As someone planning to dive Dauin/Dumaguete and Apo Island next year, I'm just wondering how you felt the diving there compared with some of the other areas you have dived....? BTW, you've done a lot of diving in just one year - keep it up! You are very lucky to have visited so many sites.
Wiggsy,
Have a look at Post # 18 in
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ph...eeded-diving-trip-philippines-december-2.html Links to place I stayed in Dumaguete and Glenn who organised all my dives runs
Diveworx - Dive with Locals - Apo island - Dauin - Dumaguete City - Dive Safari. If you are heading there, no problem where I stayed or with Glenn, except out of the hotel at night was pretty quiet to say the least.
As for the quality of the diving, well it was my first time 'Muck' diving and it was pretty excellent, just up the Dauin beach and every dive more and more weird Macro life discovered - though must admit I am more into bigger life - which is plentiful around Apo, and the wall at Siquijor which I rated as my favourite dive site - a deep wall, each little part of it covered with life, and a nice current to take you along it effortlesly. No complaints, Dumaguete and the variation of life and sites is excellent.
Compared with other places I've dived, well the Ozzie lower GBR and the abundance of life was outstanding, as was the Viz, though having only ever done about 20 dives before landing to dive at Lady Elliot, as you might imagine my eyes were wide open - however, there were bad points about it there, such as only 'allowed' to take two dives a day, the cost of gettnig there - and having a Grey shark swimming rather aggresively directly towards me as I was heading down to start a dive ~ kind of made me a bit nervous as a rookie !!
The Philippines visits, and diving, some excellent dives all round in Puerto Galera and Boracay, but equally some pretty boring sites, with Dumaguete so far the best place I have been there for diving, though not life after the dives !
Taiwan - well, not so many foreigners such as myself diving here, but I live 1 hour drive from an ocean side dive shop, where after gearing up I can walk 20 metres and be in blue clear warm water where life is widely varied and surprises me every time. Lower end of island, good sites, and if only the Taiwanese would wake up and elimnate fishing from large areas of the coastline, they'd be sitting on dream locations for diving !! You might want to read a brief report of my trip last week here
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/greater-china/348911-liochiu-island-south-taiwan-diving.html and check the photos in link. Maybe worth stopping over on route to Philippines hey !!
Amount of places I've visited in a year - well there's 52 weekends in a year, and with a day or two off work it's pretty easy and cheap to get around here or to Philippines, just wish the finances allowed me to get to more locations ~ like your GBR again !
Cheers & safe diving.
- and Malaysia / Indonesia in my plans for the next year
