mellowwee
Registered
Arrived in Manila on February 11, 5 hour layover in Manila then a one hour flight to Bacolod, van from the resort picked me up for a harrowing 3 hour drive to the resort (my first experience with roads in Ph). Arrived at the resort, easy Diving Sipalay, in the late afternoon and was greeted with friendly staff, a cold drink and a briefing regarding the resort and the diving routine by the dive director. The resort is run by a European man, and most of the guests and the dive director were European. Stayed at the resort for 3-4 days and did about 10 dives. The resort was pleasant, food was good (not great). Bar and restaurant staff were very good. Food and drink prices reasonable. There was archery at the resort which was a fun break from diving. The rooms were small, but clean and functional, and about $50 a night.
The diving was very good, visibility on average was not great, 30 feet on a couple of dives, but mostly 40-60. We took a day trip to turtle island, dove a nice reef, mucked around a pier, then a shallow wreck. Also did 2 days of diving around the resort, saw frogfish, pipefish, lots of nudibranchs (most dives saw 5-10), pygme seahorse, other seahorses, lots of turtles. Diving was in Bangkas, there was adequate shade, one tank at a time, dives at 8, 10:30, 2:30, 4 and occasional night dives. 1-3 boats out at a time. Could pick your next days dives each afternoon prior. Dives were $30 and included nitrox at the resort, no nitrox on the safari.
Then left on February 15 for the safari. Had a good briefing the night before, Safari guide was an Australian, very friendly and well organized. Rest of the crew was locals, 2 cooks/servers, captain, 2 dive guides (in addition to safari guide who was also a dive guide), 2-3 additional deckhands, all very friendly.
Daily routine was to board the boat from shore at 6-7 am, have coffee and cookies and bananas. Travel about 1 hour to first dive site, do a dive, back on board for a full hot breakfast, travel 1-4 hours to anther site, do a dive, eat a full hot lunch, travel another 1-4 hours, do afternoon dive, arrive at a resort, disembark to resort via inflatable, the safari guide would arrange our hotel check in, have a couple drinks, all meet for dinner, have a decent dinner (again food was good, not great). Hotel rooms were basic, some had less than comfortable beds, but most were pretty good. There were optional night dives on 2 nights. Also 2 land trips that were optional but the safari guide would arrange them for us.
Trip Itenarary was ...
Day 1: Sipalay - Basay - Dauin, 3-4 dives, Overnight in Dauin, Negros
Day 2: Apo Island, 3-4 dives. Overnight in Dauin, Negros
Day 3: Siquijor Island, Balicasag Island, 3-4 dives. Overnight in Alona Beach.
Day 4: Panglao Island, 3-4 dives or 1 dive plus optional land tour to the Chocolate Hills. Overnight in Alona Beach, Bohol.
Day 5: Balicasag Island - Sumilon Island, 3-4 dives. Overnight in Liloan.
Day 6: Liloan, Moalboal, Excursion Kawasan Waterfalls. Check in Moalboal
I do not remember all of the dives, probably about 15 total (most days were 3 dives, one day was 4 dives including the night dive, another day was 2 dives then land tour to Chocolate Hills) but I only remember about 2-3 dives that I thought were just OK, the rest were good to fantastic. About 1/3 of the dives were on the hook, rest were slow drifts, with 2-3 moderate speed drifts. There were 12 passengers total, but only about 5-10 diving on each dive (I was a little surprised that some of the people didn't dive much, and about half the passengers left the boat for a day at a time to do their own thing on land). The dive guides were very good, the briefings were superb, If my buddy and I wanted to wander off a bit and do our own thing it was no big deal. We also did the whale sharks in Oslob. By the time we arrived in Moalboal we were all dived out after about 25 dives in 9 days, so we missed out on the sardine balls and the Pescador island that were recommended at Moalboal. We stayed one night at Moalboal (boat gets in about 6pm). The dive shop in Bacolod arranged private car to Cebu, 3 hours drive, we hung out in Cebu for a day/night, then on to Manila and home to LAX.
Pros:
-Dove in lots of different areas
-Good boat crew, very nice staff at all of the hotels
-off the boat each night to have dinner in a restaurant, drinks, walk around town, stay in a comfortable hotel room, see different areas of the Philippines.
-good food on the boat
-good value (take a look at the website for exact prices, but the safari is about $1000, plus about $100 for marine park fees, crew tips) Dinner at hotel included, you have to pay for alcohol of course, but drinks are very cheap.
-the 2 land trips were a good break from diving and allowed us to see other parts of the Philippines.
Cons:
-long boat rides, there were several stretches of 3-4 hours rides, I don't really see how this could be reduced much without losing some of the variety though
-amenities on the boat were pretty basic, I didn't mind
-we had a couple patches of rough weather, the boat took it fine, but the area that is inside and protected can get a little stuffy, also almost all of the passengers smoked (a European thing?) so it was a little unpleasant in that regard
-one of the hotels had very small rooms and uncomfortable beds
-one of the only things I really disliked about the Philippines in general was the roads and driving, crazy driving, I finally learned to just zone out and sleep, read, or just not pay attention and let the driver deal with it.
-no nitrox on the safari
Overall I would recommend the dive Safari, and the resort at Easy Diving Sipalay. I didn't dive at Moalboal so cant really comment on Savedra. I don't thing I would do the Safari again, just because there are so many other places to visit and dive, I am already planning on going on another dive trip to Philippines soon, and every year if I can. I have mostly been diving in Roatan, Cozumel, Bonair and Grand Cayman, Hawaii and my local area of Southern California, but have to say any further dive vacations will be to Philippines, and then maybe onto other destinations in Asia.
The diving was very good, visibility on average was not great, 30 feet on a couple of dives, but mostly 40-60. We took a day trip to turtle island, dove a nice reef, mucked around a pier, then a shallow wreck. Also did 2 days of diving around the resort, saw frogfish, pipefish, lots of nudibranchs (most dives saw 5-10), pygme seahorse, other seahorses, lots of turtles. Diving was in Bangkas, there was adequate shade, one tank at a time, dives at 8, 10:30, 2:30, 4 and occasional night dives. 1-3 boats out at a time. Could pick your next days dives each afternoon prior. Dives were $30 and included nitrox at the resort, no nitrox on the safari.
Then left on February 15 for the safari. Had a good briefing the night before, Safari guide was an Australian, very friendly and well organized. Rest of the crew was locals, 2 cooks/servers, captain, 2 dive guides (in addition to safari guide who was also a dive guide), 2-3 additional deckhands, all very friendly.
Daily routine was to board the boat from shore at 6-7 am, have coffee and cookies and bananas. Travel about 1 hour to first dive site, do a dive, back on board for a full hot breakfast, travel 1-4 hours to anther site, do a dive, eat a full hot lunch, travel another 1-4 hours, do afternoon dive, arrive at a resort, disembark to resort via inflatable, the safari guide would arrange our hotel check in, have a couple drinks, all meet for dinner, have a decent dinner (again food was good, not great). Hotel rooms were basic, some had less than comfortable beds, but most were pretty good. There were optional night dives on 2 nights. Also 2 land trips that were optional but the safari guide would arrange them for us.
Trip Itenarary was ...
Day 1: Sipalay - Basay - Dauin, 3-4 dives, Overnight in Dauin, Negros
Day 2: Apo Island, 3-4 dives. Overnight in Dauin, Negros
Day 3: Siquijor Island, Balicasag Island, 3-4 dives. Overnight in Alona Beach.
Day 4: Panglao Island, 3-4 dives or 1 dive plus optional land tour to the Chocolate Hills. Overnight in Alona Beach, Bohol.
Day 5: Balicasag Island - Sumilon Island, 3-4 dives. Overnight in Liloan.
Day 6: Liloan, Moalboal, Excursion Kawasan Waterfalls. Check in Moalboal
I do not remember all of the dives, probably about 15 total (most days were 3 dives, one day was 4 dives including the night dive, another day was 2 dives then land tour to Chocolate Hills) but I only remember about 2-3 dives that I thought were just OK, the rest were good to fantastic. About 1/3 of the dives were on the hook, rest were slow drifts, with 2-3 moderate speed drifts. There were 12 passengers total, but only about 5-10 diving on each dive (I was a little surprised that some of the people didn't dive much, and about half the passengers left the boat for a day at a time to do their own thing on land). The dive guides were very good, the briefings were superb, If my buddy and I wanted to wander off a bit and do our own thing it was no big deal. We also did the whale sharks in Oslob. By the time we arrived in Moalboal we were all dived out after about 25 dives in 9 days, so we missed out on the sardine balls and the Pescador island that were recommended at Moalboal. We stayed one night at Moalboal (boat gets in about 6pm). The dive shop in Bacolod arranged private car to Cebu, 3 hours drive, we hung out in Cebu for a day/night, then on to Manila and home to LAX.
Pros:
-Dove in lots of different areas
-Good boat crew, very nice staff at all of the hotels
-off the boat each night to have dinner in a restaurant, drinks, walk around town, stay in a comfortable hotel room, see different areas of the Philippines.
-good food on the boat
-good value (take a look at the website for exact prices, but the safari is about $1000, plus about $100 for marine park fees, crew tips) Dinner at hotel included, you have to pay for alcohol of course, but drinks are very cheap.
-the 2 land trips were a good break from diving and allowed us to see other parts of the Philippines.
Cons:
-long boat rides, there were several stretches of 3-4 hours rides, I don't really see how this could be reduced much without losing some of the variety though
-amenities on the boat were pretty basic, I didn't mind
-we had a couple patches of rough weather, the boat took it fine, but the area that is inside and protected can get a little stuffy, also almost all of the passengers smoked (a European thing?) so it was a little unpleasant in that regard
-one of the hotels had very small rooms and uncomfortable beds
-one of the only things I really disliked about the Philippines in general was the roads and driving, crazy driving, I finally learned to just zone out and sleep, read, or just not pay attention and let the driver deal with it.
-no nitrox on the safari
Overall I would recommend the dive Safari, and the resort at Easy Diving Sipalay. I didn't dive at Moalboal so cant really comment on Savedra. I don't thing I would do the Safari again, just because there are so many other places to visit and dive, I am already planning on going on another dive trip to Philippines soon, and every year if I can. I have mostly been diving in Roatan, Cozumel, Bonair and Grand Cayman, Hawaii and my local area of Southern California, but have to say any further dive vacations will be to Philippines, and then maybe onto other destinations in Asia.
