Good day, I currently have a week in the Philippines (17-25 December) on the way back home to the US, and I can't decide where to go. I just saw the Divers Ready video about Verde Island, which looks fantastic. My original plan was to fly to Cebu and do Malapascua, but I have heard some negative comments about it. I have been diving a fair bit now in Australia for the past few months (GBR, Fish Rock Cave, Sydney) and am AOW and nitrox certified. So right now, I think I'm mostly debating on Verde Island and other sites while staying in Puerto Galera or flying to Coron and doing wreck dives there (haven't done any big wrecks yet). So was wondering what you guys would do if you were me and for the first time in the Philippines?
Where would you choose to dive 4-5 days?
- Thread starter olof
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Coron, Malapascua and PG are great places for diving and they are all different.
Christmas is the busier time of the yr for all dive operators/resorts in the country. Many places should be fully booked by now so you have to act fast.
Both Coron and Malapascua required a domestic flight and there is NO fly penalty after diving.
PG is my first choice as it is nearer to Manila(assuming you are flying out from there).
Christmas is the busier time of the yr for all dive operators/resorts in the country. Many places should be fully booked by now so you have to act fast.
Both Coron and Malapascua required a domestic flight and there is NO fly penalty after diving.
PG is my first choice as it is nearer to Manila(assuming you are flying out from there).
Failed captcha
Contributor
Fly to Bohol and go to Alona Beach. You would therefore waste the least amount of time commuting for the best diving you can probably do short of a long commute. Coron is great too. you can be diving within a couple of hours of landing in one of the most beautiful places on earth. As far as the diving though, the wrecks are the main attraction. If you're into that, they are some of the best. Poor man's Truuk.
Alona Beach has turtles, shore diving and beautiful coral and clams. I'm guessing since you were thinking Malapascua and reconsidered after (I'll keep the criticisms to myself) then I'm thinking Alona is where you need to go.
Alona Beach has turtles, shore diving and beautiful coral and clams. I'm guessing since you were thinking Malapascua and reconsidered after (I'll keep the criticisms to myself) then I'm thinking Alona is where you need to go.
For a first time visitor PG is hard to beat and if you have more time then you should add Anilao(no introduction required for macro). Anilao is just across the channel from PG and is about 3hrs from NAIA.
There are several interesting places in Visayas eg. Malapascua, Sipalay and Southern Leyte etc etc.
Thrasher shark has been spotted quite regularly in PG over last few yrs. There is a school of Jack which first appeared few months ago and decided to hang around from Hole in the Wall to the Canyons. Since you are already in Manila and if you start your trip early then you should reach PG before noon. Time to go diving in the same afternoon.
Failed captcha
Contributor
Having been in this country half of my time from 2013 to 2019 and continuously since late 2019, I have been all over the country, extensively and I live in Cebu, speak Visayan and Spanish and I'm American. I'm careful not to knock anyone's town online because it hurts business.
If you go anywhere, you probably won't regret it, because you won't know what you missed. Whatever you do, you're landing at 1pm and you're probably not diving the first day unless it's a sunset dive. Even then you'd have to hustle. So get where you're going and leave your gear at the diveshop you're going to dive at. Then go eat.
Your choices, as you know are where to go from Manila. I don't suggest the busses and ferries for 8 hours after arriving in the country. I drive here everyday. You're lucky if it's 8 hours.
Get on a very short and cheap flight and go to Coron. Commute for half an hour after landing there. You already have nitrox and AOW, the cost is close enough to the same and you can dive on most parts of most of the spectacular wrecks. Go to Helldivers to dive, stay whereever it's cheap nearby. Eat streetfood. Thank me later.
That's plan A, dude, honestly.
Plan B: get on a very cheap short flight from Manila to Tagbilaran and stay anywhere cheap in Alona Beach within walking distance to either Alona Divers or Valm. Go to Balicasag your first morning and be blown away by absolutely world class stunning beautiful aquatic habitat. The diving there is easy. On your ticketing websites, it is listed as TAG, but you'd be flying right into Panglao, the new international airport.
If you go anywhere, you probably won't regret it, because you won't know what you missed. Whatever you do, you're landing at 1pm and you're probably not diving the first day unless it's a sunset dive. Even then you'd have to hustle. So get where you're going and leave your gear at the diveshop you're going to dive at. Then go eat.
Your choices, as you know are where to go from Manila. I don't suggest the busses and ferries for 8 hours after arriving in the country. I drive here everyday. You're lucky if it's 8 hours.
Get on a very short and cheap flight and go to Coron. Commute for half an hour after landing there. You already have nitrox and AOW, the cost is close enough to the same and you can dive on most parts of most of the spectacular wrecks. Go to Helldivers to dive, stay whereever it's cheap nearby. Eat streetfood. Thank me later.
That's plan A, dude, honestly.
Plan B: get on a very cheap short flight from Manila to Tagbilaran and stay anywhere cheap in Alona Beach within walking distance to either Alona Divers or Valm. Go to Balicasag your first morning and be blown away by absolutely world class stunning beautiful aquatic habitat. The diving there is easy. On your ticketing websites, it is listed as TAG, but you'd be flying right into Panglao, the new international airport.
sounds also like a pretty great plan, can't find Helldivers only getting a listing as a bar that been closed or maybe they have no online presence?
Failed captcha
Contributor
Sorry, Helldiver's isn't the name of the diveshop. That is a bar. And the resort that the bar is inside of is called Seadive. The name Helldivers has little or nothing to do with scuba diving, rather it's named for the naval aircraft that sank the fleet you get to dive on.
They do these 3-dive day boat trips with lunch included, at least they used to.
Similar threads
