Recommended Bohol Resorts and Dive Sites

[rab1412000]

your best bang for buck would be sierra madre divers. cheap dive rates and cheap rooms, no wifi though but their kind enough to let you use their office internet cables.
they also have new diving equipment for rent, their dm's are very competent and nice, and their boats are comfortable and roomy
black forest is the best imho but dont miss out on arco point for some great macro.
there have been numerous sightings of whale sharks in arco point this month. also a dm told me that there was a sighting a (sperm) whale pod, which hasnt been confirmed.
id be happy to help out anyone plannin on going to bohol. pm me if you want contacts to sierra madre divers.

oh btw heres a sample of what you see in bohol:

 

[Karl_H]

As promised - here a (very) breif trip report - I'll make a longer one later!

We stayed at and dived with Bohol Divers Club Resort - The dive operation was great, we'll definately go back again, sadly resort was so-so, room was okay(ish), food was not good and service in the restaurant was very bad - We ended up eating elsewhere after one meal there and would probably stay at Isis Villas next to Bohol Diver Club next time - the Thai food is great there too!

Full marks for the dive set-up though, we were impressed - great guides, they listed to what we wanted to see and delivered and the prices were good too - as we did multiple dives (and as we were staying in the resort?) we were given 1000 Php per dive including tanks, boat, guide and weights - this rate included Balicasag dives too!

Dive sites - Arco point was good, lots too see especially at the 'hole in the wall' - maybe too much, I maged to get a 9 minute deco stop :shocked2:! Balicasag was amazing, the only down side is the Alona sites don't seem the same after you've dived Balicasag! Bohol Beach Club reef also has some interesting Jeepney wrecks and some good macro, other sites were okay to so-so, next time we're aiming to see more of Balicasag and try Cabilao too.

Visibility was okay in the mornings but got worse through the day, it seemed fine in the water but back scatter was a bit of a problem in some photos, particularly where there was any current running - just as Fuggler mentioned

In summary we'll definitely be back and will probably use Bohol Divers Club again as an operator, but will stay nearby in another resort. I'll put together a longer report in the next week Thanks again to everyone for the tips and advice, saved a lot of head aches and we had a great trip!

Karl

PS - A few pics follow....

Balicasag Reef Scenes:

Lots of Backscatter in all Barracuda pictures, the current was quite strong and seemed to be putting lots of bits with it

Bohol Macro

It moved before I could get a better shot

 

[xariatay]

Very nice photos! The cuttlefish, turtle & the macro ones. Yes, Balicasag is nice...

 

[philpan]

what camera did you use for these pics. Great photos!

 

[rab1412000]

wow karl those are some great shots. congrats.

 

[satellitediver]

How did you trip go?

I hope to be in Bohol by Feb. 2010 at the latest any chance you can point me in the right direction?

Robert

 

[neopluredon]

nice photos you got there!!! seeing bohol photos makes me more excited to head back to my roots

 

[Karl_H]

what camera did you use for these pics. Great photos!

Thanks Philpan

It's a Canon 50D in a Hugyfot housing, lots of saving to get there but I'm starting love it! These pics were my third trip with camera and first with the wide angle so I'm still learning - the good (or bad?!) news is the pics seem to get better each time A few from last weekend in Anilao attached below - Any feedback and tips greatly appreciated !

I'd definitely recommend the Hugyfot housing, feels great and the Hugycheck system means the chance of a flood is much lower than any other system - Sadly my old 'back-up' point and shoot flooded the first dive that I used it after buying the Hugyfot casing for the dSLR The vacuum check on the housing before diving gives you much more confidence!

Karl

 

[clgsamson]

very very nice images...

first pic is my favorite...

 

[Karl_H]

very very nice images...

first pic is my favorite...

Thanks Caloy,

I discovered the 'take all wide angle photos at an angle' trick but may have got a little carried away - I don't think I shot a single image with a flat horizon in the whole trip

Karl