First Trip to the Philippines

[pediatron]

I am looking for advice of where to dive in the Philippines. My husband and I are looking to go for about 10 days in mid-April. We are moderately experienced divers (rescue cert with 200-300 dives). We have dove all over the Carribean and Mexico and enjoyed Fiji (Bligh waters) last year. Any adivice on how to best use our time there would be greatly appreciated.

 

[passionatediver]

Hi!

There are a lot of wonderful places to dive here in the Philippines and to give you options, I will share my list of the dive sites I want to go to. I included the link for accurate info. You might want to check them out.

1. Tubataha TUBBATAHA REEFS NATURAL PARK
Contact Information
Address: Tubbataha Management Office (TMO)
41 Abad Santos St.,
Puerto Princesa City 5300, Palawan
Tel/Fax: (63) (48) 434 5759
E-mail: tmo [at] tubbatahareef.org

2. Malapascua Malapascua - Scuba Diving Philippines - Malapascua Exotic Island Dive & Beach Resort
Contact Information
Malapascua Exotic Island Dive & Beach Resort
P.O. Box 1200
6000 Cebu City
Philippines
Email info@malapascua.net
Phone: (+63) (32 )406-5428
Mobile: (+63) 917-3276689
(+63) 917-3070150

3. Pescador Island, Moalboal pescador island - philippines

4. Apo Reef Occidental Mindoro
Apo Reef Dive Sites - Second largest coral reef in the world | Etravel Pilipinas

5. Puerto Galera
PUERTO GALERA: Diving Philippines, White Beach Hotels & Dive Resorts Puerto Galera

6. Anilao Batangas, Anilao Batangas, scuba diving, dive shop and dive resort in Philippines

I always go to Anilao though because its the nearest dive site from Manila. But regardless of where you dive in the Philippines, I can guarantee that its going to be worth it!

 

[pediatron]

Thanks for the info. We just booked our air so now are desperately searching for where to stay and dive. I would love to do a day or two at Donsol to snorkel with whale sharks. The Atlantis at Dumaguete looks nice too. Malapascau looks very cool but the reviews are very mixed on the Exotic hotel, so not sure. Does anyone know of a reputable travel agent that might help us or perhaps more of you could give specific advice. We are SOOOO excited about this trip and want to plan it the best we can. We have 12 or so full days to play with and are hoping to see at least 2 different areas plus the whale sharks if we can fit them in. Thanks in advance -- all advice welcome!!!

 

[passionatediver]

Donsol Eco Tour this website might help if you're planning to dive Donsol.

 

[Sherlock]

We have a group from Michigan going to the Philippines in March. This will be a repeat trip for me. 1 week at the Bahura Resort in Dumagetti, and 1 week on the Atlantis liveaboard in Tubataha. This itinerary gives you a taste of some muck diving in Dumagetti, beautiful unspoiled corrals at Apo Island (day trip from Dumagetti resort)and nice reefs at Tubataha. We have some space available for anyone interested.

 

[jbb]

On Malapascua there area several shops you could dive with and a number of places to stay depending on budget.
Shops in no particular order - Exotic, Sea Explorers, Evolution and Thresher Shark Divers (TSD). I am partial to TSD but they all have a different style and their own flair. Exotic and Evolution are at the east end of the main beach and Sea Explorers and TSD toward the west end. Yes there are other shops on the island but I don't know much about them. Tepanee is a nice place to stay at the west side but it depends on whether you will want ac or not.

If you are visiting in April it is the March to May dive season at Tubbataha Reef as the typhoons occur from June to December - with seasonal variability. I dived it a long time ago and unfortunately the boat I dived from has sunk in Manila habor during a typhoon a few years ago.

If you want more suggestions you need to give more detail of what you are looking for: big, small, fast, slow, soft, hard,(corals that is) nightlife, crickets chirping, crowds, Gilligan's Island, variety of places to eat, backpacking budget, who cares? garbage in - garbage out.

 

[DevonDiver]

@pediatron: What sort of diving do you prefer? The Philippines offers a remarkable variety of diving experiences - all of which is world class. It's possible to schedule a trip that reflects the sort of diving/critters that you enjoy most.

A trip to Cebu - with time spent in Malapascua and Moalboal offers a great experience and a mixture of pelagic and macro encounters.

Bohol can be factored into a Cebu trip (ferry transfer) and has more good diving, along with some nice non-diving excursions (chocolate hills and tarsier monkeys etc).

Subic and Coron are best for wrecks. Subic is popular because you can day/overnight trip from Manila at the start/end of your trip.

Anilao offers some of the best macro diving in the world. It's very popular with underwater photographers.

Puerto Galera is convenient to get to (without flying) and has nice beaches and great dives.

Feel free to drop me an email if you need any help.

 

[ocdiver1]

You really can't go wrong with Atlantis Dumaguete and Malapascua Exotic I'd highly recommend them ...have stayed with and dove with them both several times and are two of my favorite diving areas in the Philippines. You could easily do both with the time you have. One nice thing about Dumaguete is that you can fly right in and the dive resorts are about 20 minutes away...so no long extra car/boat trip like most places. From Dumaguete you can take a short ferry or fly to Cebu. Malapascua is about a 3 hour bus or car drive north of Cebu, then a short boat ride to the island..but worth it! Great combination of macro diving and also probably the best chance of seeing "big stuff" in the Philippines...reef sharks on a beautiful day trip to Gato Island and the one place in the world to reliably see thresher sharks at Monad Shoal (plus a chance at a hammerhead or manta). You can then get back to Cebu for either your international flight home from there or Manila.

Unfortunately, I've never been to Donsol so I can't tell you anything about that. But getting there would probably impact being able to do both Dumaguete and Malapascua. If you're really keen on seeing whale sharks, and can get down to Cancun July-September, there's a place called Isla Holbox not that far away where guaranteed you'll see many...but just like Donsol you can only snorkle with them, not dive.

Love the Philippines and have dove all around the country...if would you like any more advice don't hesitate to ask! Just realized I think I just answered a post of yours on Tubbataha before this one

 

[logic8482]

Thanks for the info. We just booked our air so now are desperately searching for where to stay and dive. I would love to do a day or two at Donsol to snorkel with whale sharks. The Atlantis at Dumaguete looks nice too. Malapascau looks very cool but the reviews are very mixed on the Exotic hotel, so not sure. Does anyone know of a reputable travel agent that might help us or perhaps more of you could give specific advice. We are SOOOO excited about this trip and want to plan it the best we can. We have 12 or so full days to play with and are hoping to see at least 2 different areas plus the whale sharks if we can fit them in. Thanks in advance -- all advice welcome!!!

Try out the following hotel, AGM, for Donsol. Basic and cheap accommodations, but the management is very helpful and will aid your navigation of the initial day's registration process, which is quite chaotic. There's another resort on the other end that is very nice and has decent food, Elysia if you want more upscale accommodations. Definitely try to fit Donsol in, it's an awesome experience. I'd plan for at least 2 morning trips out in case you're not successful in seeing any. The clearer the weather the easier it is to spot the sharks and spend time with them.

AGM Beachfront Resort
Dancalan, Donsol
Sorsogon, Philippines
Mobile No.: +639173813404 / +639196882264
Email: agmresort@gmail.com

Malapascua, as many others have mentioned, is well worth the trip. I dove with Thresher previously and they are a great option. There are plenty of accommodation choices, so don't let that stop you. Evolution Divers looks to be a top notch operation as well, but no experience with them.

 

[Centrals]

Have been to Tubbataha on three different boats but the trips last at least 7-8 days including return transferred to Manila. You might not have enough time for Donsol or other places for diving.
This is my suggestion:
1. Tubbataha alone and possibly Donsol afterwards if time permitted.
2. Donsol first(to recover from jetleg) and then:
a. Anilao and Puerto Galera.
b. Fly to Cebu and branch out to Bohol, Dumaguette, Malapascua, Moalboal or even Southern Leyte etc etc.
c. Stay around Donsol eg. Ticao Island( I had never been)