MikeOWaterloo
Registered
Here is the trip report on our dive trip to the Philippines January 18-31 2025. As posted here, we weren’t particularly interested in muck or wrecks, and were looking for short boat trips from shore and easy diving without too much current.
Sogod Bay
Getting there: we flew to Manila (from Taiwan), stayed overnight (Jan 18) and the took mid-day flight the next day (Jan 19) to Tacloban airport on Leyte. Peter's Dive resort arranged a private transfer: about 3 and a half hours drive to Sogod Bay. This was easy and straightforward. It cost 5000 PHP.
We stayed at Peter’s Dive Resort in a "Standard Superior" on the 3rd floor. This unit was nice, clean, relatively spacious and modern, and had a great balcony with beautiful view over the bay. 3600 PHP = 63 USD per night (there are also cheaper units at PDR). We didn’t do much other than eat, sleep and dive/snorkel and PDR suited us for that. (And in fact there's not much else to do in this part of Sogod Bay). The staff were helpful. I'd say the only downside was the food, which was OK but somewhat bland/unexciting. Later, we discovered another restaurant (Alma and Jerry’s Kitchen, in Google maps) in the area which was tastier. Wish I had checked them out earlier.
The dive operation was efficient and worked well. They had nitrox for a small charge. You go out on the outrigger boats with maybe 8 or 12 divers on the boat each day, but only a small number of divers (2-4) per dive master. Our dive master (Ariel) was very good and experienced. The diving cost was 1950 PHP per dive with your own gear, 2200 with rental. So about 30 USD per dive, similar to places we dove in Indonesia.
Whale shark snorkeling is the main attraction here. They don’t feed the whale sharks in Sogod bay as is apparently done in other places in the Philippines (Oslob). They employ spotters to see where the whale sharks are, and then you get as close as possible and fin like mad towards the whale sharks. We saw a pair from close distance several times: pretty spectacular. On the downside, it’s hard keeping up with whale sharks, as well as with the pack of much more fit 20 year olds trying to follow. There were some jellyfish and I was stung on the exposed parts hands, mouth). Take full covering. I should have realized there was a reason the dive masters had hoods and gloves as well as a wetsuit. The whale sharks tour is were more expensive than diving: the cost was 4000 PHP IIRC, including lunch and snorkelling gear. I think this is partly because of the spotters who are employed. Finding the whale sharks is not guaranteed though (and PDR clearly warned us of this): when we went out, one woman was going on her third trip, having struck out the previous 2 days. So we were lucky to see a pair both days we snorkelled with the sharks.
The other days we went for dives, 2 a day in the AM (6 dives total over 3 diving days). Usually we are the only dive boat on the site. Gunter’s Wall off of Limasawa Island had beautiful coral and some small fish. The Medicare sites also had fine coral and turtles. One day, we revisited the whale sharks in between dives and managed to see a pair again, although there was an extra charge for this. This time the jellyfish were worse, particularly at the dive site post-whale sharks (Olly’s Wall?) and so we came up a bit early. Overall I enjoyed the diving here - the coral was great at some sites, and we saw a range of critters (turtles, a blacktop reef shark, morays, stonefish, scorpion and lion fish) - but not as much as Bunaken in Indonesia (that will be a separate trip report).
Cebu
Moalboal
After 5 nights at PDR, on Jan 24 we took a private taxi transfer to Hilongos Port and a ferry to Cebu City. We then took a taxi to Moalboal, stayed two nights and dived there for the one day. The hotel was something unremarkable and cheap (booked last minute), I believe it was called Moalboal Seaside Resort (even though it wasn't actually on the seaside). The main attraction at Moalboal is of course the sardine run which was pretty spectacular as others have said, although the vis was quite murky. The wife said it was the most amazing thing she had seen, and went back out snorkeling with the tourists afterwards. The earlier dives that day were at Pescador Island. These were nice (we did see an octopus) but not as good as the better sites in Sogod Bay. Moalboal town was quite cramped and "touristy". I'm glad we only spent a couple of nights there.
Malapascua
Sunday Jan 26, we took a private taxi to Malapascua and the ferry to the island. This dropped us on the beach close to our hotel (the Little Mermaid). Malapascua has much better vibe than Moalboal. Still quite touristy but not as crowded, and a nicer atmosphere: less cramped, more hippy/laid back, and more restaurants spread out along the beach.
We stayed at the Little Mermaid for 4 nights. It was good: one night in the beachfront unit and a few more at the larger but more standard unit at the back. If I was doing it again, I would have paid a bit more for the oceanfront unit the whole stay. Overall, LM has a nice spot right on the beach with good breakfast in a dining room overlooking the ocean and easy access to other bars/restaurants.
The first few days, the weather was stormy for getting to Kimud shoal (where the sharks are) and the wife does not react well to rough boat conditions. And, after the fact, we heard from those who did go out, that they were pretty seasick. Our dive shop, Thresher Shark Divers requires either having Advanced (we were OW) or being accompanied by an instructor for the dives at Kimud (this I think is pretty standard in Malapascua). So you can either pay extra for a personal guide, or pay to take the advanced course. We decided to do the full advanced course (about 350 USD each IIRC) starting the day before (closer to Malapascua) and using part of the Kimud dives for the Advanced (depth) training. Overall, we did 6 dives over 2 days (28 and 29), 5 of which included a training component. I was happy with the training we got from TSD, a professional dive operation. Incidentally, we paid the course/dive fees by Wise transfer (recommended over scrambling for cash).
The Thresher sharks were beautiful and amazing. We saw many from quite close, as well as some other fun critters (octopus) on the shoal. It wasn't that deep at Kimud and the conditions were relatively easy, at least the day we went out, so I am not sure Advanced was really necessary. But overall, strongly recommend. There was a third dive at Monad shoal where supposedly one had a chance of seeing a tiger sharks. But anecdotally we heard that there hadn’t been any spotted in months and we saw nothing. And Monad shoal had little coral or other things to see so this third dive was not great.
Jan 30, we took the ferry back and another private taxi transfer (arranged through LM) back to a hotel in Cebu City overnight, then on Jan 31 a flight out the next day (via Manila) to Bali. But that’s for a separate trip report.
Overall, I am really glad I did this Philippines trip. (And many thanks for the advice we received from SB members!) Although the coral and marine life were great, they were not as vibrant as in Indonesia (Bunaken and Bangka), but the chance to see whale sharks, threshers and the sardine run were all pretty special.
Sogod Bay
Getting there: we flew to Manila (from Taiwan), stayed overnight (Jan 18) and the took mid-day flight the next day (Jan 19) to Tacloban airport on Leyte. Peter's Dive resort arranged a private transfer: about 3 and a half hours drive to Sogod Bay. This was easy and straightforward. It cost 5000 PHP.
We stayed at Peter’s Dive Resort in a "Standard Superior" on the 3rd floor. This unit was nice, clean, relatively spacious and modern, and had a great balcony with beautiful view over the bay. 3600 PHP = 63 USD per night (there are also cheaper units at PDR). We didn’t do much other than eat, sleep and dive/snorkel and PDR suited us for that. (And in fact there's not much else to do in this part of Sogod Bay). The staff were helpful. I'd say the only downside was the food, which was OK but somewhat bland/unexciting. Later, we discovered another restaurant (Alma and Jerry’s Kitchen, in Google maps) in the area which was tastier. Wish I had checked them out earlier.
The dive operation was efficient and worked well. They had nitrox for a small charge. You go out on the outrigger boats with maybe 8 or 12 divers on the boat each day, but only a small number of divers (2-4) per dive master. Our dive master (Ariel) was very good and experienced. The diving cost was 1950 PHP per dive with your own gear, 2200 with rental. So about 30 USD per dive, similar to places we dove in Indonesia.
Whale shark snorkeling is the main attraction here. They don’t feed the whale sharks in Sogod bay as is apparently done in other places in the Philippines (Oslob). They employ spotters to see where the whale sharks are, and then you get as close as possible and fin like mad towards the whale sharks. We saw a pair from close distance several times: pretty spectacular. On the downside, it’s hard keeping up with whale sharks, as well as with the pack of much more fit 20 year olds trying to follow. There were some jellyfish and I was stung on the exposed parts hands, mouth). Take full covering. I should have realized there was a reason the dive masters had hoods and gloves as well as a wetsuit. The whale sharks tour is were more expensive than diving: the cost was 4000 PHP IIRC, including lunch and snorkelling gear. I think this is partly because of the spotters who are employed. Finding the whale sharks is not guaranteed though (and PDR clearly warned us of this): when we went out, one woman was going on her third trip, having struck out the previous 2 days. So we were lucky to see a pair both days we snorkelled with the sharks.
The other days we went for dives, 2 a day in the AM (6 dives total over 3 diving days). Usually we are the only dive boat on the site. Gunter’s Wall off of Limasawa Island had beautiful coral and some small fish. The Medicare sites also had fine coral and turtles. One day, we revisited the whale sharks in between dives and managed to see a pair again, although there was an extra charge for this. This time the jellyfish were worse, particularly at the dive site post-whale sharks (Olly’s Wall?) and so we came up a bit early. Overall I enjoyed the diving here - the coral was great at some sites, and we saw a range of critters (turtles, a blacktop reef shark, morays, stonefish, scorpion and lion fish) - but not as much as Bunaken in Indonesia (that will be a separate trip report).
Cebu
Moalboal
After 5 nights at PDR, on Jan 24 we took a private taxi transfer to Hilongos Port and a ferry to Cebu City. We then took a taxi to Moalboal, stayed two nights and dived there for the one day. The hotel was something unremarkable and cheap (booked last minute), I believe it was called Moalboal Seaside Resort (even though it wasn't actually on the seaside). The main attraction at Moalboal is of course the sardine run which was pretty spectacular as others have said, although the vis was quite murky. The wife said it was the most amazing thing she had seen, and went back out snorkeling with the tourists afterwards. The earlier dives that day were at Pescador Island. These were nice (we did see an octopus) but not as good as the better sites in Sogod Bay. Moalboal town was quite cramped and "touristy". I'm glad we only spent a couple of nights there.
Malapascua
Sunday Jan 26, we took a private taxi to Malapascua and the ferry to the island. This dropped us on the beach close to our hotel (the Little Mermaid). Malapascua has much better vibe than Moalboal. Still quite touristy but not as crowded, and a nicer atmosphere: less cramped, more hippy/laid back, and more restaurants spread out along the beach.
We stayed at the Little Mermaid for 4 nights. It was good: one night in the beachfront unit and a few more at the larger but more standard unit at the back. If I was doing it again, I would have paid a bit more for the oceanfront unit the whole stay. Overall, LM has a nice spot right on the beach with good breakfast in a dining room overlooking the ocean and easy access to other bars/restaurants.
The first few days, the weather was stormy for getting to Kimud shoal (where the sharks are) and the wife does not react well to rough boat conditions. And, after the fact, we heard from those who did go out, that they were pretty seasick. Our dive shop, Thresher Shark Divers requires either having Advanced (we were OW) or being accompanied by an instructor for the dives at Kimud (this I think is pretty standard in Malapascua). So you can either pay extra for a personal guide, or pay to take the advanced course. We decided to do the full advanced course (about 350 USD each IIRC) starting the day before (closer to Malapascua) and using part of the Kimud dives for the Advanced (depth) training. Overall, we did 6 dives over 2 days (28 and 29), 5 of which included a training component. I was happy with the training we got from TSD, a professional dive operation. Incidentally, we paid the course/dive fees by Wise transfer (recommended over scrambling for cash).
The Thresher sharks were beautiful and amazing. We saw many from quite close, as well as some other fun critters (octopus) on the shoal. It wasn't that deep at Kimud and the conditions were relatively easy, at least the day we went out, so I am not sure Advanced was really necessary. But overall, strongly recommend. There was a third dive at Monad shoal where supposedly one had a chance of seeing a tiger sharks. But anecdotally we heard that there hadn’t been any spotted in months and we saw nothing. And Monad shoal had little coral or other things to see so this third dive was not great.
Jan 30, we took the ferry back and another private taxi transfer (arranged through LM) back to a hotel in Cebu City overnight, then on Jan 31 a flight out the next day (via Manila) to Bali. But that’s for a separate trip report.
Overall, I am really glad I did this Philippines trip. (And many thanks for the advice we received from SB members!) Although the coral and marine life were great, they were not as vibrant as in Indonesia (Bunaken and Bangka), but the chance to see whale sharks, threshers and the sardine run were all pretty special.
