Pictures from Cabilao, Alona and Dauin

[Bent C]

I have a number of pictures from my stay in February on The Philippines 2011 Photo Gallery by Bent Christensen at pbase.com

regards
Bent C

 

[fuggler]

Amazing sets, really creative compositions. The Dauin set made me more excited for my upcoming trip there in May. My favorites are the jawfish and the anemonefish with the shrimp on its head. And the mantis shrimp eyes in Cabilao, wow!

 

[jbb]

How was Dauin? I'm really looking forward to the tropical muck diving there. I'm pretty used to the cold stuff in Seattle. I'll be in Dauin the first week of April and then to Malapascua for hammerheads I hope.

 

[Hammerhead]

Some of those are just magnificent - bravo!

 

[Bent C]

Dauin wasn´t really what I expected. However, that is probably because a storm had blown away most of the debris on shallow bottoms shortly before I arrived. Other divers there, that had been in Dauin on several occassions before, was not impressed by the diving there either this time, but wanted to return at a ltaer stage, so I guess that Dauin in ordinary conditions is a good place to do muck. That said, it was very good anyway, I saw a good number of cool muck stuff, so it was probably more a case of my expectations being to high than Dauin being bad. I will most likely return in a year or two and try it again.

Otherwise my clear favourite was Cabilao. The dives around the light house were among the best I have done. There is just so much variety around the island, with calssic muck sites neighbouring beautiful walls and slopes. I wll most definitely return to Cabilao for a longer stay than this time (I was there 5 days, and wil most likely go for a ten day stay the next time).

Regards

Bent

 

[tonyN]

Damn it...that was some amazing shots. The spanish dancer was to die for, also liked the Spawning anemone.
Interesting to hear about Cabilao, never been there, but now I think I'll have too. I've been twice to Dauin and have only good memories, so a combination sounds like a good thing.
Any news about the Pier (DuCoMi), will it re-open?

 

[jbb]

Interesting. I dived Cabilao once and I decided it wasn't my style - didn't come away with very many good photos. It is mostly walls and the place I dived with really only scheduled three dives per day. I much preferred Alona Beach where I've been twice already in a year - very easy and quick to get to from Manila or Cebu and most of the dives are close with good variety of macro. Great selection of grilled seafood to choose from on the beach too.

 

[Bent C]

As far as I heard, no news on the DuCoMi. To bad, it would have been fun to dive it. Experiences can really be varied, Alona would be the place I rather not return to of the three, while Cabilao certainly is my favourite. I had an unlimited dive package with Sea Explorers, and did 4 dives a day, all of them 60+ minutes, so I really did get all the time in the water I wanted. Two morning dives, one afternoon and one night dive. Of the 20 something dives I got in there, only one was a pure wall, some were 1/2 wall, 1/2 slope or sea grass, and the rest were more slope or sand dives. Especially the light house area had more or less unlimited photo opportunities. We dove the neighboring islands on a couple of occassions, and I liked that as well. Not as nice coral cover as Cabilao, but different critters around. On the other hand, if any kind of night life is on the trip wishes, Cabilao has very little to offer. On Alona my room was pretty close to a disco, or maybe even two (closing at around 2-3 am) and just above the janitors room (starting work at around 5.30 am), and this might be a part of why I don´t really took to Alona.

 

[clgsamson]

You might want to consider Anilao or Puerto Galera next time around. Your critter and coral fix will be sated by both places.

 

[Bent C]

Anilao will certainly be one of the places I will visit. I will probably do a one week Cabilao-one week Anilaotrip next time.

/Bent