Ironborn
Contributor
This first trip of mine to the Visayas was my second visit to the Philippines, after my first trip to Puerto Galera and Anilao two years ago. The combination of Alona Beach on Panglao Island and Dauin (better known as Dumaguete) on Negros Oriental was almost equally rewarding, albeit in different ways. I had originally come to the Philippines for its famous macro, and it certainly delivered on this trip. I nonetheless found that these two destinations might have been equally or more rewarding for rich coral reefs, high fish density, and larger animals. Dauin had originally been my must-see destination for its muck diving and macro photography opportunities, and I decided to combine it with the reef diving of Alona Beach for balance and variety. The reef diving from Alona Beach and on Apo Island, off the coast of Dauin, actually ended up impressing me more. This trip fueled my interest in further exploration of the Coral Triangle, the Philippines, and the Visayas: my next priorities include Bali, Malapascua, and Sogod Bay. Please see the link to my Instagram profile in my signature bloc for my photos from both Alona Beach and Dauin.
Why and How I Went There
Having already been to Puerto Galera and Anilao, I wanted to explore another part of the Philippines. The Visayas seemed like the most logical choice, as they have the widest selection of diving destinations. I had two weeks and wanted to combine two different destinations that were both different enough from each other to provide variety, but also close enough to each other to travel from one to the other in one day without a domestic flight (due to off-gassing requirements and baggage limits). Dauin was a must-see for me due to my special interest in macro photography. Alona Beach was the best choice to combine with Dauin because of its coral-centric reef diving and the ease of traveling between there and Dumaguete (a two-hour OceanJet ferry ride). I gave serious consideration to both Malapascua and Sogod Bay, but I ultimately decided to save that pair of more remote destinations for a future trip.
I chose to fly on Philippine Airlines (PAL) because: a) they have non-stop flights between New York and Manila; and b) I could connect in Manila to and from Panglao/Bohol/Tagbilaran (TAG) airport on the same PAL ticket. I flew into TAG for the first leg of my trip on Alona Beach, took the ferry to Dumaguete for the second leg of my trip in Dauin, and then took the ferry back for a flight out of TAG. Flying out of Dumaguete would have been more expensive as an open jaw itinerary, and it also would have cost me a day of diving because the PAL flight from Dumaguete was early in the morning.
I had been satisfied with my previous PAL flights between New York and Manila, and the international legs of this trip were OK. The domestic flights and the transfers within the Manila airport, however, were atrocious, almost as if I were flying on a totally different airline. My flight to TAG was delayed three and a half hours, and they did not even bother to update us until I pestered them about it at length. Transferring between terminals at Manila is almost as if one is moving from one airport to another. I had to go through security *five* times between disembarking from my flight from TAG to boarding my return flight to New York. Suffice it to say that my next flights to the Visayas will probably be on non-Filipino airlines to Cebu, from which I will take land or sea transportation the rest of the way.
My Choice of Dive Operators and Lodging
I chose my operators and lodging through research on Scubaboard, Undercurrent, and Trip Advisor. Choosing an operator on Alona Beach was somewhat harder because there are not as many reviews and trip reports on the first two of those websites, which I would consider more useful than Trip Advisor. I nonetheless identified three candidates: Philippine Fun Divers (PFD), Haka Dive Center, and Seaquest Dive Center/Oasis Resort. Seaquest did not answer my inquiries, and PFD's responses were more satisfying to me than those of Haka. I thus went with PFD, which had already struck me as the most reputable of the three, particularly among Scubaboard members.
In retrospect, PFD was probably the right choice, but I think that much of the dive shop market on Alona Beach caters more to a demographic of divers with tastes and expectations different from mine (e.g. backpackers, not photographers). My only major gripe was that many of the dives had arbitrary bottom time limits (i.e. other than NDLs and gas consumption), which contradicted what they told me when I booked. They were nonetheless so accommodating in every other way, such as taking me out on a few afternoon or night dives when no one else wanted to go, or adding me to one of their Balicasag trips at the last minute, that I let it slide. PFD's prices were reasonable. The guides demonstrated solid wildlife spotting skills and safety consciousness, although one or two of them were more conservative than I would have liked. I was at first uncomfortable with the smaller boats that they use for local dives along Alona Beach and to ferry us out to the larger bangkas that they use for longer trips (which cannot land on the beach). I then compared them to the boats of other dive operations (who have similar arrangements), some of which were little more than platforms with motors attached to them. I thus came to appreciate that PFD was probably better than other local dive shops in this regard too. Nitrox blends were reasonably accurate, and they had a homemade Nitrox analyzer that I came to admire.
I booked my lodging at the neighboring Lost Horizon Dive Resort through PFD, which is a separate business but cooperates with the resort. I had been concerned about staying there due to the many highly negative reviews on Trip Advisor, to which the resort responded by accusing reviewers of exaggerating. In retrospect, it was adequate for my purposes, and perhaps the negative reviewers might have been exaggerating after all. I just needed a place close to PFD to sleep, use the bathroom, work on my camera, and eat, and to that extent it was fine. If you are looking for an actual “resort” experience, though, one would probably be better off elsewhere. My only gripe was that the food portions at the restaurant were small, so I only ate there before and between dives and went off-site for dinner. For those of you diving with PFD that want a more upscale option, there is a Best Western right next door to Lost Horizon and thus very close to PFD.
There were many more reviews and trip reports on the resorts of Dauin from like-minded divers (e.g. photographers), which facilitated my decision. I gave serious consideration to Atlantis and Atmosphere but decided against them due to their high prices, e.g. twice as much as the next-best alternatives, and some of Atlantis' billing practices that sounded like double-dipping to me. I enjoyed my previous stay at Atlantis Puerto Galera enough to consider giving them repeat business, but my main reason for staying at their Puerto Galera resort was that there were few or no others there with comparable reputations; that was not the case in Dauin. The next-best option seemed to be Mike's Dauin Beach Resort, with an almost equally good reputation (albeit on a smaller scale) and moderate prices.
In retrospect, this choice worked out well enough, but it was a bit different from what I had expected. I had been expecting a dive-centric resort, but in practice it seemed like more of a beach resort with an attached dive shop than a dive resort per se. The excellent resort manager, who went out of his way to accommodate me in so many ways, explained that he has been trying to push the resort in this more dive-centric direction that I had in mind. This difference was not a problem per se, but I had hoped for more like-minded guests (e.g. photographers) with whom to mingle, compare notes, and share stories. I had been expecting to be the only compact camera user (SeaLife) among an army of DSLR users, as in Anilao and Lembeh, but in fact my relatively modest rig was often the most substantial one onboard. The facility itself was quite nice, with comfortable rooms and a pleasant atmosphere and natural scenery. The “house dog,” a black Lab that the manager described as their “head of security,” made a point of sleeping in front of my room for several nights in a row, as if she felt the need to guard me. Some of the stray dogs that roam up and down the beach came to greet us when we got off the boat.
The British manager at Mike's may have been one of the most dedicated and accommodating hosts that I have encountered in my dive travels. If I asked for something and it was within his power and operational constraints to provide it, he delivered – such as night dives for which I was the only guest (which we did as shore dives and were often quite good). The boats at Mike's were comfortable, spacious, and a big improvement over those in Alona Beach. The guides were professional and safety conscious, but there seemed to be some significant variation in their wildlife spotting; it was unclear to me if this variation was due to differences between their respective skill levels, the sites that we visited, or other factors. There was one guide, however, that clearly distinguished himself in this regard. The food tasted good and came in reasonably sized portions. I nonetheless developed a digestive problem that was not bad enough to keep me from diving but did put a damper on the experience.
(to be continued on this thread)
Why and How I Went There
Having already been to Puerto Galera and Anilao, I wanted to explore another part of the Philippines. The Visayas seemed like the most logical choice, as they have the widest selection of diving destinations. I had two weeks and wanted to combine two different destinations that were both different enough from each other to provide variety, but also close enough to each other to travel from one to the other in one day without a domestic flight (due to off-gassing requirements and baggage limits). Dauin was a must-see for me due to my special interest in macro photography. Alona Beach was the best choice to combine with Dauin because of its coral-centric reef diving and the ease of traveling between there and Dumaguete (a two-hour OceanJet ferry ride). I gave serious consideration to both Malapascua and Sogod Bay, but I ultimately decided to save that pair of more remote destinations for a future trip.
I chose to fly on Philippine Airlines (PAL) because: a) they have non-stop flights between New York and Manila; and b) I could connect in Manila to and from Panglao/Bohol/Tagbilaran (TAG) airport on the same PAL ticket. I flew into TAG for the first leg of my trip on Alona Beach, took the ferry to Dumaguete for the second leg of my trip in Dauin, and then took the ferry back for a flight out of TAG. Flying out of Dumaguete would have been more expensive as an open jaw itinerary, and it also would have cost me a day of diving because the PAL flight from Dumaguete was early in the morning.
I had been satisfied with my previous PAL flights between New York and Manila, and the international legs of this trip were OK. The domestic flights and the transfers within the Manila airport, however, were atrocious, almost as if I were flying on a totally different airline. My flight to TAG was delayed three and a half hours, and they did not even bother to update us until I pestered them about it at length. Transferring between terminals at Manila is almost as if one is moving from one airport to another. I had to go through security *five* times between disembarking from my flight from TAG to boarding my return flight to New York. Suffice it to say that my next flights to the Visayas will probably be on non-Filipino airlines to Cebu, from which I will take land or sea transportation the rest of the way.
My Choice of Dive Operators and Lodging
I chose my operators and lodging through research on Scubaboard, Undercurrent, and Trip Advisor. Choosing an operator on Alona Beach was somewhat harder because there are not as many reviews and trip reports on the first two of those websites, which I would consider more useful than Trip Advisor. I nonetheless identified three candidates: Philippine Fun Divers (PFD), Haka Dive Center, and Seaquest Dive Center/Oasis Resort. Seaquest did not answer my inquiries, and PFD's responses were more satisfying to me than those of Haka. I thus went with PFD, which had already struck me as the most reputable of the three, particularly among Scubaboard members.
In retrospect, PFD was probably the right choice, but I think that much of the dive shop market on Alona Beach caters more to a demographic of divers with tastes and expectations different from mine (e.g. backpackers, not photographers). My only major gripe was that many of the dives had arbitrary bottom time limits (i.e. other than NDLs and gas consumption), which contradicted what they told me when I booked. They were nonetheless so accommodating in every other way, such as taking me out on a few afternoon or night dives when no one else wanted to go, or adding me to one of their Balicasag trips at the last minute, that I let it slide. PFD's prices were reasonable. The guides demonstrated solid wildlife spotting skills and safety consciousness, although one or two of them were more conservative than I would have liked. I was at first uncomfortable with the smaller boats that they use for local dives along Alona Beach and to ferry us out to the larger bangkas that they use for longer trips (which cannot land on the beach). I then compared them to the boats of other dive operations (who have similar arrangements), some of which were little more than platforms with motors attached to them. I thus came to appreciate that PFD was probably better than other local dive shops in this regard too. Nitrox blends were reasonably accurate, and they had a homemade Nitrox analyzer that I came to admire.
I booked my lodging at the neighboring Lost Horizon Dive Resort through PFD, which is a separate business but cooperates with the resort. I had been concerned about staying there due to the many highly negative reviews on Trip Advisor, to which the resort responded by accusing reviewers of exaggerating. In retrospect, it was adequate for my purposes, and perhaps the negative reviewers might have been exaggerating after all. I just needed a place close to PFD to sleep, use the bathroom, work on my camera, and eat, and to that extent it was fine. If you are looking for an actual “resort” experience, though, one would probably be better off elsewhere. My only gripe was that the food portions at the restaurant were small, so I only ate there before and between dives and went off-site for dinner. For those of you diving with PFD that want a more upscale option, there is a Best Western right next door to Lost Horizon and thus very close to PFD.
There were many more reviews and trip reports on the resorts of Dauin from like-minded divers (e.g. photographers), which facilitated my decision. I gave serious consideration to Atlantis and Atmosphere but decided against them due to their high prices, e.g. twice as much as the next-best alternatives, and some of Atlantis' billing practices that sounded like double-dipping to me. I enjoyed my previous stay at Atlantis Puerto Galera enough to consider giving them repeat business, but my main reason for staying at their Puerto Galera resort was that there were few or no others there with comparable reputations; that was not the case in Dauin. The next-best option seemed to be Mike's Dauin Beach Resort, with an almost equally good reputation (albeit on a smaller scale) and moderate prices.
In retrospect, this choice worked out well enough, but it was a bit different from what I had expected. I had been expecting a dive-centric resort, but in practice it seemed like more of a beach resort with an attached dive shop than a dive resort per se. The excellent resort manager, who went out of his way to accommodate me in so many ways, explained that he has been trying to push the resort in this more dive-centric direction that I had in mind. This difference was not a problem per se, but I had hoped for more like-minded guests (e.g. photographers) with whom to mingle, compare notes, and share stories. I had been expecting to be the only compact camera user (SeaLife) among an army of DSLR users, as in Anilao and Lembeh, but in fact my relatively modest rig was often the most substantial one onboard. The facility itself was quite nice, with comfortable rooms and a pleasant atmosphere and natural scenery. The “house dog,” a black Lab that the manager described as their “head of security,” made a point of sleeping in front of my room for several nights in a row, as if she felt the need to guard me. Some of the stray dogs that roam up and down the beach came to greet us when we got off the boat.
The British manager at Mike's may have been one of the most dedicated and accommodating hosts that I have encountered in my dive travels. If I asked for something and it was within his power and operational constraints to provide it, he delivered – such as night dives for which I was the only guest (which we did as shore dives and were often quite good). The boats at Mike's were comfortable, spacious, and a big improvement over those in Alona Beach. The guides were professional and safety conscious, but there seemed to be some significant variation in their wildlife spotting; it was unclear to me if this variation was due to differences between their respective skill levels, the sites that we visited, or other factors. There was one guide, however, that clearly distinguished himself in this regard. The food tasted good and came in reasonably sized portions. I nonetheless developed a digestive problem that was not bad enough to keep me from diving but did put a damper on the experience.
(to be continued on this thread)