How many diving days in Coron?

[tbriggsnh]

I'm doing a 7-dayTubbataha liveaboard in mid-May and wanted to tack on a few days to dive the Coron wrecks. I plan to stay at the AL FARO Cosmio or Puerto del Sol and dive with D'divers to minimize boat ride times out to the dive sites.

My question is: I can do 3 dive-days or 5 dive-days in Coron. Right now I'm thinking three. Is that enough? Thanks!

 

[Centrals]

There are several reasonable sized wrecks and few of them are deeper than 30m. Even with Nitrox the ndl is still pretty short.
Five days is bare minimum.

 

[Manuel Sam]

Beyond wrecks, Coron has two things that I targeted when I went in 2016. It is on the island of Busuanga, one of the few remaining islands in the Philippines that still has dugongs, in case seeing them might appeal to you. We were not allowed to dive for them, but if they happen to be at or wander into a divesite you happen to be diving, then that's fine. And you are allowed to go snorkel with them, which is what I did.

From here, it is about a two-hour boat ride to dive Apo Reef - just for variety. Note that Apo Reef is not the same as Apo Island, which many people dive when staying in Dauin/Dumaguete.

 

[tbriggsnh]

There are several reasonable sized wrecks and few of them are deeper than 30m. Even with Nitrox the ndl is still pretty short.
Five days is bare minimum.

Great advice as usual Central!

Beyond wrecks, Coron has two things that I targeted when I went in 2016. It is on the island of Busuanga, one of the few remaining islands in the Philippines that still has dugongs, in case seeing them might appeal to you. We were not allowed to dive for them, but if they happen to be at or wander into a divesite you happen to be diving, then that's fine. And you are allowed to go snorkel with them, which is what I did.

From here, it is about a two-hour boat ride to dive Apo Reef - just for variety. Note that Apo Reef is not the same as Apo Island, which many people dive when staying in Dauin/Dumaguete.

Excellent suggestion Manuel Sam. I had a conversation last year with Budasub (Philippines : Coron Beaches and Trip Dugongo) and he had the same recommendation (and a great video). I can see that I'll need several days to cover that area so will leave it for my next trip.

 

[Centrals]

I can see that I'll need several days to cover that area so will leave it for my next trip.

As I had mentioned previously on other thread, Kyokuzan Maru in Northern Coron is a must. Perhaps Gunter can arrange a special trip to dive that wreck in your coming trip.

 

[Manuel Sam]

Budasub's dugong experience was much better than mine. I stayed on the island of Dimakya, about a15-20 boat ride northeast of Coron. Doing the wrecks was not my thing, so we did the bulk of the dives at sites around Dimakya, where the sea grass and sandy bottom seemed to be the perfect setting to find dugongs. Well, no cigars.

When we went to snorkel with them right off the east side of Busuanga, the intent had been to find them munching away at lunchtime, like in his video. It was lunchtime alright and we did see quite a few, but none of them was eating. They must have all had indigestion and therefore, the "runs", ie, they were running all over. But in the final analysis, I did see them and video them, which meant that I could cross them off my wish list.

A caveat regarding diving Apo Reef. Because it is a 2-hr ride out and back, more than likely they have to have a minimum number of divers to go.

Good luck!!

 

[tbriggsnh]

I'm glad you were able to see the dugongs (although it seems that they weren't very polite). I've only seen one but it was quite memorable!

One afternoon, when I was on a liveaboard in the ring of fire in eastern Indonesia, the divemaster asked if we'd like to snorkel with a dugong named Mahwah. If we gave a present to a local tribe, the chief would come out in his canoe and call his pet dugong. We said, "oh heck yeah !!". So we delivered a bag of cold sodas and tasty treats and, in a little while a canoe came out paddled by a bunch of guys and in the front of the canoe was the chief.

We got in the water with mask & snorkel (no fins-- they might hurt Mahwah). The chief proceeded to do his dugong call and sure enough, Mahwah came out to play.

 

[Manuel Sam]

My dirty mind can't help but think that Mahwah was after something else. Sorry, boys will be boys.

 

[tbriggsnh]

Ah, you're looking for the rest of the story. Yup, Mahwa was very friendly . It's no coincidence that the only folks in the water are guys. After being forewarned about his amorous nature, 100% of the ladies on the liveaboard declined to join the adventure. As I said, the encounter was "memorable".

 

[Manuel Sam]

In the meantime, the chief and his underlings were rolling on the canoe deck laughing. Not letting the tourists wear fins now makes all the sense in the world.

Hmmm, maybe my reputation preceded me and that's why all the dugongs were running for dear life when I went in.