Knightdivers
Registered
Hi Divers! I was in Cebu during the 2012 Christmas season for a dive and just want to share the experience for those who plan to go there sometime in the near future.
26th Dec
Took a flight from KL to Kota Kinabalu on Air Asia. Waited for 3 hours in Kota Kinabalu airport before taking Cebu Pacific to Manila. Waited another 2 hours to transit to Cebu. Arrived at midnight and was told that my luggage was still in Manila!! Was also told not to worry as it happens all the time and it will arrive in the next flight! Darn! I was definitely worried as all my dive gear and camera equipment was in that luggage. We checked into BE Resort in Mactan way pass midnight!
Costing (approximately)
KL - KK (Air Asia) RM500
KK – Manila – Cebu – Manila – KL RM600
Taxi from Airport to Hotel RM15 (midnight charges)
Lesson Learnt
1. Take a direct flight from KL to Cebu on Cebu Pacific as it is cheaper and flies 3x a week.
2. Don’t check in your most important camera equipments!
3. Separate your camera from the hand luggage else you will be asked to pay for overloading. Cebu Pacific is very strict (Second strictest after Ryan Air in Europe!)
27th Dec 2012
Woke up after a few hours of sleep worrying about my lost luggage but was pleasantly surprised thanks to the efficient receptionist at the hotel who followed very closely with Cebu Pacific until they located my bag. She told me that it was ready for collection at the airport.
After breakfast, we were greeted by JC & Sito who are the owners of Fun & Sun Dive Travel. They offered to send us to the airport to retrieve our luggage after hearing our misadventures.
Fun & Sun's dive centre is located only a few minutes from our hotel and as of 1st January this year, they will also have a centre in BE Resort itself. Their current dive centre is fully equipped with half a dozen of dive masters and more than a few dozen helpers to make you dive like a king! It was an honour to have both the owners to take us on a private dive trip.
We only manage two dives that day because of my luggage issue. The first dive was at Nalusuan. Before diving in, I was considering whether I should go wide or 105mm and Sito pointed to my dome port. I did pop the question to him about the macro scene around here but he said it's not a big deal.
You wouldn't normally expect much from a dive site that is located minutes from a congested city especially with the sightings of tourist boats carrying bus loads of amateur divers, discovery divers and snorkelers. I am glad I was terribly wrong! We dive into the azure bluish sea with good visibility despite a storm a night before. According to Sito who has been operating and diving here for the past 2 decades, the visibility can reach over 30 metres. I was also expecting to see damaged corals on the slopes and to my amazement, the corals here are diverse and growing healthily with sea fans stretching out into the blue. Eagle rays were also spotted when we were at about 25 metres.
As a fan of macro, I have the habit checking the bubble corals for Orang Utan crabs, sea fan for pygmies, sea sponges for hairy squat lobsters, the back of a sea star for shrimps, anemones for porcelain crabs and crinoids for squats and guess what? They were all there and shockingly in abundance! Before I could curse myself for the wrong lens, JC and Sito were busy taking shots of a frog fish!
Our first dive did not end without seeing the icon of this site - a ghostly statue of a naked woman with a vase.
When we surfaced, the very first thing that I did after was to grumble to Sito and JC about the critters and the wrong lens! Sito laughed and assured me that there are tons of them everywhere and he didn't think it was such a big deal.
During our surface interval, we were treated to the secret recipe of the Fun & Sun - BBQ on the boat! From fresh prawns to BBQ pork, it was fantastic especially when you have fruits to end the meal. We were so stuffed up that I had difficulties with my zippers for the next dive!
As I was seriously considering bringing my macro setup, we saw a school of Jacks on the surface. Darn! I just couldn't make up my mind at that time but one basic rule that I learnt was to capture what you see and not what you expect to see. I know I don't sound much like an artistic person but I am just being practical I guess! As we joined the jacks, we could observe a few curious dogtooth tunas trying to get close to them. Hilutungan, which is the name the locals gave to this site, offers schools of batfishes, anemones, loads of macro critters (again!) and what appears to me an underwater meadow. At this spot which is less than 8 metres of water, you will notice that the sea grass looks extremely identical to the common cow grass at your backyard. With some rocks and the open blue, I was firing dozens of shots hoping to capture one that could justify the serene beauty of this site. Although there were enough tiny critters to justify my macro lens, I surfaced from this dive with a strong sense of satisfaction with my 10.5mm.
As we were heading back to the dive centre, JC was busy pointing to different dive sites that are great for macros and majority of those he fingered are shore dives.
After my quick wash up, I was greeted by Gary, the GM of the BE Resort who made an appointment with me for lunch at the best 'lechon' restaurant. He was also kind enough to give us some tips on the best seafood around before getting his driver to chauffeur us to Golden Cowrie.
We ended our day with a satisfying dinner and looking forward to tomorrow.
Dive: Varies according to season but way cheaper than you expect. Check with Alan of Home for pricing as he was the kind gentleman who made the arrangement for us.
Dinner at Golden Cowrie: RM30 per person for a fantastic fresh seafood meal.
Taxi (if you don't get a ride from the GM's driver!) RM15.00
28th Dec 2012
We started early as we wanted to catch a glimpse of the Threshers inTingo Point, a site located 15 minutes away from Fun & Sun's centre. Ididn't even have enough time to fully enjoy the huge deck on the spacious andcomfortable boat before I realized it was time to gear up. The choice of camerawas pretty obvious for this site but I have decided to bring my compact camerawith macro lens along (just in case!)
We agreed that we will have to hit 40 metres to see the Threshers andas we were heading down, we had to fight a pretty moderate current and a seasnake! As I was busy fining and breathing deeply, I thought I saw something. Icould see JC and Sito moving deeper but my depth meter showed that we were onlyat 25 metres. As I strained my eyes and gave chase, it was indeed theThreshers! With the tail and a sleek body swimming against the currentlyeffortlessly. Before, I could get the settings right on my camera, they weregone. It was then I started to realize that the visibility would be at least 30metres.
Sito and JC noticed that I wasn't going down with them, they thought Ihad some problems with my equipment but they were so envious when I told themwhat I saw when we surfaced. There is always this feeling of dissatisfactionwhen you couldn't show any evidence of what you witnessed. Sito gave me a paton the back and said that I can be almost certain of getting a good shot of the Threshers if we go to Malapascua.
It was pretty obvious to JC and Sito that I was a fan of macro as theybrought us to our last dive site for the day - Talima. Sito warned me that thissite is going to be a bit of everything on a good day but no promises. When Igot in, I realized this site had everything and not only a bit! The viz wasgreat and the corals were teeming with life. I then realized why JC and Sitosaid it was everything and not macro alone.
As we were packing up and heading back for my lunch appointment withGarry, I had a very good perspective of Fun & Sun's positioning. For diverswho can spare only a day or two in the exciting waters off Cebu City andwanting to check out the macro critters in the blue, my itinerary above wouldbe highly recommended. However, if you have five days or more, then it wouldindeed be more fun to dive with Fun & Sun as they have the most experiencein bringing divers to explore the Visayas on their comfortable boats. If youhave four divers or more, they will be more than happy to customize your trip.Their main routes are Northern Cebu (Malapascua), Southern Cebu, Bohol andSouthern Leyte (the Ultimate trip!). You can go to theirwww.funsundivetravel.com or FB http://www.facebook.com/funsundivetravel for details on thetrips.
Unlike a live aboard, JC and Sito's idea of an amazing dive journey isto spend the day on the boat exploring the seas and the night to be spent in acomfortable hotel on different islands that is on the route. It will be morelike a 'sea trip' instead of a road trip! By the way, if you are a Malaysian,Singaporean, Thai or Chinese from China, Mr. Alan Lim would be the man tocontact at http://pacdome.com/ to give you the detailsof all these sea trips.
After cleaning up, we manage to catch Garry for 'the best lechon' nearMactan airport called Zubu Chon. I have to agree with Anthony Bourdain afterthe sumptuous meal. Garry insisted of getting us to the Southern Bus Terminalin Cebu City and I can understand why. The roads were so congested that it tookus an hour from the restaurant to the station.
When we got to the station, we could see a long queue of people who hadsimilar plans to go south. I didn't expect the 'free Wi-Fi' on the bus wouldwork but it did! Not the whole journey but for a third at least.
After a journey of 4 hours that was filled with stops and winding turn,we arrived at the front entrance of Noblesse Hotel that is located in Santander.You would notice that this town is at the south most of Cebu Island and animportant port for those planning to go to the southern islands of Negros andApo.
As we were too tired to check out the surrounding area, we had dinnerin the hotel instead with a rather romantic view of the full moon, coconuttrees and what appeared to be crystal clear waters as we could see the lightfrom the dive torches of two night divers.
Before we called it a night, we made arrangements with the hotelmanager for some dive equipments and a motorized tricycle as our mode of transfer toOslob the next morning.
Lechon Lunch: Depends on how much you can eat. About RM35 per kilo oflechon
Return Bus Ticket to Santander RM20 per person
Dinner at hotel: RM40 per person (rather over priced at the hotel)
Noblesse Hotel: RM180 per room for two per night.
(to be continued)
26th Dec
Took a flight from KL to Kota Kinabalu on Air Asia. Waited for 3 hours in Kota Kinabalu airport before taking Cebu Pacific to Manila. Waited another 2 hours to transit to Cebu. Arrived at midnight and was told that my luggage was still in Manila!! Was also told not to worry as it happens all the time and it will arrive in the next flight! Darn! I was definitely worried as all my dive gear and camera equipment was in that luggage. We checked into BE Resort in Mactan way pass midnight!
Costing (approximately)
KL - KK (Air Asia) RM500
KK – Manila – Cebu – Manila – KL RM600
Taxi from Airport to Hotel RM15 (midnight charges)
Lesson Learnt
1. Take a direct flight from KL to Cebu on Cebu Pacific as it is cheaper and flies 3x a week.
2. Don’t check in your most important camera equipments!
3. Separate your camera from the hand luggage else you will be asked to pay for overloading. Cebu Pacific is very strict (Second strictest after Ryan Air in Europe!)
27th Dec 2012
Woke up after a few hours of sleep worrying about my lost luggage but was pleasantly surprised thanks to the efficient receptionist at the hotel who followed very closely with Cebu Pacific until they located my bag. She told me that it was ready for collection at the airport.
After breakfast, we were greeted by JC & Sito who are the owners of Fun & Sun Dive Travel. They offered to send us to the airport to retrieve our luggage after hearing our misadventures.
Fun & Sun's dive centre is located only a few minutes from our hotel and as of 1st January this year, they will also have a centre in BE Resort itself. Their current dive centre is fully equipped with half a dozen of dive masters and more than a few dozen helpers to make you dive like a king! It was an honour to have both the owners to take us on a private dive trip.
We only manage two dives that day because of my luggage issue. The first dive was at Nalusuan. Before diving in, I was considering whether I should go wide or 105mm and Sito pointed to my dome port. I did pop the question to him about the macro scene around here but he said it's not a big deal.
You wouldn't normally expect much from a dive site that is located minutes from a congested city especially with the sightings of tourist boats carrying bus loads of amateur divers, discovery divers and snorkelers. I am glad I was terribly wrong! We dive into the azure bluish sea with good visibility despite a storm a night before. According to Sito who has been operating and diving here for the past 2 decades, the visibility can reach over 30 metres. I was also expecting to see damaged corals on the slopes and to my amazement, the corals here are diverse and growing healthily with sea fans stretching out into the blue. Eagle rays were also spotted when we were at about 25 metres.
As a fan of macro, I have the habit checking the bubble corals for Orang Utan crabs, sea fan for pygmies, sea sponges for hairy squat lobsters, the back of a sea star for shrimps, anemones for porcelain crabs and crinoids for squats and guess what? They were all there and shockingly in abundance! Before I could curse myself for the wrong lens, JC and Sito were busy taking shots of a frog fish!
Our first dive did not end without seeing the icon of this site - a ghostly statue of a naked woman with a vase.
When we surfaced, the very first thing that I did after was to grumble to Sito and JC about the critters and the wrong lens! Sito laughed and assured me that there are tons of them everywhere and he didn't think it was such a big deal.
During our surface interval, we were treated to the secret recipe of the Fun & Sun - BBQ on the boat! From fresh prawns to BBQ pork, it was fantastic especially when you have fruits to end the meal. We were so stuffed up that I had difficulties with my zippers for the next dive!
As I was seriously considering bringing my macro setup, we saw a school of Jacks on the surface. Darn! I just couldn't make up my mind at that time but one basic rule that I learnt was to capture what you see and not what you expect to see. I know I don't sound much like an artistic person but I am just being practical I guess! As we joined the jacks, we could observe a few curious dogtooth tunas trying to get close to them. Hilutungan, which is the name the locals gave to this site, offers schools of batfishes, anemones, loads of macro critters (again!) and what appears to me an underwater meadow. At this spot which is less than 8 metres of water, you will notice that the sea grass looks extremely identical to the common cow grass at your backyard. With some rocks and the open blue, I was firing dozens of shots hoping to capture one that could justify the serene beauty of this site. Although there were enough tiny critters to justify my macro lens, I surfaced from this dive with a strong sense of satisfaction with my 10.5mm.
As we were heading back to the dive centre, JC was busy pointing to different dive sites that are great for macros and majority of those he fingered are shore dives.
After my quick wash up, I was greeted by Gary, the GM of the BE Resort who made an appointment with me for lunch at the best 'lechon' restaurant. He was also kind enough to give us some tips on the best seafood around before getting his driver to chauffeur us to Golden Cowrie.
We ended our day with a satisfying dinner and looking forward to tomorrow.
Dive: Varies according to season but way cheaper than you expect. Check with Alan of Home for pricing as he was the kind gentleman who made the arrangement for us.
Dinner at Golden Cowrie: RM30 per person for a fantastic fresh seafood meal.
Taxi (if you don't get a ride from the GM's driver!) RM15.00
28th Dec 2012
We started early as we wanted to catch a glimpse of the Threshers inTingo Point, a site located 15 minutes away from Fun & Sun's centre. Ididn't even have enough time to fully enjoy the huge deck on the spacious andcomfortable boat before I realized it was time to gear up. The choice of camerawas pretty obvious for this site but I have decided to bring my compact camerawith macro lens along (just in case!)
We agreed that we will have to hit 40 metres to see the Threshers andas we were heading down, we had to fight a pretty moderate current and a seasnake! As I was busy fining and breathing deeply, I thought I saw something. Icould see JC and Sito moving deeper but my depth meter showed that we were onlyat 25 metres. As I strained my eyes and gave chase, it was indeed theThreshers! With the tail and a sleek body swimming against the currentlyeffortlessly. Before, I could get the settings right on my camera, they weregone. It was then I started to realize that the visibility would be at least 30metres.
Sito and JC noticed that I wasn't going down with them, they thought Ihad some problems with my equipment but they were so envious when I told themwhat I saw when we surfaced. There is always this feeling of dissatisfactionwhen you couldn't show any evidence of what you witnessed. Sito gave me a paton the back and said that I can be almost certain of getting a good shot of the Threshers if we go to Malapascua.
It was pretty obvious to JC and Sito that I was a fan of macro as theybrought us to our last dive site for the day - Talima. Sito warned me that thissite is going to be a bit of everything on a good day but no promises. When Igot in, I realized this site had everything and not only a bit! The viz wasgreat and the corals were teeming with life. I then realized why JC and Sitosaid it was everything and not macro alone.
As we were packing up and heading back for my lunch appointment withGarry, I had a very good perspective of Fun & Sun's positioning. For diverswho can spare only a day or two in the exciting waters off Cebu City andwanting to check out the macro critters in the blue, my itinerary above wouldbe highly recommended. However, if you have five days or more, then it wouldindeed be more fun to dive with Fun & Sun as they have the most experiencein bringing divers to explore the Visayas on their comfortable boats. If youhave four divers or more, they will be more than happy to customize your trip.Their main routes are Northern Cebu (Malapascua), Southern Cebu, Bohol andSouthern Leyte (the Ultimate trip!). You can go to theirwww.funsundivetravel.com or FB http://www.facebook.com/funsundivetravel for details on thetrips.
Unlike a live aboard, JC and Sito's idea of an amazing dive journey isto spend the day on the boat exploring the seas and the night to be spent in acomfortable hotel on different islands that is on the route. It will be morelike a 'sea trip' instead of a road trip! By the way, if you are a Malaysian,Singaporean, Thai or Chinese from China, Mr. Alan Lim would be the man tocontact at http://pacdome.com/ to give you the detailsof all these sea trips.
After cleaning up, we manage to catch Garry for 'the best lechon' nearMactan airport called Zubu Chon. I have to agree with Anthony Bourdain afterthe sumptuous meal. Garry insisted of getting us to the Southern Bus Terminalin Cebu City and I can understand why. The roads were so congested that it tookus an hour from the restaurant to the station.
When we got to the station, we could see a long queue of people who hadsimilar plans to go south. I didn't expect the 'free Wi-Fi' on the bus wouldwork but it did! Not the whole journey but for a third at least.
After a journey of 4 hours that was filled with stops and winding turn,we arrived at the front entrance of Noblesse Hotel that is located in Santander.You would notice that this town is at the south most of Cebu Island and animportant port for those planning to go to the southern islands of Negros andApo.
As we were too tired to check out the surrounding area, we had dinnerin the hotel instead with a rather romantic view of the full moon, coconuttrees and what appeared to be crystal clear waters as we could see the lightfrom the dive torches of two night divers.
Before we called it a night, we made arrangements with the hotelmanager for some dive equipments and a motorized tricycle as our mode of transfer toOslob the next morning.
Lechon Lunch: Depends on how much you can eat. About RM35 per kilo oflechon
Return Bus Ticket to Santander RM20 per person
Dinner at hotel: RM40 per person (rather over priced at the hotel)
Noblesse Hotel: RM180 per room for two per night.
(to be continued)
Last edited:
