AlabamaSusana
Registered
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 0
- # of dives
- 500 - 999
Trip Report - Kasai Village Beach Resort, Tuble, Moalboal, The Philippines, February 12-22, 2009
We are four experienced divers and this was our fourth trip to the Tropical Pacific; the others were Thailand/Andaman Sea, Yap/Palau, and Chuuk/Palau. We also travel frequently to the Caribbean. We are not young; our ages range from mid-fifties to early seventies. Our travel agent for this, and our other Tropical Pacific travel, was Ultimate Dive Travel. Once again, we were very satisfied with their service.
We were extremely pleased with Kasai Village Beach Resort (HOME | Kasai Village Beach Resort). Travel time was nearly 40 hours from our home in lower Alabama to Kasai Village: Pensacola to Atlanta (1 hour), Atlanta to San Francisco (5 hours), San Francisco to Manila (16 hours), Manila to Cebu (1.5 hours), and van from Cebu City to Tuble (2.5 hours), plus layovers between legs. (The Philippines is 14 hours ahead of Central Standard Time so we left on a Thursday and arrived on Saturday; coming home we left on Saturday evening and arrived home Sunday morning.) You can only imagine how wonderful it was to be greeted as we got out of the van with mango shakes, baggage assistance, and the question, Ÿhen do you want to go diving? Our answer to that was as soon as we can eat some lunch and get our gear on. We were in the water within three hours of arriving.
Our first dive was a shore dive on the Kasai Wall (right in front of the resort). ItÃÔ a buoyed dive site that is used daily by other dive operators in the area. We were thrilled to find a beautiful wall with lots of nooks and crannies for wonderful creatures to hide. But the best part, especially for the photographers in our group, was the incredible coral on the top of the wall in about 16 feet of water so the lighting was perfect. We love the little fish and they were plentiful on the top of this and nearly every other dive site. Two of our group even saw Mandarinfish (later in the week).
Unlimited shore diving is part of the Kasai Village package. Only problem was that after three boat dives a day, a couple of us were too tired to consider tackling the shore dive. While the entry and exit are not difficult, there is quite a long walk through shallow (calm) water with rocks and coral that was a bit too much for a tired diver. I took my tropical booties and had to purchase boots with better soles after one look at that terrain. Luckily Kasai Village has a well-stocked dive shop.
Every dive was incredible and the dive staff (Carro, Andy, and Linn) were professional, competent, and fun. They transported our gear to the banca boat each morning and brought it in and cleaned it each afternoon. Carro and Linn had us in stitches with their fictional account of the sinking of the airplane at Copton Point. The story began with, ÅÊt was a dark and stormy night and ended with Andy taking a dive off the side of the boat in an imitation of a sinking plane.
Diving from the banca boat was easier than I expected. The crew helped us gear up and we entered the water with a backroll or a giant stride. The boat had ropes strong along the outriggers so even when there was a lot of surface current we could easily wait for everyone to get in the water. A nice ladder made getting back on board easy. It was obvious that Captain Larry knew the sea and we felt very safe being in open water with him.
We couldnÃÕ believe our good luck when we were told that every dive would be for sixty minutes and that there would be at least a sixty minute surface interval between dives. So even though we were diving three or four times a day, and sometimes to depths of 100 feet, we never came close to our ÅÏo decompression limits. The other wonderful part of most dives was that after about fifty minutes on the wall, we came up over the top to the most amazing coral gardens in 15-20 feet of water. Every dive ended with this prolonged, relaxed, gorgeous safety stop. Water temperatures were consistently 82 degrees Fahrenheit. I get chilled easily but was very comfortable in my 3mm Pinnacle Elastaprene wetsuit with a 1mm hooded vest.
We, being the older couple, did a total of 19 dives; the first shore dive and 18 boat dives. Dives were generally drifts along a wall with gentle current and that wonderful safety stop on top of the wall. Several of the dives, Pescador East on the first day, Saavedra Marine Sanctuary, and Fish Feeding had stronger current and were ÅÓough and tumble for a while. We knew the current at Fish Feeding was ripping when Andy dove off the boat during the surface interval and had to hang onto the ropes strung across the outriggers to avoid being swept away. The photographers werenÃÕ so happy, but I love current and really enjoyed the ride.
Divesites:
Kasai Wall (twice)
Pescador East (three times): saw a small (baby) white tip shark hiding on the shallow top of the wall; also saw a large white tip swimming quite deep
Pescador West (twice): saw the large white tip in this area as well
Pescador Cathedral
Saavedra Marine Sanctuary: giant sea fans
Fish Feeding: not really fish feeding, but a site where feeding has taken place in the past and fish crowd around when divers are in the water
Talisay Wall
Sampaquita Wall
Panagsama Reef
White Beach
Tuble Marine Sanctuary
Dolphin House (twice)
Copton Point: sunken (intentionally) airplane; the plane isnÃÕ that great, but the sandy area around the plane has lots of coral bommies that we loved.
Tongo Point
The coral was pristine on most dives with lots of the smaller fish and critters that I love. We saw some of the largest, healthiest looking sea turtles that I have ever seen. We saw several ornate ghost pipefish and so many banded pipefish that we became as blas about them as we are about sergeant majors. There are five types of anemonefish (false clown, tomato, pink, skunk, ClarkÃÔ) in this area and we saw them all on most dives.
Our one disappointment was that we did not see a whale shark. When we came up from our first dive on Pescador East, our boat captain reported that a captain waiting for divers on the other side of Pescador Island (Pescador West) saw a whale shark. We donÃÕ know if the divers saw it or not.
The dive staging area was the best designed that I have ever seen. Each diver has a three foot section with two hanging rods, hangers for wetsuits and BCs, area for booties, etc. There are benches with rubberized coating for donning gear, many hoses for rinsing, and three rinse tanks: one for cameras, one for regulators and masks, and one for wetsuits, BCs, booties, fins, etc.
Kasai Village is truly as beautiful as the website pictures. The resort is quite new and in wonderful condition. The hospitality was wonderful, within hours of our arrival we were begin greeted by name by all the staff. The restaurant was very good and a nice variety of foods were served at each meal.
WeÃ×e barely gotten over the jet lag from the trip home and are already trying to figure out a way to go back!
We are four experienced divers and this was our fourth trip to the Tropical Pacific; the others were Thailand/Andaman Sea, Yap/Palau, and Chuuk/Palau. We also travel frequently to the Caribbean. We are not young; our ages range from mid-fifties to early seventies. Our travel agent for this, and our other Tropical Pacific travel, was Ultimate Dive Travel. Once again, we were very satisfied with their service.
We were extremely pleased with Kasai Village Beach Resort (HOME | Kasai Village Beach Resort). Travel time was nearly 40 hours from our home in lower Alabama to Kasai Village: Pensacola to Atlanta (1 hour), Atlanta to San Francisco (5 hours), San Francisco to Manila (16 hours), Manila to Cebu (1.5 hours), and van from Cebu City to Tuble (2.5 hours), plus layovers between legs. (The Philippines is 14 hours ahead of Central Standard Time so we left on a Thursday and arrived on Saturday; coming home we left on Saturday evening and arrived home Sunday morning.) You can only imagine how wonderful it was to be greeted as we got out of the van with mango shakes, baggage assistance, and the question, Ÿhen do you want to go diving? Our answer to that was as soon as we can eat some lunch and get our gear on. We were in the water within three hours of arriving.
Our first dive was a shore dive on the Kasai Wall (right in front of the resort). ItÃÔ a buoyed dive site that is used daily by other dive operators in the area. We were thrilled to find a beautiful wall with lots of nooks and crannies for wonderful creatures to hide. But the best part, especially for the photographers in our group, was the incredible coral on the top of the wall in about 16 feet of water so the lighting was perfect. We love the little fish and they were plentiful on the top of this and nearly every other dive site. Two of our group even saw Mandarinfish (later in the week).
Unlimited shore diving is part of the Kasai Village package. Only problem was that after three boat dives a day, a couple of us were too tired to consider tackling the shore dive. While the entry and exit are not difficult, there is quite a long walk through shallow (calm) water with rocks and coral that was a bit too much for a tired diver. I took my tropical booties and had to purchase boots with better soles after one look at that terrain. Luckily Kasai Village has a well-stocked dive shop.
Every dive was incredible and the dive staff (Carro, Andy, and Linn) were professional, competent, and fun. They transported our gear to the banca boat each morning and brought it in and cleaned it each afternoon. Carro and Linn had us in stitches with their fictional account of the sinking of the airplane at Copton Point. The story began with, ÅÊt was a dark and stormy night and ended with Andy taking a dive off the side of the boat in an imitation of a sinking plane.
Diving from the banca boat was easier than I expected. The crew helped us gear up and we entered the water with a backroll or a giant stride. The boat had ropes strong along the outriggers so even when there was a lot of surface current we could easily wait for everyone to get in the water. A nice ladder made getting back on board easy. It was obvious that Captain Larry knew the sea and we felt very safe being in open water with him.
We couldnÃÕ believe our good luck when we were told that every dive would be for sixty minutes and that there would be at least a sixty minute surface interval between dives. So even though we were diving three or four times a day, and sometimes to depths of 100 feet, we never came close to our ÅÏo decompression limits. The other wonderful part of most dives was that after about fifty minutes on the wall, we came up over the top to the most amazing coral gardens in 15-20 feet of water. Every dive ended with this prolonged, relaxed, gorgeous safety stop. Water temperatures were consistently 82 degrees Fahrenheit. I get chilled easily but was very comfortable in my 3mm Pinnacle Elastaprene wetsuit with a 1mm hooded vest.
We, being the older couple, did a total of 19 dives; the first shore dive and 18 boat dives. Dives were generally drifts along a wall with gentle current and that wonderful safety stop on top of the wall. Several of the dives, Pescador East on the first day, Saavedra Marine Sanctuary, and Fish Feeding had stronger current and were ÅÓough and tumble for a while. We knew the current at Fish Feeding was ripping when Andy dove off the boat during the surface interval and had to hang onto the ropes strung across the outriggers to avoid being swept away. The photographers werenÃÕ so happy, but I love current and really enjoyed the ride.
Divesites:
Kasai Wall (twice)
Pescador East (three times): saw a small (baby) white tip shark hiding on the shallow top of the wall; also saw a large white tip swimming quite deep
Pescador West (twice): saw the large white tip in this area as well
Pescador Cathedral
Saavedra Marine Sanctuary: giant sea fans
Fish Feeding: not really fish feeding, but a site where feeding has taken place in the past and fish crowd around when divers are in the water
Talisay Wall
Sampaquita Wall
Panagsama Reef
White Beach
Tuble Marine Sanctuary
Dolphin House (twice)
Copton Point: sunken (intentionally) airplane; the plane isnÃÕ that great, but the sandy area around the plane has lots of coral bommies that we loved.
Tongo Point
The coral was pristine on most dives with lots of the smaller fish and critters that I love. We saw some of the largest, healthiest looking sea turtles that I have ever seen. We saw several ornate ghost pipefish and so many banded pipefish that we became as blas about them as we are about sergeant majors. There are five types of anemonefish (false clown, tomato, pink, skunk, ClarkÃÔ) in this area and we saw them all on most dives.
Our one disappointment was that we did not see a whale shark. When we came up from our first dive on Pescador East, our boat captain reported that a captain waiting for divers on the other side of Pescador Island (Pescador West) saw a whale shark. We donÃÕ know if the divers saw it or not.
The dive staging area was the best designed that I have ever seen. Each diver has a three foot section with two hanging rods, hangers for wetsuits and BCs, area for booties, etc. There are benches with rubberized coating for donning gear, many hoses for rinsing, and three rinse tanks: one for cameras, one for regulators and masks, and one for wetsuits, BCs, booties, fins, etc.
Kasai Village is truly as beautiful as the website pictures. The resort is quite new and in wonderful condition. The hospitality was wonderful, within hours of our arrival we were begin greeted by name by all the staff. The restaurant was very good and a nice variety of foods were served at each meal.
WeÃ×e barely gotten over the jet lag from the trip home and are already trying to figure out a way to go back!
