Trip Report Cabilao and Dauin

[shugar]

great report! happy you had a great time!

bring friends! the beer's always cold and cheap in this side of the world...

Jag

 

[annasea]

Hi anna,

The way I read it, I think brownmola left internationally from Cebu Airport, while you only had to transfer to Dumaguete Airport for a local flight to Manila. If you look on the map, Cebu City is quite a ways away from Dauin so I understand having to pay a bit extra on the trip.

And Brownmola, I'd agree - I reckon it is about twice the distance! thanks for a nice trip report.

I see. Thx for the clarification, Chip!

 

[pyrodiver]

Rey is very good spotter... I also suggest you point to him from critter books what you want to find.

There is a Xeno crab right in the house reef of El Dorado. I showed that to Lito. Also a different colored Xeno crab at the Pier... I think Lito found that one....

 

[brownmola]

I don't know, I just checked the website and shuttle service is free. Maybe your departure time wasn't on the regular schedule so they charged for it?

On the dives you did from El Dorado, were more than 4 divers assigned per DM? (The website states 4-5 per guide but most of the dives I did had up to 8 divers. Not much fun especially on a wall. But the free Nitrox was great!)

The dives near the resort were usually 1:4 although the little boat could take up to 7 if they signed up. Apo was usually 1:6. Our last dive on the pier was 1:7 which was definitely too many people to be in the same confined space, especially when everyone is trying to look at the same little creature the DM is pointing out. That was the only dive site that I felt was impacted by the large group.

 

[pakman]

nice report. Glad you had a great time...

hmm... tempted to squeeze in a Dumaguete trip next month... and just dive the pier...

 

[pyrodiver]

Pak, Chicoboy was there last week. He said viz was great at the pier this time of the year. We were there last May and viz was not good... Check out his flickr..

Flickr: Solanaboy's Photostream

nice report. Glad you had a great time...

hmm... tempted to squeeze in a Dumaguete trip next month... and just dive the pier...

 

[pakman]

hot dang... I could spend a whole trip just diving the ducomi pier!

 

[brownmola]

Here are a few more pics from the trip:

Cabilao and Dauin 2008


If I mislabeled any of the critters, please let me know. There were a few I wasn't 100% sure identifying.

Thanks!

 

[AngelfishDiver]

Hi AngelfishDiver, I set up the accommodations before arrived through email. I set up the diving once I arrived at the resorts.

Polaris required a wire transfer of $100 and I ended up paying the balance at the end of my stay with credit card (although it took several attempts for it to go through, they prefer cash, but I didn't have nearly enough and couldn't withdraw that much so I was relieved when the card went through).

At El Dorado, I sent a deposit via paypal and paid the rest with credit card. They ended up being close to full by the time we left, so I would definitely recommend emailing them in advance.

We didn't want to mess with transfers from and to the airport so we had Polaris pick us up from the airport, about a 2.5 hour car ride and then a 40 minute boat ride(around $100 for 2 people). At the end of our stay with them they took us to Tagbilaran and bought our ferry ticket for us to Dumaguete(around $35 for 2 people+ferry ticket). The ride to Tagbilaran was about 1 hour and the ferry was about 1.5 hours.

El Dorado picked us up in Dumaguete(free pickup) and then took us back to the airport at the end of our stay($68 for 2 people). We had to take a 25 minute ferry from Negros Oriental Island to Cebu Island, the ferry ticket was part of the dropoff fee. There was another driver waiting for us when the boat docked. Even though it seemed like double the distance from our Polaris pickup spot, the car ride to the airport was only 3 hours, although we did leave at 5:30 am.


Hope that helps.

Thanks, it helps a lot!

About the rates, can you tell me the rooms rate and dive prices for Polaris (the is nothing about price list on their web site)
What rooms would you recommand in each resort?

So, with El Dorado, the dive group can be a little... crowded... was it the same with Polaris?

 

[AngelfishDiver]

Here are a few more pics from the trip:

Cabilao and Dauin 2008


If I mislabeled any of the critters, please let me know. There were a few I wasn't 100% sure identifying.

Thanks!

Great pictures !!!
What camera do you have?