Trip Report Cabilao and Dauin

[brownmola]

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?

Polaris' Deluxe room went for about $45 US dollars for 2 people. The room was big with a large shower and a separate bathroom. I really liked it a lot. I didn't get to see what the other rooms liked like, but everything looked very nice. I walked around to see what some of the other resorts looked like and they looked a little run down. I don't know if it was because there weren't people staying there or if they hadn't cleaned up after the wind from the typhoon. Dives were around $26 each. If you do 10 dives, you get 1 free. This time of year was the "down" season for the resorts and Polaris had 1 or 2 other guests while we were there whereas El Dorado was nearly full.

El Dorado's standard room was fine, but it is a lot smaller than what the pictures show. We actually asked for a Superior room originally but I think they only have a few of those and they were all booked. I would highly recommend not getting any of the meal plans because it is unlikely you will maximize the amount they charge for board. I'm not sure why they have a meal plan to begin with since everything just gets billed to your room. We probably lost $2-3 a meal because water/sodas weren't covered and we rarely approached our full board food limit.

One more thing on the El Dorado transfer to the Cebu Airport, they charged us roughly $74 for both of us combined, it looks like they've updated their price to $68 for one person.

 

[brownmola]

Great pictures !!!
What camera do you have?

I have a Nikon D70 with an Ikelite housing.

 

[AngelfishDiver]

Polaris' Deluxe room went for about $45 US dollars for 2 people. The room was big with a large shower and a separate bathroom. I really liked it a lot. I didn't get to see what the other rooms liked like, but everything looked very nice. I walked around to see what some of the other resorts looked like and they looked a little run down. I don't know if it was because there weren't people staying there or if they hadn't cleaned up after the wind from the typhoon. Dives were around $26 each. If you do 10 dives, you get 1 free. This time of year was the "down" season for the resorts and Polaris had 1 or 2 other guests while we were there whereas El Dorado was nearly full.

El Dorado's standard room was fine, but it is a lot smaller than what the pictures show. We actually asked for a Superior room originally but I think they only have a few of those and they were all booked. I would highly recommend not getting any of the meal plans because it is unlikely you will maximize the amount they charge for board. I'm not sure why they have a meal plan to begin with since everything just gets billed to your room. We probably lost $2-3 a meal because water/sodas weren't covered and we rarely approached our full board food limit.

One more thing on the El Dorado transfer to the Cebu Airport, they charged us roughly $74 for both of us combined, it looks like they've updated their price to $68 for one person.

Thanks a lot!!!
I have a last question, about diving...
If you had to choose between 1 of the 2 places for diving, according to the diving conditions (including the quality of the dive center and the guides), the interest and variety of the dives... wich one would you do again?...

 

[brownmola]

Thanks a lot!!!
I have a last question, about diving...
If you had to choose between 1 of the 2 places for diving, according to the diving conditions (including the quality of the dive center and the guides), the interest and variety of the dives... wich one would you do again?...

That's tough. Based on diving alone, I think it is a tossup. I liked both places but they were different. Polaris had more wall diving and I thought the visibility was much better there whereas a lot of the diving in El Dorado was over sand or artificial reefs (with the exception of Apo) and they seemed to have more variety with the small critters.

I liked Polaris better as a resort because of its small size and remoteness so I guess that would be the tiebreaker for me.

I don't think you can go wrong with either place.

 

[AngelfishDiver]

That's tough. Based on diving alone, I think it is a tossup. I liked both places but they were different. Polaris had more wall diving and I thought the visibility was much better there whereas a lot of the diving in El Dorado was over sand or artificial reefs (with the exception of Apo) and they seemed to have more variety with the small critters.

I liked Polaris better as a resort because of its small size and remoteness so I guess that would be the tiebreaker for me.

I don't think you can go wrong with either place.

Thanks again, you are a great help! And I like your answer, clear and honest !
I love small things and nudibranch, but I do appreciate small resort and remoteness ...
So I think I have to keep in mind to do both !... and that's what I will try to do !