have been to apo reef 3 times - most recently in april on rags II, and the time before in august 2013 with rags II as well. rags II is dry docked for regular maintenance, and coincidentally ralph j must be in germany, not because it doesn't usually go to apo in august. but it does get a little bumpy rounding mindoro through the strait. that said, last august (2013) the visibility was absolute crap, and we were told it was the worst ever seen by the crew. i can believe that, because the times before and after (february 2012 and april 2014) the visibility was near caribbean at i guesstimate 30 - 40 meters +. white tips galore, tuna, trevally, barracuda, a bull shark in 2012 and the last trip a giant manta and a couple eagle rays as well. the corals are out of this world. bleaching was the exception, big stuff is very common (sharks on 11 of 12 dives in april 2014, on every dive in 2012), as are a variety of nudis, and i am happy to say allison's experiences of a couple years ago were isolated (as was my bad viz trip in august 2013). there are some primitive liveaboards leaving from coron town - which might have trouble getting there in august because of the monsoon or riskiness of typhoon season - or from the sablayan area of mindoro, from which it is quite close and easily reached all year. check out your options from pandan island resort, which i have never been to but heard good things about.