Coron - discovery divers and accom

[MA]

Hi,

I'm in the midst of planning a first trip to philippines but I'm a bit stuck on plans for Coron.

In reading many threads, Discovery Divers sounds like a great dive op - I do want tech options.

However, I am struggling with the accommodation setup. Some questions below that will help me:

1) Is DD based about an hour out of Coron town and therefore closer to dive sites
2) The 2 main accom options look more luxurious than i'm after and not diver focused (I'm travelling solo and prefer smaller resorts where its easier to chat to people in the evenings) - is this correct? anyone stayed at these and have feedback (a bit out of my price range)?
3) whilst i know there are budget options suggested on website (e.e pierhouse palace) one has had terrible trip advisors review - any comments from SBers?
4) For those that have used DD - where did you stay and where would you recommend? How does it work if in Coron town?
5) any other dive op recommendations? I've looked at sangat island resort, but as i'll be in PI for 5-6 weeks this won't fit into the budget.

i know a lot of questions, but if anyone could advise on any of the above that would be much appreciated! I really want to dive the wrecks

Thanks!

Thanks!!

 

[bill22]

In answer to your last question, I stayed at Seadive and dived with them, but that was in 2009. I had no complaints though. I think others on scubaboard have used them as well. I'm going to probably make it back to Coron at some point, but probably not before next year. Diving from Coron Town I made 3 dives a day while I was there. Were you planning to dive more often than that? You'd probably need a week to do all the major dive sites.

In answer to your first question, the majority of the wrecks are almost due west from Coron and most of those are west of Sangat Island. D' Divers (not Discovery Divers) is located quite near a couple of the wrecks and closer than Coron to the majority of them according to the map. You have to pay for that of course. I would ask about cost of transfers from the pier or the airport, depending on how you are planning to arrive and depart. I arrived by boat from El Nido during my trip and departed by plane to Manila.

It's all going to boil down to your budget which I'm sure you already know. I'm sure you also know that any big trip with multiple destinations is a balancing act. Being closer to the dive sites, you can probably dive more often. I notice that they claim you can do up to 5 dives a day from their op, but when you look at the rates, it seems to max out at 3 dives a day from the same boat which was the same number I was doing from Coron Town. Add in a night dive, which would be probably restricted to what's closest and that would be 4. I'm curious how they make it to 5. Sounds like that isn't a normal thing. If you're able to do more dives in less time, then maybe that will balance out with what you want to do on the rest of your trip.

If wrecks are your thing don't leave out Subic Bay. I dive with Johan's in Subic. Andy Davis could advise you on the tech side in Subic. I'd give Malapascua Island with it's Thresher Sharks a go too. Check with Matt Reed at Evolution there. They do a lot of tech diving. The Dona Marilyn is definitely worth doing.

Hopefully someone who has been to Coron more recently will chime in. You can do a search also and see if anyone has written anything about Coron recently. Possibly no one here can answer your question about D' Divers specifically because it's possible none of us have dived with them.

When are you planning to go? If you go before I do, I would be really interested in your opinion when you get back

 

[MA]

Hi Bill, thanks for the reply!

I'll just clarify a couple of things:

- I'm not too concerned about distance to sites - that was just to get an idea of logistics
- My main objective in choosing a dive op is one that has a good reputation, and will support tech/deco diving (safely!) - e.g. have stages available, appropriate gases, longer dive times etc. If i'm deco diving, I'd only be looking to do 2 or 3 dives depending on sites. 5 at depth is just asking for trouble IMO. I'll also steer away from Seadive as I have a feeling with lots of divers my bottom time would be limited. Happy to be incorrect here
- if extended bottom times aren't needed to explore the wrecks - let me know
- have focused on D'Divers (previously Discovery Divers) as it has been recommended repeatedly on this forum Would love to hear of any other tech focused dive ops though!!
- my problem is the accommodation options with D'divers don't appeal to me. So i wasn't sure if its possible to stay in coron town and travel to D'divers each day (cost might be prohibitive ?)

Thanks once again

Oh, and yes, i have 5-6 weeks planned. I was going to post a separate thread on feedback of my plans. I've built it up after spending hours reading through this forum - its been an awesome guide! roughly one week give or take, in each of: malapascua (evolution), southern leyte (peters), dauin (dumaguete divers), coron (TBA), anilao (TBA). Soooooo excited!

Bill i will be going in Nov/Dec this year. I will let you know how it goes!

 

[Centrals]

1. Contact Gunther(D'Divers) first if require tec dive. The man himself is a breather(Inspiration). He can also advice you on accommodation as well as commuting between Coron Town and the wrecks.
2. D'Divers and Sanget Island are closer to some of the wrecks.
3. Deco dive is the only way to enjoy those deep wrecks eg. Irako and Akishushima.

Liquid in Dauin can provide tec dive as well.
Evolution in Malapascua is highly recommended especially for tec dive.
5 - 6 wks in the country! Make sure your paper is in order before your arrival otherwise you will be wasting your precious diving time at the Immigration Office

Have fun

 

[MA]

Thanks centrals! Will contact d divers direct.

I'm lucky to have a PI consulate in my town so as soon as flights are booked I'll be heading in to get a 59 day visa

I'm already in contact with evolution - they have been fantastic so far. Dauin I'll be diving with a friends op.

 

[Centrals]

Flight to Coron has limited luggage allowance!!!!! I believe it is 20kg MAX.
Ferry is better but only runs once a week!

 

[MA]

As in you can't even purchase excess? That's going to put a spanner in the works....
Coron is proving difficult but I do want to dive those wrecks!

 

[Centrals]

Getting there is half the fun!
ATR 72 is the plane used by Cebu Pacific for the flight between Manila and Coron(Busuanga). Abnd PAL uses Bombardier Dash 8 Q3/400. The airport in Coron is TINY.
The wrecks are worth the trip.

 

[bill22]

I purchased excess baggage ahead of time before I flew to Puerto Princesa when I went in 2009. I'm not familiar with the current policy, but my suggestion would be to check with the airline and make sure that's nailed down ahead of time. I do underwater photography so weight is always an issue for me. I avoid that now by taking the ferry everywhere I did Tubbataha on that trip, then El Nido, and Coron last. Things are much more developed now.

My dates got scrambled on that trip because of issues with the liveaboard I was going on. My plane tickets were already bought so I had to make adjustments in the domestic flights which ended up being an issue too. I ended up with only 3 dive days in Coron as a result, one of the reasons I always thought I would go back one day. I did a 1 hour 41 minute dive at Siete Pecados Marine Park the first day I was there. We went in at 5:09 PM, still full daylight and came out at 6:52 PM and full darkness. Really great dive

I did the Akitsushima, Taiei Maru, Lusong Gunboat, Kogyo Maru, and Olympia Maru along with Barracuda Lake. I was diving with AL80's and my average dive was probably about 45 minutes. My max depth on Akitsushima was 112 feet with a total RT of 42 minutes. I wasn't diving nitrox according to my dive log. I don't remember why. I noted in my trip report that if I were going to dive there again I would use 32% nitrox. I was running into deco and having to come up with air in my tank. Lusong Gunboat I came back to the boat with 1500 psi (100 bar) after a 47 minute dive don't remember what that was about as max depth was 47 feet with an average depth of 25. Need to make better notes next time I would think that extended run times would be a great help in exploring the wrecks. Some of them will definitely require more than one dive!

I was paired with another diver who was pretty experienced as I recall from Germany the first day. He'd made a few trips to Coron. On the second day I was paired with a tech diver from California. I remember all his gear was DiveRite and I use a DiveRite BP and harness.

They wouldn't let you do a penetration if you didn't have at least Wreck Diver certification and they did check. There was a Spanish couple who weren't wreck certified so they weren't allowed to do any penetrations but did dive the wrecks. They were on the boat both days but we dived with different guides.

I've dived with Evolution 3 times, most recently I was in Malapacua for 4 weeks in April. I'm expecting to be back for the month of October. I also dived with Peters in Southern Leyte in 2010.

If you're interested here is a link to the trip report I did on that trip Palawan Trip Report-Puerto Princesa, Tubbataha, El Nido, Coron All the links to photos appear to be broken now. A lot is probably outdated, but you might find some things of interest. I did write some descriptions of the wrecks and what I saw and my impressions of the different dive operations.

I'll be in the Visaya's probably October/November. Keep in touch. Maybe our paths will cross

 

[MA]

Thanks for all the detail Bill that's great!
I'll be arriving in cebu in teh first week of november. I think its going to look like this: Dumaguete > S Letye > Malapascua > Coron > Anilao.

Malapascua was orginally going to be be first stop and we may have crossed paths! Malapascua will most likely now be the end of november. But let me know if timing does align!