Diving trip to Visayas - Philippines

[pitri]

Hi all,
My wife and I are going to the Philippines this September.
We thought of being mostly in the visayas due to the weather.
We have about 2.5 weeks to spend (diving and traveling) in this area and our flight is directly to CEBU.
We need some input from you guys that know the area.
1. Recommended Dive sites (CEBU/BOHOL/NEGROS)
2. Recommended Dive Operators
3. How much time is recommended at each place (I mean what is the minimum time more or less that is recommended so I won't leave with the feeling I missed so much)
4. In the given time, should I kick in some effort on diving in other sites in the philippines ?

Thanks

 

[Bora_Horza]

My favorite dive areas in the Visayas include:
1) Apo island, off Dumaguete, Negros. Operator: http://www.apoisland.com/ Spend at least 4 days diving here, maybe longer! Make sure you dive Coconut Point and Cogon.
2) Malapascua island, off the north tip of Cebu. Operator: Sea Explorers. 3 or 4 days is good, and dive Monad Shoals for the thresher sharks and do a trip to Gato island - do the 'tunnel dive' there.

Other places which were nice include Moalboal (west coast of Cebu) and Alona beach (Panglao island, Bohol). If you'd like to travel a bit further, diving from Padre Burgos, South Leyte was good - just catch a ferry (http://www.oceanjet.net/ to Hilongos) then a jeepney down to Padre Burgos. Two diveshops that I know of in that area - http://www.whaleofadive.com/ and http://www.leyte-divers.com/.

Have fun..

 

[silent running]

Hi all,
My wife and I are going to the Philippines this September.
We thought of being mostly in the visayas due to the weather.
We have about 2.5 weeks to spend (diving and traveling) in this area and our flight is directly to CEBU.
We need some input from you guys that know the area.
1. Recommended Dive sites (CEBU/BOHOL/NEGROS)
2. Recommended Dive Operators
3. How much time is recommended at each place (I mean what is the minimum time more or less that is recommended so I won't leave with the feeling I missed so much)
4. In the given time, should I kick in some effort on diving in other sites in the philippines ?

Thanks

Hello there, I spent 10 days diving in Panglao, Bohol. The diving was ok, not great. Very few big fish, but good critter stuff. Best by far was Pamlacan(sp?), aka Manta Island, several big Napoleon Wrasse and the biggest Giant Trevalley I've ever seen, lots of fish-I was on a rebreather, but the site should be good even on regular scuba.
Your operator will likely not want to take you there as it requires an outlandish fee of $5 US to dive the place... Needless to say, there were no other boats going there as most PI visitors insist on having the cheapest possible dive vacation. I gladly paid the fee and we had the place all to our selves. My operator was Sea Explorers Alona Beach, who were good.
From what I have learned since then, the diving in Malpascua and Southern Leytte was the best in that area. Happy trails, -Andy

 

[buksida]

1. Recommended Dive sites (CEBU/BOHOL/NEGROS)

Hi, havent been myself but there is a bunch of dive site info here:

Cebu dive sites
Bohol dive sites
Boracay dive sites

 

[swisstrav]

how much time are you planning to spend?

depends where you will go, i would fly via manila

if you are bound to fly in via cebu i would visit malapascua (2.5 hour drive from airport) stay at sunsplash and dive with sea explorers or stay and dive with exotic dive resort. they are supposed to have a nice housreef. 4 days is fine.

2nd choice moalboal not because of diving, but it is the closest place to reach by van. approx. 2 hours from cebu airport. cost of living/diving is very low although diving is not that good. 4 days are enough

still more time to travel? see dumaguete or cabilao. for dumaguete (actually you stay in dauin) you travel an other 2 hours south to the southern tip of the cebu island and take a ferry there over to negros. if you stay with the el dorado resort they provide free transport from the ferry pier.

for cabilao cross the island from moalboal to agar and have your boat transport (40min) with the polaris resort arranged. in my opinion cabilao is the best diving spot in the visayas but very layed back and quiet.

visayas are a great place to dive
swisstrav

 

[Narcd_dvr]

Aside from what the folks have recommended, I would add Hilutungan and Nalusuan islands in Cebu, since they're both fish sanctuaries.

You might also want to consider Southern Leyte as another destination, if you have time. A bunch of us in this forum are going there in December and I've heard nothing but good things about the diving in S. Leyte. Its about a 2 hour ferry from Cebu and another 2 hours by car to the resort.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Welcome to ppd pitri