Tips for Upcoming Philippines Trip
- Thread starter SoSiouxme
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Who did you stay and dive with in Leyte. I still havent been and might try and add it on to my Cebu trip this may/june.
cheers
Tippytoes12
Contributor
Southern Leyte Divers...a very well run place which is German owned and managed. It’s on a beautiful spot right on the water , foods great and the diving awesome. Peters Dive resort also gets very good reviews and has a pool. But SLD run a great outfit and the food is excellent for the Philippines.
Both Peter's and Sogod Bay Dive Resort are highly recommended and they are very close to each other. There are others as well.
This area does not attract large crowd of divers or even "walk-in customers" so any operator would have provide a decent service in order to survive.
This area does not attract large crowd of divers or even "walk-in customers" so any operator would have provide a decent service in order to survive.
birdman27
Contributor
I wisited the Phillipines in January, Flight to Cebu from BKK and back to BKK i had my regs, 3 first stages and 4 second stages, hoses, cameras, strobe, torch, consol DC and some SPG in my caryon. No problem.
On my flight from BKK they weight my caryon (12kg) and told me it should only be 7kg, but ok. ...
On the flight back to BKK they had me check my tools, wrench and allen-keys, no comment about the regs, spg or lpg.
I gues i was lucky.
On my flight from BKK they weight my caryon (12kg) and told me it should only be 7kg, but ok. ...
On the flight back to BKK they had me check my tools, wrench and allen-keys, no comment about the regs, spg or lpg.
I gues i was lucky.
Manila airport they're ridiculous about it. I had a power strip (4 socket power board with Australian plug) in my carry on which airport security confiscated off me because they said it could be used as a weapon.
Oz Chris
Contributor
My partner and I are on day 5 of 16 in the Philippines as we speak. We are both vegan and they are also on a FODMAP restricted diet (which includes avoiding gluten).
We’ve found food ok, if a little boring at times (not a lot of choices). Curry and rice; vege spring rolls; the resort we’re staying at in Donsol has a gluten free option on the vegetarian pasta so that’s been a staple.
Without the veg restriction I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine.
As far as luggage goes we’ve got two checked bags - one is all dive gear and weighs 20.02kg and the other has everything else and weighs 18.5kg. We prepaid for extra baggage where the allowance was only 10kg. Watch out for flights that are on a DH-8 rather than a jet. They have 10kg limits.
Both our hand luggage bags are under 7kg.
We’ve only done one of our 4 domestic flights so far and it was a breeze. That leg was Cebu Pacific. We’ll see what the future brings.
We’ve found food ok, if a little boring at times (not a lot of choices). Curry and rice; vege spring rolls; the resort we’re staying at in Donsol has a gluten free option on the vegetarian pasta so that’s been a staple.
Without the veg restriction I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine.
As far as luggage goes we’ve got two checked bags - one is all dive gear and weighs 20.02kg and the other has everything else and weighs 18.5kg. We prepaid for extra baggage where the allowance was only 10kg. Watch out for flights that are on a DH-8 rather than a jet. They have 10kg limits.
Both our hand luggage bags are under 7kg.
We’ve only done one of our 4 domestic flights so far and it was a breeze. That leg was Cebu Pacific. We’ll see what the future brings.
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
Hi. Just landed in Manila today and flew to Puerto Princesa immediately. Hory. Sheet. I landed in Manila at 11:30 AM and guess how long it took me to deplane, go through customs, switch terminals, check in for the next flight and get to the gate? 4 HOURS 50 MINUTES. Insanity!!!!
My carry on with photo gear was....16kg. Way past the limit. And then... I also had a tote bag that was full. No issues carrying it on. I flew EVA (Star Alliance Gold and Cebu Pacific). I opened to show them the photo gear and asked if I could carry on. EVA asked me if it was heavy and I said yes. They just told me to be careful loading it in the bins. My checked baggage was 23kg.
I took out my Allen keys out of my carry on bag when I got to Manila and transferred them to my check in luggage which is prepaid for 30kg. Tools are prohibited from carry on so I wanted to be more careful.
I hope this helps!
My carry on with photo gear was....16kg. Way past the limit. And then... I also had a tote bag that was full. No issues carrying it on. I flew EVA (Star Alliance Gold and Cebu Pacific). I opened to show them the photo gear and asked if I could carry on. EVA asked me if it was heavy and I said yes. They just told me to be careful loading it in the bins. My checked baggage was 23kg.
I took out my Allen keys out of my carry on bag when I got to Manila and transferred them to my check in luggage which is prepaid for 30kg. Tools are prohibited from carry on so I wanted to be more careful.
I hope this helps!
Sioux, for muck dives in/near Sogod Bay, must-dive sites are Malitbog Lembeh and Marayag. Napanthau, Jun's Pinnacle, etc., are beautiful coral reef dives, but for my buddies and me, the dives we did at Malitbog Lembeh and Marayag really made the trip each time (twice now for me, 3X or more for some buddies).
Malitbog Lembeh is a shore dive: Peter's will drive you to the village of Malitbog, where you can stroll into the silty substrate near the mouth of a small creek. It is shallow and usually worth a 75-90 minute dive, depending on your gas consumption rate (tip the DM later …). We saw a handful of flamboyant cuttlefish, a handful of blue-ring octopuses, other cuttlefish and other octopuses (my buddies saw a wonderpus but I missed it), Coleman's shrimp, miscellaneous seahorses, ghost pipefish, etc. My buddies and I asked Peter's to forget the boat and take us back there again and again. All sorts of great macro critters, only a few of which I have mentioned.
Marayag is much less often dived, because it's a boat ride away. It can be combined with an excellent coral reef dive. It's dark silt, with hairy frogfish a prime attraction, in addition to much of the stuff I mentioned above.
Request those sites specifically, or you might not go there (they're like pearls before swine for the newer divers who don't appreciate muck …). That's especially a problem with Marayag, because unlike a shore dive, with Marayag it's on the boat so the dive center will try to achieve consensus among the divers … most of whom want beautiful reefs, not silty muck.
Sorry, can't recall specific Tubbataha dives, as those were too long ago for me. Never been to Dumaguete
Malitbog Lembeh is a shore dive: Peter's will drive you to the village of Malitbog, where you can stroll into the silty substrate near the mouth of a small creek. It is shallow and usually worth a 75-90 minute dive, depending on your gas consumption rate (tip the DM later …). We saw a handful of flamboyant cuttlefish, a handful of blue-ring octopuses, other cuttlefish and other octopuses (my buddies saw a wonderpus but I missed it), Coleman's shrimp, miscellaneous seahorses, ghost pipefish, etc. My buddies and I asked Peter's to forget the boat and take us back there again and again. All sorts of great macro critters, only a few of which I have mentioned.
Marayag is much less often dived, because it's a boat ride away. It can be combined with an excellent coral reef dive. It's dark silt, with hairy frogfish a prime attraction, in addition to much of the stuff I mentioned above.
Request those sites specifically, or you might not go there (they're like pearls before swine for the newer divers who don't appreciate muck …). That's especially a problem with Marayag, because unlike a shore dive, with Marayag it's on the boat so the dive center will try to achieve consensus among the divers … most of whom want beautiful reefs, not silty muck.
Sorry, can't recall specific Tubbataha dives, as those were too long ago for me. Never been to Dumaguete
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