Safest Dive Operators in Phillippines?

[Centrals]

Atlantis woulld have to use a much bigger boat to dive around Apo Island or Siquijor. And I suspect they would use speed boat if only diving around Dauin.
But in PG because the dive sites are so near except eg Verde Island, they can get away with a small speed boat. And it is a lot easier to manoeuvre a speed boat than banca anywhere.
All in all Philippines has pretty good safety records on operators. But I would stay away from Korean operators.

 

[klausi]

I have dived in many places here ... and have not come across any questionable operations. They probably exist, but in most places you will find a number of properly run dive operations. Once you have decided on a location, just talk to a few people who have been there.

As for chamber access ... these exist in the larger cities. So, in Moalboal we are close to the one in Cebu City, while in a place like Southern Leyte a chamber would be far, but that's a function of geography, not the fault of any dive shop.

 

[afdgf]

Atlantis woulld have to use a much bigger boat to dive around Apo Island or Siquijor. And I suspect they would use speed boat if only diving around Dauin.
But in PG because the dive sites are so near except eg Verde Island, they can get away with a small speed boat. And it is a lot easier to manoeuvre a speed boat than banca anywhere.
All in all Philippines has pretty good safety records on operators. But I would stay away from Korean operators.

How do you tell which operators are the Korean operators just from looking at the internet? Do you mean Korean operators in the Philippines I assume?

 

[Centrals]

How do you tell which operators are the Korean operators just from looking at the internet? Do you mean Korean operators in the Philippines I assume?

Only those in Philippines and majority are congregated in couple of areas eg. Mactan Island(Cebu City) and PG.
The Korean language in its respective web site is a dead give away.

 

[Rhone Man]

I wanted to ask the usual question about where to dive in the Phillippines, but I wanted to ask it in a different way. Instead of asking about the best diving, I wanted to know what you consider to be the safest diving/dive operations in the Phillippines. Could be either land-based or liveaboard. We are considering going in June of next year so have some time to plan. Once we decide on the dive operator, then we can plan the rest around that. We will be flying into Manilla from Taipei. We are AOW certified and at that time should have about 150 dives. My wife is not crazy about sharks, but will tolerate them. She particularly likes seahorses. Thanks for tolerating yet another "where to dive" question.

Just to state the obvious: you do know that you are talking about a country of over 2,000 islands with a population of 100 million?

Having said that, of all the diving I have done in my life, Moalboal in Cebu must be simply the most benign.

 

[WOODMAN]

Haven't really found any unsafe operators, but if you are interested in how an operator functioned in a quasi emergency (medical situation) then look up my post from several months ago about Frontier Divers and how they assisted with a medical problem in Sabang (PG). One of the most professional outfits I have found.

 

[afdgf]

It looks like the consensus is that if I stay away from low-bid and Koren operators, then the safety of the operators should be satisfactory and no one is reporting issues that have been reported in other places, for the Philippines. That is what I wanted to find out. Thank you.

 

[bill22]

I've made seven trips so far and have dived most of the major dive destinations in the Philippines as well as a few of the more remote ones. I've never been concerned about my safety.

Off the top of my head, I could recommend Club Ocellaris in Anilao (one of the best vacations I've had in the Philippines. They really cater to u/w photographers). Asia Divers in Puerto Galera. Evolution Diving at Malapascua Island. Ocean Safari Philippines in Moalboal. Mike's in Dauin.
When you narrow down where you would like to go I'm sure others will have recommendations as well

 

[maat1976]

I stayed at Puda Vida at Dauin / Dumaguete, and dove with their in house dive op - Sea Explorers. Very well organised and safe. I also have heard rave reviews about Mike's which I believe is not far down the road.

 

[kevinl4270]

Just be careful of Filipino "fishermen". Looks like one or more "fisherman" dropped some dynamite on a diver recently.


A wake-up call against blast fishing | Cebu Daily News