins) and the chocolate hills...

Thoughts/opinions? I know it's a ton to squeeze in - I can probably negotiate up to 12 days with my husband for this trip, but 10 would be a much easier sell if it's doable. Thanks so much for your help, I really appreciate it!

 

[wannadive64]

Check out Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte. Several dive centres to choose from, great range of dives with some very nice but easy shore dives as well as pools for OW training, good range of accommodation options (at or outside the dive centres) and snorkeling with whale sharks from November until May.

 

[h2odragon1]

I'm a little biased on this one. I got my first scubadiving experience in Boracay in 2002. First a discover scuba, then I completed the OW course by the end of the week. Boracay is a good place to start! My wife took her lessons locally, (the burb's NW of Chicago), then endorsed to get her OW cert in Puerto Galera! I think she had a better experience!
You can't go wrong diving in the Philippines!

 

[Peter_C]

Welcome to Scubaboard

Do your pool work and book work here in the USA. Then get a referral that will allow you to complete the certification in just a couple of days. Don't waste your precious time on your expensive vacation doing book work and pool work. I would try to make sure you stick with the same training agency though, so find out what the shop where you plan to go is training with and then find a shop locally that can do the referral.

With a drysuit Monterey holds world class diving. I have dove the tropics a few times, but still enjoy diving locally.

 

[Rogersea]

To combine learning to dive, seeing whale sharks and then seeing the rice terraces, you will need to do some traveling. I would suggest that you learn to dive one of the destinations in or around Cebu. For real easy diving you can go to Moalboal, then once certified you can make a day trip to Oslob, where you are 95% guaranteed to see whales sharks. Then head up to Luzon for the rice terraces..... If you budget 5 days in Moalboal you can get certified and see the whale sharks. I think doing the e-learnning is a good idea, you will have plenty of time to do confined and OW in the Philippines...

Alternatives to Moalboal but still being able to see the Whalesharks in Oslob would be Dumaguette, Mactan or even Alona or Malapascua(if you dont mind a little more travel/back tracking).

Cheers,
Roger

Cheers,
Roger

 

[tealcake]

Great leads so far, thank you! It's nice to have a little direction to my research.

Welcome to Scubaboard

Do your pool work and book work here in the USA. Then get a referral that will allow you to complete the certification in just a couple of days. Don't waste your precious time on your expensive vacation doing book work and pool work. I would try to make sure you stick with the same training agency though, so find out what the shop where you plan to go is training with and then find a shop locally that can do the referral.

With a drysuit Monterey holds world class diving. I have dove the tropics a few times, but still enjoy diving locally.

You make Monterey sound enticing. Isn't the drysuit a fairly advanced thing? Thanks for the welcome

 

[Peter_C]

You make Monterey sound enticing. Isn't the drysuit a fairly advanced thing? Thanks for the welcome

My partner was certified locally and from the first pool dive to her certification completion all dives were done in a drysuit. I made it about 18 dives before switching to a drysuit. I am warmer in my drysuit diving locally, then I was in Hawaii in my wetsuit (Next time I am bringing my drysuit).

Monterey has more color on the reefs than many tropical settings.

First of all there is a NorCal section of SB. NorCal

You gotta see Rob's and Clinton's pictures as where else can you see a whale on a dive? Gray Whale at Point Lobos!

If you haven't already seen Kenn's great videos you might want to check more of them out. Most all are from Point Lobos and surrounding dive sites. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/norcal/445572-video-bluefish-cove.html