Recommendations near cebu?

[manar]

Hello

I am visiting philippines next february for 8-9 days with my sister. I'll probably arrive at cebu airport. We're going to spend about 5-6 days for diving and rest of the days for travelling. So I'd like to go somewhere I could dive and also see something other than beautiful sea.
I am really into big things like dolphins, sharks and rays, but I also enjoy seeing small stuffs and schools of fishes. I'll let my sister get her OW and AOW license this time, and this will be the first time for her to see the underwater scenary. I wonder where to go.

For myself, I'd definitely want to go to malapascua to see thresher sharks and rays.(I haven't seen manta rays or devil rays yet) But I also heard that there aren't various kinds of fishes, and seeing those big things depend on luck, and I don't want it goes wrong by any chance as I don't want my sister to be disappointed.
I heard there are really many kinds of fishes in dumagete, and I am also considering bohol+balicasag..



So...
Where should we go if we want to dive and also look around.. And if this is my sister's first time to dive..



Thanks for reading





PS : After reading threads here I got suddenly interested in Camiguin, as both me and my sister are really interested in doing other activities.. How's diving in camiguin compared to other places like dumagete or bohol/balicasag?

 

[CODMAN]

Definetly Bohol... More to do other than just dive. Malapascua if you absolutely NEED to see sharks/ mantas...

Hello

I am visiting philippines next february for 8-9 days with my sister. I'll probably arrive at cebu airport. We're going to spend about 5-6 days for diving and rest of the days for travelling. So I'd like to go somewhere I could dive and also see something other than beautiful sea.
I am really into big things like dolphins, sharks and rays, but I also enjoy seeing small stuffs and schools of fishes. I'll let my sister get her OW and AOW license this time, and this will be the first time for her to see the underwater scenary. I wonder where to go.

For myself, I'd definitely want to go to malapascua to see thresher sharks and rays.(I haven't seen manta rays or devil rays yet) But I also heard that there aren't various kinds of fishes, and seeing those big things depend on luck, and I don't want it goes wrong by any chance as I don't want my sister to be disappointed.
I heard there are really many kinds of fishes in dumagete, and I am also considering bohol+balicasag..



So...
Where should we go if we want to dive and also look around.. And if this is my sister's first time to dive..



Thanks for reading

 

[manar]

codman// thanks a lot I heard about the chocolate hill and the monkey!

 

[rab1412000]

goto malapascua

its a good mixture of things big and small. and the mantas there are definitely on the big side.
you have thresher sharks and mantas and devil rays and a tiger (?) in monad shoal and white tips, corals, macro, fish schools, sea snakes, etc on gato island. you can also do a night dive in lighthouse for the mandarin fish mating thing and some more great macro.
getting a good guide is essential though inimho. and i always go with divelink cebu.

wait ill just show and post a vid what im talking about.

 

[rab1412000]

here you go:

 

[rab1412000]

ok i just saw that you wanted to do other things aside from diving, malapascua may not be the place for you then.
codman gives an excellent suggestion in bohol.stuff to do during the day and at night aside from diving. and there is some semblance of a nightlife.

heres a vid i took of balicasag, its definitely beautiful:

 

[neopluredon]

@ rab1412000: i'm looking forward to diving at my mom's homeland (bohol) on my birthday... this video makes me soooo excited!!

 

[rab1412000]

glad you like it.
ive been diving bohol for the past 7 or 8 years and every time is a blast. great dives, great people, great place, great food.

heres another to get you more excited:



hope you have an awesome time there

 

[manar]

rab1412000// The ray in the malapascua vid really made me exciting! Balicasag vid is also awesome. Schooling of fishes with wall diving.. Better visuality. I just don't know what would be better for my sister.

Thanks for the nice vids and recommendations

 

[rab1412000]

hi manar
thanks for the kind words. as you can see, either bohol or malapascua wont dissapoint dive-wise.
like i mentioned in the post above if your looking for more things to do topside then bohol should be your choice.
also you can go dolhpin watching in bohol and if your luck enough to see a megapod ( i saw one back in 2005) then you will see thousands upon thousands of dolphins! im not talking about 5,000 here, im talking 25,000 or more! i havent seen anything like it even in blue planet or discovery. totally amazing. everywhere you look dolphins everywhere. no diving though in that area as it is open ocean. but even then... one of the most amazing thing ive ever seen.
with regards to malapscua though, threshers are beautiful but i go there mre for the mantas. and as you can see they arent small. the first manta in the vid was 15-16ft. add 25% to that u/w and it looks huge!
either way man, you cant go wrong for your sister diving-wise. but as a tourist you see more things in bohol.
send me a pm if you want some recommendations. id be happy to help.