Philippines - first travel

[ppina]

Hi all

Every year I do a 10-day diving vacation alone to dive.
In recent years I have tried to know the best places in Indonesia.

Now I wanted to start doing the same in the Philippines.

Where should I start?

What are the best dive sites for shooting?

 

[Jonathan Venn]

Anilao, no question about it. It is the nudibranch capital of the world, has the best macro in the Philippines, and also some world class coral diving. You don't get the big stuff, but I moved my team here a few months ago after being elsewhere in the Philippines and still find new stuff I haven't seen on nearly every dive. It's also close to Manila so easy to get too. You can check out our newly refurbished resort at www.blueribbondivers.com

 

[borisphotosafari]

Depends on the time of year, Tubbataha. In my opinion, t's the best diving in Philippines.

Also look into Malapasua, and South Leyte, I really enjoyed diving these places and have been many times.
I never been to Anilao or Puerto Galera, but I am always planning to go.

There is a lot of variety of diving in Philippines. It all depends on what you want to see underwater.

 

[D_Fresh]

It pretty much depends on what you're looking for underwater, but as mentioned above, Anilao is macro central. Good healthy reef systems with nudis, pygmy seahorse, and the occasional blue ringed octopus. There are also good turtle ans occasional shark sightings out around Mainit point (depending on currents).

Puerto Galera offers subjects similar to Anilao, without shark sightings, but has a nightlife and many bars if that's your thing. PG also has many dive shops, so if you're needing or wanting gear support, PH might be best.

Either way, I think you'd have to try hard to "screw up" a dive trip here

 

[outofofficebrb]

Late March to mid June is Tubbataha. That is great diving accessed by liveaboard only. Puerto Galera is a good balance of wide angle and macro, sometimes even on the same dive. Verde Island is a day trip from there and NOT to be missed. It’s in my top dive sites ever dived. It’s incredible! If you like wrecks, you can look into a Coron and Subic.

I have no other personal experience outside of these areas but based on friends recommendations, thresher sharks in Malapascua and the Visayas are must. There is great diving down by Dumaguete and great safari options that start from Moalboal and end in Sipalay or the reverse diving the sites along the way. You eat and dive off boats and stay in resorts at night. You can also go for the more expensive liveaboard options down there but I suggest you save that for Tubbataha. Diving off the local bangkas is quite fun and an experience in itself!

I also hear Apo Island is very good. Anilao and Romblon are excellent for macro thought anilao also has some wide angle but not as much as PG.

 

[Scandi Divers]

Puerto galera is one of the best all round destinations in the Philippines, you are welcome to check out Scandi divers resort, we are based in Big La Laguna which is quiet little bay with nice white sand and a house reef to explore. We are over forty dive sites within 15 minutes of the resort with a great mixture of ship wrecks, coral gardens, great drift diving and some amazing muck diving.
Kindly check out our website www.scandidivers.com

You can see some video of diving in Puerto galera here.

 

[diveUNDA]

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