Places with shallow, calm, easy dive sites in the PI?

[Wingy]

There's a couple of just off the shore 2 min boat rides from SABANG Wrecks that you may be able to do but I would be worried about getting back into the bangkas. Mating nudis on the alma Jane wreck yesterday were great, but the currents here can really play around at times. I'm sure as centrals said you would be able to get assistance people here are very helpful. Anilao maybe? Will ask today for other opinions

 

[Mantra]

There's a couple of just off the shore 2 min boat rides from SABANG Wrecks that you may be able to do but I would be worried about getting back into the bangkas. Mating nudis on the alma Jane wreck yesterday were great, but the currents here can really play around at times. I'm sure as centrals said you would be able to get assistance people here are very helpful. Anilao maybe? Will ask today for other opinions

Thanks, digger.

Yeah, we have dove through the Visayas before (spent 5 weeks there same time in 2013) and the people are just gorgeous, aren't they?

As long as I de-gear in the water I reckon the ladder onto the bangkas should be fine. I'm managing stairs fine at the moment, and can do about a 45 minute walk, albeit slowly and with a limp, but with no need for crutches etc any more. So I'm healing up well already. We *were* going to do Anilao first, but the fact that the boat dives at PG are mostly single dives is awesome, as it means the missus can do more diving and I can just join on the easy sites. Centrals makes an excellent point there. I really don't want to mess about with current to begin.

Have you checked out any of the house reefs there?

 

[Wingy]

Just had a chat to sky at south china sea divers he has had divers with disabilities many times and said as long as you grab a ground floor room should be no problems. They have provided one on one guides for people who are having mobility problems before and can work out the best sites for you...gear up and off in the water you should be fine. Having ear issues today and am bloody tired didn't leave the dive shop til 1.45am so sitting out today. Wandersome and Golo are off doing the house reef at the moment. La laguna site was a great flying drift that you wouldn't even need to fin on, monkey beach both thru the day and at midnight was excellent with no current for the first 29 minutes then it picked up for a nice drift to bring in the new year...lots of variety of sites here so....come on up Cobber

 

[Centrals]

Night dive on Sabang wreck.
Giant Clam and Coral Garden.
Sabang Point.
Slack tide only: Almar Jane(wreck at 30m) and Dry Dock(27m).

Canyons(28m): ONLY for the fit and experienced when the current pick-up(watch out for the down current).

 

[FT]

We love PG and Asia Divers, though if I were doomed to sit out quite a few dives I'd rather sit them out on Big La Laguna beach than in Small La Laguna. These have all been easy dives for us: Sinandigan, Kilima, Ernie's Cave, Coral Cove (though I've heard that one got battered in a typhoon and may not be as good at the moment), Monkey Beach, Manila Channel, and the aforementioned Sabang wrecks. Check with your operator on the easiest way to get to PG. Can you negotiate a narrow ramp in and out of one of the large bangkas? The "house reef" at Asia Divers is not much to speak of.

 

[Golo]

Puerto Galera/Sabang

Not sure if you already decided where to go to, but if you have problems with your knee, I don't think I can recommend Asia Divers in Puerto Galera. Unlike the other shops they have a dive platform that they tie their boats to, so the boat quite often rocks left to right while you have to enter/exit, and sometimes it would be rather "jumping" to get off the boat onto the platform.
I found it much easier and safer to exit/enter the boats that were just sitting in the shallows at the beach.



As for diving, you have sites with more current and sites with less, also depending on tides and moon.

For example, we went to Verde Island few days ago where beforehand everybody warned about strong currents, but it turned out we had barely any at all.

I was on some dives where we had quite some current, and to see something specific we sometimes had to go a bit against the current, too, but you could just skip those dives. We also always had the option to hand our gear up before getting onto the boat out of the water, and on the smaller bangka that was actually common practice.

I have to say though, for the drift dives I often wished for a bit better visibility.

 

[Searcaigh]

Asia Divers also have non-banka boats, or at least they did have last year.

They also provide hot towels after the dive, amazing what a quick wipe over your face and head can do after a dive even in 28C water temps.

 

[Golo]

Asia Divers also have non-banka boats, or at least they did have last year.

They also provide hot towels after the dive, amazing what a quick wipe over your face and head can do after a dive even in 28C water temps.

True, they have one "speed boat" which you enter from the side, which is even easier than entering the bangka at the beach. They didn't use it for every dive, though maybe you could just stick to the dives with the speed boat. Sometimes they also use it for two groups at once, which can get a bit crowded. Even when crowded I preferred it over the bangka though.

When I was there, they had some engine troubles with the speed boat. Unfortunately it also happened on our trip to Verde Island, which meant we arrived a bit late at the dive site and had to cut our surface interval a bit shorter than intended (but in no way dangerously short) and didn't do the SI at the beach, but on the boat instead. No big deal, but if I would have had the choice, I would have preferred a longer SI and on the beach

And yes, the hot towels are indeed very nice, a brilliant idea!

 

[Searcaigh]

Only one speedboat! Wow they had three the last time I dived with them.

 

[Golo]

Maybe they have more, but just not in service at the moment? At least when I was there last week they only had one, and that had some problem with one of the engines from time to time. Except Verde Island all the dive sites are so close that I didn't mind going by bangka.